CLIENT SUCCESS STORIES

Check out these transformations of those who found success "owning their lane" after clarifying their message, elevating their visibility, and securing PR work their work and ideas.


Michelle B Griffin, The Brand Therapist, Personal Branding Consultant, Coach and Speaker
SARAH ANTO, MBA, CPA,
The Women Founders Coach
@ FundHer



How This Women Founders Coach Landed an International Conference Speaker Invite Within One Week of Launching

Back Story: Pivoting From Silicon Valley Tech Expert to Global Leadership Coach

Sarah Anto, MBA, CPA is a leadership coach and financial expert who supports women tech founders and leaders to navigate the challenges of balancing business strategy, visionary leadership, and financial acumen needed to unleash their leadership abilities and drive their startups to incredible growth.

Challenge: Find an Expert and Relatable Guide to Define Her Brand and LinkedIn Profile

She struggled with a lack of a solid foundation and clarity in her brand as she launched her new consultancy. Her outdated LinkedIn profile held her back and did little to position her as an authority in her field.

"I was looking for more than just a marketing or branding specialist; I was searching for a comprehensive solution that went beyond traditional services," says Sarah. My search was for someone capable of not only enhancing my brand but also providing guidance and coaching throughout the process.

"What I truly looked for was someone who could assist in authentically showcasing my identity, instilling in me a sense of confidence and empowerment in my branding and online presence. Instead of a narrow focus on a single platform, I wanted a holistic approach, a partner who could understand my brand's essence and the story I wanted to convey. I was seeking collaboration with someone who would truly listen and collaboratively shape my brand's voice and personality to reflect who I am."

When I came across Michelle's profile on LinkedIn and delved into her website, what stood out was her focus on supporting women. Her messaging was not only crystal clear and authentic but also resonated deeply with me. I quickly grasped the essence of what she offered. Her website provided a transparent walkthrough of the entire process involved in working together, outlining both the time and financial commitment expected. It was evident from her content that she precisely matched the holistic approach I was seeking; her blend of branding expertise with coaching was precisely what I was looking for.

What drew me in was the structure of her program, it was concise, spanning just 30 days, and focused on the crucial elements essential for assembling a brand. There was no unnecessary filler; it precisely targeted what I needed without any distractions."


Solution: Brand Blueprint, Trifecta Positioning and Developed a Playbook for Female Founders

My Visible Brand Authority roadmap program accelerated Sarah in these key areas using my signature framework, The Brand GPS.™


Positioning: I quickly honed in her deep experience as a MBA, CPA, leadership coach, and Silicon Valley startup experience as a "trifecta" approach to the key solution for her clients. 


Messaging: We crafted her brand blueprint, personal brand statement, differentiators, and bio to help her clearly, confidently, and compellingly introduce herself and articulate her value and UVP in person and online.


Methodology: We leveraged her strategy, leadership, and financial acumen in her A.L.I.G.N. framework and playbook is for her first-time female founders in tech. We revised her offers around this playbook so it's a complete ecosystem for future services and programs


LinkedIn Profile and Presence: From a non-existent profile to a revamped expert authority profile, she's now positioned to reach and resonate with her ideal audience. Within days, she received leads from qualified prospects. Sarah's newfound brand and profile gave her the confidence to start writing engaging articles and well-received posts resulting in brand awareness and relationship-building with industry partners.


Thought Leadership/PR - With her unique content pillars, thought leadership-focused speaking, and podcast guesting topics, along with her expert bio, podcast one-sheet asset, and proven pitch templates, she's equipped to continue to attract targeted media, podcasting, and PR for her personal brand.

Results: Leads, Podcast and Speaking Invites Within Days

"Within just two days of revamping my LinkedIn profile, potential clients started scheduling discovery calls after finding me online, even before I made any posts. The feedback on my website from these prospects was fantastic they truly connected with the style and content, resonating deeply with the brand.

As we wrapped up our work, within a week, I felt a sense of empowerment and confidence. This led me to post my first weekly article on LinkedIn, and I was genuinely surprised and excited by the overwhelming number of impressions and views within just a few hours."

