Connection isn't tactical
Are we just fueling the algo or actually building connection?
2025. Something needs to give.
I feel like we’ve been here before, same time last year. And the year before. Black Friday is behind us and the final cycle of the year — that stressful Q4 in business that has us running the hamster wheel a bit more frantically — is wrapping up.
And with it, our nerves and yearning for a much needed, long exhale.
I guess I’m early this year with reflecting on the past 12 months. I can’t shake the feeling that I entered the year with such healthy intentions.
Listen to my gut. Don’t get caught up in other people’s narratives, or political games. Create things that foster connection and relationship, instead of short-term transactions.
Fast forward to today and I look back at a bumpy 2024. I got caught up in other people’s agendas; it left me raw and annoyed at myself for not putting up better boundaries.
I tried to continue building a network of like-minded professional warriors and explorers, hopefully collaborators; turns out everyone’s life is so busy and complicated and maybe we’re all becoming diconnected to ourselves in the process.
I did manage to stop creating for the sake of creating. (You’re welcome, dear reader; no spam newsletters just created to follow a publishing schedule that benefits the writer not the reader.)
Want to indulge in anti-algorythmic, SEO-unfriendly content? Who doesn’t!
It turns out, changing ingrained business practices is very, very, very hard. Finding co-conspirators whose thinking and actions align with yours is even harder.
But this swimming against the current is imperative, even if accompanied by much self-doubt and imposter syndroms.
Tactical, short-term, profit-driven approaches no longer serve us, our businesses, or our customers. They suck us dry. Purposeful work? It’s the antithesis of it.
One thing I’ve been struggling with is putting myself, and my thinking, out there versus having enough time to actually develop a distinct opinion about it all.
From a professional stand-point, adding to the endless content loop isn’t just ineffective; it’s selfish, uninspiring, inefficient.
What’s missing? What needs to change? Intentional connection, for one.
Connection, that word. So over-used while under-delivering. What does that feel like nowadays, as individuals and as businesses?
What might intentional content creation do for our processes, audiences, bottom line?
Each year we speak of re-imagining this or that. Re-connecting in better, more meaningful ways.
Then we get lost in the theory. Or in the flow of business as usual. We need more pause, more consideration, more difficult conversations about the value we are or are not creating.
We need a practice of reflection, in business and for ourselves. Not audit. Not review. Considered introspection of our contribution.
Dis-connect to re-connect. Let’s chart new paths.
OPEN CALL
Make it your own in 2025: Intentional brand and marketing planning
I’m beginning 2025 with an experiment of bringing that intentionality into business practice. I’m looking for solopreneurs or freelancers or business leaders that want to approach brand marketing in more sustainable ways, both strategically and in everyday operations, and to shape that together.
The concept is designed as a 4-6 week immersion that combines rigorous strategic methodologies with brand intrinsic perspectives and consumer value. By reinterpreting and reflecting, we’ll view the brand through the lens of intentional connection with consumers, informed by brand legacy, DNA and past performance learnings (as measured by data and feedback) as a guiding source of truth. The result might be anything from a brand strategy to a marketing value map, depending on what we identify as most helpful to sustainably reaching business goals.
This is not your typical consulting project format.
The process is collaborative and co-creative, as it will be a mix of working sessions and co-designing of ideas and directions. So you’ll need to not only be willing to put in the work, but also curious about learning the process.
Get in touch by replying to this newsletter or send an email to studio@thinkbrandplay.com to find out more.
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