A Season of Sowing #02: tending the roots

Shaping a strategy, inky magic + welcoming your wisdom

Hi, I'm Sarah, and I craft brands that feel like home. Join me as I explore the seasons in our businesses and take a gentle, nurturing and playful approach to strategy, styling and storytelling. Enjoy my writing? Support me by subscribing to my cosy corner of Substack.

“My ideas usually come not at my desk writing but in the midst of living.”

— Anais Nin

In writing today’s post, I weighed the benefits of holding onto our ideas versus releasing them into the wild.

There’s merit in keeping certain things sacred, a school of thought that suggests our dreams and plans could lose energy and momentum if we prematurely unveil them.

But I also believe there can be value in saying some things out loud. After all, there’s nothing quite like sharing our aspirations and intentions in return for accountability and encouragement. If, like me, you spend most of your working days in isolation, inviting others in can inspire a greater sense of commitment.

It feels natural to express my enthusiasm for side ventures like this one—a project with seasonality at its heart and a chance to map a way forward in my business that feels thoughtful and playful.

In this latest segment of my three-part season of sowing, I’m sharing my approach to brand strategy, providing updates on my product, podcast, and paper, and seeking your valuable input!

If you haven’t read the first post in this series, check out A Season of Sowing #01: brave little seeds for context.

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Budding ideas

Ideas have a way of arriving at unexpected moments.

The concept for Brand Seasons came to me one winter morning. It was 4 a.m. as I perkily tapped my thoughts into my phone, feeling high on possibility. A framework for my mentoring practice! A card deck to add a touch of playfulness! A podcast for indulging in conversation! All living in one place.

These last few months, I’ve given myself plenty of space to allow these ideas to shift and shape into something more tangible, purposeful, and meaningful. And this has been supported by my approach to brand strategy, a formula I’m sharing with you today.

Let's explore what I refer to as the "three core elements" in my design practice: brand foundations, brand positioning, and brand essence. These components form the blueprint for achieving clarity and can aid in developing meaningful and lasting connections. While I delve into each element in more detail on my blog about brand strategy, I'll share a summary here.

Brand foundations: These rudimentary elements inform your brand strategy, encapsulating your vision, purpose, and beliefs. They serve as the cornerstone for the ongoing evolution of your brand, establishing a foundation that is not only supportive for you but engaging for your audience.

Brand positioning: Understanding your audience and where you sit in the market allows you to carve out a distinct position. It can give you direction, help you spot market gaps, and meet specific needs. It can also set you apart and help you understand your difference.

Brand essence: This element captures the heart of your brand and communicates its true nature. By focusing on nature, integrity, and harmony, you can guide how your brand is perceived through actions and choices. It’s about understanding your limitations, seamlessly integrating elements and expressing your qualities.

Fertile ground

Crafting your brand strategy needn’t feel overwhelming, and you can take a gentle approach to building it.

Here, I delve into each of the principles in the context of my Brand Seasons project. By sharing this example, I hope you can see how you might create your own bedrock of support and find the clarity you need around your business or project.

Brand foundations

1. Vision: Brand Seasons is a sub-brand of my design studio, These Are The Days, and will become part of a wider ecosystem with a podcast, product, paper and self-paced course.

2. Purpose: This project honours the seasons in our lives and work, is built with my mentoring practice in mind, and will support my clients and community.

3. Beliefs: My values of curiosity, creativity and connection reflect in the project, along with my love of adventure, experimentation and storytelling.

Brand positioning

1. Audience: I cater to independent business owners and those looking to tend to their curiosity, enjoy greater creative freedom, or forge deeper connections.

2. Market: Consider adopting a tool like Substack to expand my community of creatives, founders, and independent and lifestyle businesses.

3. Difference: While alternative methods for brand development exist, the distinct collaborative and cyclical nature of Brand Seasons is what sets it apart.

Brand essence

1. Nature: This project, as a whole, embodies qualities of gentleness, nurturance, and playfulness—traits that are clear in my business and creative practices.

2. Integrity: My brand operates within limits that define what it is and what it isn’t. I say yes to opportunities that align with my vision and values.

3. Harmony: Thoughtfully weaving strategy, style and story helps to humanise my brand, and invites meaningful dialogue, fostering a deeper sense of connection.

Creative offshoots

I believe it’s important to leave room for movement when breathing life into our plans. Accepting that projects will evolve can offer us comfort and lighten the process when embarking on something new.

Knowing we have the freedom to change our minds and try new things can make room for even better ideas to emerge. And the beauty of a well-defined strategy is that, much like a sturdy framework, it can hold us and offer a safe space to play with our ideas.

Being receptive led to my decision to create a paper to support the launch of Brand Seasons. I adore the tactile nature of print, the touch and the scent, and I’ve always dreamed of creating some inky magic! In addition to my Sunday series, Notelets on Nurture, I host a series called This Creative Life on These Are The Days, and the paper feels like it could be a beautiful extension of these online spaces into the offline world.

Combined with my original plans, it offers new opportunities, and has brought even more substance to the project, something I'll share more about in my next instalment.

Meanwhile, here's the current status, plus a little ask!

1. Product progress

   Since I have some research to complete before I move on to design, the Brand Seasons® Playdeck is nothing more than sketches. I also need to make a launch decision. Should I take preorders? Would a crowdfunder be worthwhile? How can I widen my reach? Gauging interest before fully committing makes sense to me. So I’ll return to this when I begin the design because I may hold fire on creating and printing the full deck until I have buy in!

2. Podcast progress

   Now I’ve secured a producer, I'll be recording the Brand Seasons Podcast over winter. Outsourcing production feels like a sensible move since it's a task I’m happy to let go of, freeing me up to focus on other things.

   Michelle Gately
   of Word by Word Storytelling will do a top job! With years of experience in journalism, marketing and podcasting, Michelle is the perfect partner. And if you love books, check out her Substack:
   Better Words
   .

3. Paper progress

   The Brand Seasons® Paper actually started life as an almanac. Thankfully, I managed to reign myself in! The plan is still to curate interviews with and stories from creatives that reflect the seasons and feature tips on brand strategy, styling and storytelling. But, for now, I’m thinking on the format and styling, which is where you may be able to help!

If you have a moment, I’d love to gather your feedback. When flicking through a paper, do you prefer broadsheet, tabloid, or mini? You can view each size if you’re unsure. Thank you so much for helping me decide.

Look out for the results in my next post, Season of Sowing #03: fear boosts growth, where I share my moodboard, plans for the next phase and touch on doubt and fear. It’s all beginning to feel real now, and I can’t wait to dive into design and publish my plans for supporting you with your branding and business right here on Substack.

Tell me, what are you working towards that’s cultivating a sense of change, growth or play within you?

As a free subscriber, you can enjoy articles and essays exploring the rhythms of our creative lives and work, written through the lenses of curiosity, creativity, and connection.

If you’re ready to craft a brand that feels like home and access exclusive insights and resources, consider upgrading to join my Brand Seasons paid community. Here, I support you with a gentle, nurturing, and playful approach to brand strategy, styling, and storytelling. I’d love to welcome you!