After a week, I was also contacted to be a speaker at an upcoming conference for women in tech hosted in Paris in a few months. Looking ahead, I'm looking forward to amplifying my visibility now that I feel completely aligned with my brand. My immediate plans involve launching a monthly newsletter and continuing to be very active on LinkedIn. By the end of this year, I'm hoping to participate as a guest on several podcasts and aim to secure more speaking engagements at women's tech events."

"If you're seeking a brand strategist who collaborates deeply to craft a powerful and genuine brand, look no further than Michelle."

"Michelle has a remarkable ability to grasp my vision and translate it into a brand identity that resonates on every level. From reshaping my LinkedIn profile into a magnet for my ideal clients to uncovering my authentic voice, she captured the core of my brand and brought it to life with stunning clarity. Acting as my trusted advisor, Michelle was always there, lending an ear to my uncertainties and skillfully guiding me toward confidence and authenticity. Her insights empowered me to step out uniquely and own my voice in a crowded space. If you're seeking a brand strategist who collaborates deeply to craft a powerful and genuine brand, look no further than Michelle. She's a rare find, and I feel incredibly fortunate to have connected with her. Without hesitation, I wholeheartedly recommend Michelle to anyone aiming to build a brand that stands out, deeply resonates, and propels their journey to success.

Thank you for everything, Michelle!!




Michelle Griffin, Personal Brand Strategist
SHERMALYN SIDONIE-JOHN,  GLOBAL BRAND EXECUTIVE & FOUNDER, INFLUENTIAL BOSSLADY



How This Global Executive Positioned Her Unique Message on LinkedIn and Landed on a TEDx Stage 


Back Story: Global Brand and Marketing Executive Building Her Side Brand 

Shermalyn Sidonie-John wears two hats as the ultimate "side brander" — a global brand and marketing executive by day an internationally-certified personal brand strategist by night coaching women leaders to build their powerhouse brands at Influential Boss Lady.

Challenge: How to Position Her Expertise and Thought Leadership on LinkedIn

Shermalyn was ready to expand her reach and amplify her message on LinkedIn. While she found success coaching clients in her Influential Boss Lady mastermind on Facebook, she recognized the power of LinkedIn to attract a wider audience. However, she was intimidated by the platform and unsure of how to communicate her expertise into engaging content.


Even as a brand and marketing executive, she needed an "outside expert" to clarify her brand and position her expertise on LinkedIn so she could feel confident in her message and thought leadership content.

Solution: Unearthing Her Positioning With Her Unique Message and Mission

Our goal was to turn her confusion into clarity and position her as an expert authority on LinkedIn. First, we started with an assessment and deep dive to develop her foundational brand identity and positioning. After my audit and analysis, I made an important discovery. Shermalyn had coined the term and owned the domain of "careerpreneur" but wasn't "owning" it. This unique word is her mission — based on her own story and the transformation she brings clients — teaching women leaders to take control of their careers and reach their next level of success, on their own terms.


"This is a category of one, I told her. You need to own it." And that she did. During our work together she applied and was accepted to present a TEDx Talk in June 2022.


After nailing her positioning, profile and messaging on LinkedIn, we worked on her content strategy and schedule. With a demanding day job, we worked on a system to "warm up" on LinkedIn, commenting, connecting and finally regular content creation. 



Results: Thought Leadership From TEDx Stages, LinkedIn and Hosting Her Own Conference

During our work together she applied and was accepted to present a TEDx Talk in June 2022 which was well-received leading to other speaking inquiries from events and from women leaders who want to speak on stage too. 


On LinkedIn, with new positioning clarity and "practice," Shermalyn's LinkedIn posting took off — she resonated and found engagement fast, and even with limited time on the platform she found early traction.


She launched her next mastermind and debuted the Influential Boss Lady LinkedIn Live show. She's enjoying inbound messages, has doubled her connections, and is attracting industry partners now that she’s more visible on LinkedIn. In Fall of 2023, she created and hosted an in-person conference, 

Her Words: "Michelle helped niche and position me for greater authority on LinkedIn."
As somebody who comes from branding and marketing, it's hard to know everything that you need to, but Michelle was able to expertly guide me. 
I needed to align myself with an expert like Michelle who would give me confidence, and who would understand and make sense of all the ideas in my head into a structured format that would engage and resonate with my target audience. 
I'm just so grateful for the clarity, structure, and support that you provided me, it was so important. Our deep dive sessions taught me so much and I'm just so immensely grateful for her insights and collaboration. 



Michelle B Griffin, The Brand Therapist, Personal Branding Consultant, Coach and Speaker
CATRINA OSSMANN, NONPROFIT MARKETING LEADER, FOUNDER, CLEVER IDEAS MARKETING



How This Female Founder and Speaker Is Going National With Clarity, Positioning and a New Framework to Stand Out In Her Field

Back Story: Ready to Rise from Local Expert to National Thought Leader

As the founder of Clever Ideas Marketing® and a Maxwell Leadership Certified Speaker and Trainer, Catrina Ossmann is a brilliant marketer and speaker but knew it was time to up-level, get visible, and raise her industry presence. Like so many of my women leaders and founder clients who want to build their personal brands and be seen in wider circles, she was feeling unclear and unable to move forward with too many ideas, feeling stuck and unsure how to articulate her value.

Challenge: Being Broad and Undefined Was Holding Her Back

"I can help my clients with ideas, but struggled to focus on my own personal brand" is a line I hear often and Catrina was struggling to do it for herself. With more than 12 years in business, she was ready to step from behind the scenes and be the "face of her business" but with so much information online she was spinning. She needed help to find focus and stay on track.


My audit immediately spotted a common roadblock -- too wide, too general, and not talking to any particular audience with too many offers and services for the goals she'd set to grow her brand and be recognized on a national scale.

Solution: Become the Go-To in a Specialized Area You Can Own

In just 30 days, my Visible Brand Authority roadmap program accelerated Catrina in these key areas using my signature framework, The Brand GPS.™


Positioning: We carved out her niche as the non-profit marketing expert for female leaders, focusing on her strengths and the majority of her clientele. (prior she was too general and her services were too vast but discovered her nonprofit clients and causes were her primary revenue streams)


Messaging: We got clear about the distinct problem she addresses. Her precise messaging attracts her ideal clients of nonprofit marketing leaders, organizations, and causes, a niche that desperately needs her simple yet strategic marketing expertise.


Methodology: One of my gifts is creating signature IPs and frameworks for clients. I crafted Non-Profit Marketing Made Simple (and she got the domain) laying the foundation for her newsletters, streamlined services, offers, and more.


LinkedIn Profile and Presence: We revamped her dormant profile she'd barely touched to position her as an industry authority. With the added 𝗟𝗶𝗻𝗸𝗲𝗱𝗜𝗻 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀™ guide, she's got all the tools she needs to strategically post, comment, and build a niche community.


Thought Leadership/PR - We created new thought leadership content pillars, tapping into speaking, workshops, and media opportunities. With her expert bio and 𝗣𝗥 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀™ guide has all the tools she needs to "Pitch Like a Pro."

Results: A New Platform, Building Thought Leadership on LinkedIn

Her new positioning and messaging, updated site, and LinkedIn profile are attracting the right industry attention. She developed the NonProfit Marketing Made Simple newsletter for the specialized field of non-profit marketing and is hosting targeted events, speaking and consistently posting on LinkedIn to grow her network and become more visible and influential in her industry.

"Working with Michelle was a game-changer. She helped me clarify my focus and develop a strong personal brand."

Michelle helped me get focused on a detailed plan for building my personal brand. I was stuck in a rut, and ready for some feedback and new ideas. I had been following her on LinkedIn and could tell that not only did she have a strong personal brand, but she also shares helpful information and works to lift up others. Her process was straightforward and effective, enabling me to position myself confidently in my field. She made the process easy, asking thoughtful questions and sharing resources to help me be strategic in my efforts. I highly recommend her for anyone looking to elevate their brand."



Michelle Griffin, Personal Brand Strategist
LISA RICHER FOUNDER, JOURNEY2BLOOM AND NEURODIVERSITY CONSULTANT



How This Consultant Transformed From Unclear In Her Brand to Booking a Paid Fortune 500 Keynote in 90 Days

Back Story: Turning Her Lived Experiences and Expertise into a Clear Message and Framework

Lisa is a former executive HR corporate leader turned executive leadership coach with more than 20 years of experience in her industry. As an executive coach, Lisa loved the work and enjoyed success but felt a calling for more using her passion and expertise.

 

As a parent to two neurodiverse sons, Lisa is an expert at navigating the complicated educational journeys that challenge neurodiverse learners. After blogging for years and after repeated requests from others, Lisa founded Journey2Bloom, a consultancy to simplify the complicated educational process for parents educators and employers of neurodiverse learners.

Challenge: "It was So Hard To Articulate My Mission to Others"

Lisa struggled to put her words and ideas into meaning and motion. While she’s great at bringing simplicity to her clients, she wasn’t able to do it for herself. What was so clear in her mind was hard for her to articulate into a clear brand, niche positioning, and compelling brand messaging.


She felt frustrated explaining her work to prospects and anyone who was seeking her services. For this reason, her website lacked the visibility and resources that were so important to prospective clients.

Solution: Becoming Clear, Confident and Ready to Share Her Message

Lisa knew what she wanted but struggled to make sense of her endless ideas and existing content assets. Our first session dove deep into outlining her "golden thread" of her internal, external, and professional clarity. By our second session, Lisa felt clear, confident, and more at ease with her brand values, vision, and message. Once her clarity and positioning were aligned, we worked on her personal brand statement and visual and verbal brand attributes. We crafted her expert bio, developed her framework and revamped her LinkedIn profile and presence, service offers, and the first stages of her visibility strategy on LinkedIn.



Results: Podcasts, Paid Speaking, Partnerships and More.

During our work together, we updated Lisa's LinkedIn profile which immediately got her noticed as an expert authority in her niche. Lisa enjoyed clarity and confidence in her elevator pitch and personal brand messaging on client calls, presentations, and guesting on podcasts. She founded a community for parents and educators where she now shares resources and answers questions from members.


Within 30 days, she started collaborating with industry leaders, was invited on two podcasts, and within 90 days was hired and paid to present a neurodiversity corporate training session for a Fortune 100 company. Now, six months later, Lisa enjoys a full roster of clients and has partnered with another international expert in her space for a co-branded program. Most importantly, Lisa feels aligned and impactful bringing clarity, confidence, and courage to those navigating the neurodiverse learning journey.

"Michelle was instrumental in helping me create a clear and concise message."

I had so much information ~ written and in my mind ~ yet could not find a way to clearly articulate, package, and present my message in a simple way that resonated with others. I am forever grateful for her patience and support.



Michelle B. Griffin, Personal Branding Expert
RENEE COHEN, CERTIFIED FINANCIAL ADVISOR, FOUNDER, WEALTHY WOMEN COLLECTIVE



How This Advisor Developed Her Signature Thought Leadership Framework and Became a LinkedIn "Top Voice"

Back Story: Leveraging Her Backstory into a Mission To Help Women Reclaim Financial Power

Renee Cohen never set off to become a certified financial planner. After spending ten years in her dream career in sports media, Renee felt stuck. She constantly struggled with her finances and desperately wanted to stop worrying if she was doing "the right things" with her money. While searching for guidance, she discovered the financial industry overlooked and underserved the "modern woman." That a-ha moment ignited her and she's been on a mission ever since to help women claim their financial power.

Challenge: How to Position and Amplify Her Mission On a National Scale

While Renee enjoys a thriving business in the Los Angeles area, Renee wanted to amplify her thought leadership on a national scale. She worried her positioning was too generic and she wasn't specialized, getting her "lost in the sea of sameness" among so many financial advisors. In her male-dominated industry, Renee wanted to gain traction and become more recognized for female financial literacy and gender pay advocacy.

Solution: A Clear and Focused Roadmap and Framework

Renee needed a more simplified and cohesive approach. When you're ready to scale, a foundational brand identity and visibility strategy is needed to better niche positioning and messaging. One roadblock was that Renee hadn't defined her core audience so my deeper and more extensive analysis helped us uncover what matters, what she stood for, and her core area of impact and differentiation, The Financial Flexibility Framework.


With her brand clarity and cohesiveness revamped, we worked on her messaging, LinkedIn profile, thought leadership, marketing assets, events, and PR strategies. We revamped her resource guide, tested a LinkedIn Live show, developed her podcast and speaking media guide, and story ideas, and updated her authority bio, podcast pitches, and speaking and networking events.


Results: Thought Leadership Scales and LinkedIn Top Voice Recognition

Renee is enjoying business growth with her new positioning helping executive women claim their power with her Financial Flexibility Framework. She's now hosting in-person and online educational events with her Wealthy Women Collective community, relaunched her revamped resource guide and nurture email campaign, and is publishing a weekly newsletter to help women claim their financial power. Recently, she was named a LinkedIn Top Voice for her excellent thought leadership content to help women reclaim their financial power.

Her Words: "Michelle's superpower is helping people with their branding."
Michelle guided me to true brand clarity and cohesiveness so I could confidently own and communicate my framework. I now have clarity about how to differentiate and communicate my brand and feel much more aligned and have the intentionality to continue to leverage my process and scale my brand message and marketing with her coaching.



Michelle Griffin, Personal Brand Strategist
BARB GOLUB, AUTHOR AND LITERACY CONSULTANT


How This Literacy Consultant Scaled Her Business With Expert Positioning and Clear Brand Messaging

Back Story: Ready to Up-Level Herself and Her Business

Barb Golub is a Connecticut-based literacy consultant who specializes in supporting administrators, literacy coaches, and K-5 teachers in evidence-based practices for reading and writing instruction. As an educator with 20 years of experience, she specialized in personalized literacy staff development to support school leaders, literacy coaches, classroom teachers, and support staff. She's passionate about empowering school administrators and teachers to make the best choices for their readers and writers.

Challenge: Outdated and Unclear Messaging Was Keeping Her From Growth

Barb was struggling to grow her business, especially with an outdated website and a “non-existent” LinkedIn profile, where she "knew her potential clients were." She felt lost in articulating who she was, what she stood for, and how she should communicate her message to prospective clients.


Barb knew clarity would grow her consultancy and allow her to impact more students while earning more and working less. This came with a need to get clear on her vision, position her expertise, and ensure her brand messaging and website reflected her specialization in her industry.

Solution: New Clarity, Offers and Content Assets Brings Alignment and Grows Authority

Our first goal was to find clarity on her vision, mission, and values to align her internal perspectives with her goals. Since Barb serves the New England area, she's limited by distance but not by expanding her authority to reach and speak at industry conferences to broaden her thought leadership in her space.


Barb found true clarity in our deep dive and was excited to translate this into her positioning,  brand messaging, and homepage copy, restructure her offers, and develop a strategic guide for her new audience to align her communication and collateral in one cohesive brand. 

Results: Revamped Site and LinkedIn Positions Her as The Go-To in Her Field

After working with a website designer, Barb's new site is a solid 360-degree turnaround that showcases her as the friendly, smart and helpful expert she is. Her new offers support her goals and her lead magnet, "5 Things School Leaders Can Do to Support Teachers on Their Journey to Evidence-Based Instruction" is currently being downloaded on her site.


After a detailed revamp of her LinkedIn profile, with a new banner, company page and "authority areas", she's ready to start building connections with key people of influence in her industry. Barb's case study showcases how goals should be supported using brand clarity, messaging and aligned packaging to become a standout in your space.

Her Words: "I didn’t know what my messaging was before I worked with Michelle."
I wanted to scale my consultancy and needed help finding clarity for my vision. I feel so much more confident in my new messaging and new website. Michelle guided me to step up for more visibility and authority to reach bigger clients.



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