Announcing A New Series: 100 Things Editors Wish Brands Knew
Endless takeaway for self-starting founders, media-ready influencers, PR, and marketers of all kinds. To tell the truth, this is gonna be cathartic...
An exciting announcement—and a new series around brand strategy for those who manage it from every angle. (Is that all of us at this point?)
What Editors Know–And Why Writing This For You Is Cathartic.
After 12+ years as an editor-in-chief—and nearly as many advising wellness brands—I began this Substack as a place to curate “good ideas and beautiful objects”, an impulse my editor brain couldn’t resist.
As I’ve continued my work with clients on brand and content strategy, I’ve also been working on some content offline: an expanded guide I’ve added to for years: 100 Things Editors Wish Brands Knew.
‘100 Things’ is something between an editor’s private burn book and a functional instruction manual built on real-time learnings. Only kidding about the burn book aspect—no catty comments or scandalous secrets to be found here, this guide is more a collection of tips; a cathartic journal alchemizing frequently witnessed missteps into something instructional.
I considered turning ‘100 Things’ into a download with optional consulting sessions—(and I still might, if that feels like the right format for some of you—let me know in the comments).
This summer, I’m going to start rolling these insights out as a series for subscribers here on Well Constructed. (Who has time to review one hundred insights at one time, anyway!)
These are core brand ideas that resurface with clients again and again—the principles that have shaped my work as both an editor and a brand strategist.
Along with the 100 obsessive notes I’ve kept on brand, press outreach, social, content and more, I’ll also be sharing quick insights on of-the-moment brand happenings in real time.
This is how I like to consume content now—short, focused ideas to skim and apply immediately. This series will be practical, inspiring, and easy to return to—one useful insight at a time.
Two things you should know about me before you subscribe:
01. My editorial background...
My perspective is formed from 12+ years of daily publishing as co-founder and editor-in-chief of The Chalkboard Mag. We were LA’s first true wellness lifestyle site—except for goop, which was sort a bit of a different beast at the start.
We built TCM in 2012, as wellness began its early rise to cultural ubiquity. We were also forging through the early days of Instagram and ‘content as commerce’, both wildly new phenomenons considered ‘unserious’ to most industry execs at the start!
We were small, but obsessed, and very early—quickly gaining ‘IYKYK’ status among wellness-minded women in LA and NYC. The dream was to wedge wellness into mainstream lifestyle verticals like fashion, beauty, food and pop news, in a way it hadn’t been done before.
I interviewed A-List actors about their wellness obsessions and smoothie recipes before Erewhon even imagined a second location, and shot gluten-free bakers and holistic doctors like they were celebrities too. We ran stories on designer chicken coops and adaptogenic drinks next to trend coverage and lip gloss reviews.
Believe it or not, no one was doing that back then!
Why It Matters To You…
For over 12 years, I was on the receiving end of what was easily 100,000 brand pitches–the good, the bad, and the ugly. Much has been said about the art of the pitch from within the PR world—look from the other side of the fence at what’s going through the mind of an editor.
Knowing what gets through to editors can be a deciding factor for your brand’s success. Understanding what’s going on on the other side of that email can help you solve crucial problems.
I’ve seen it all…! I’ve collaborated with some of the biggest brands in the world from Vogue to Barbie and featured more personal heroes and influential celebs than would bore you to name. Being in a holistic space like wellness, I’ve also worked with the most niche brands and unconventional figures around, and given many emerging founders in wellness and beauty their very first press.
I’ve produced and managed countless assets and campaigns across multiple platforms–both organically and with large advertising partners. (The multi-channel strategy is where so many brands have opportunities to grow.)
I’ve been nose deep in all the usual editorial and influencer rites and rituals, hosting and attending all the brand trips, dinners, store openings; moderating panels; directing shoots; testing out every consumer-facing platform under the sun as they spike and dive beneath our feet.
02. On brand consulting… The second thing you should know about the person producing this series is that I’ve spent years consulting for wellness brands from big food to small beauty.
I’ve worked in all the traditional marketing layers, but I also have a few unique approaches:
Yes, there are a few hard rules to brand and marketing, but soft skills are where the magic is. I’m a wellness person, after all. There’s an energy to creating all this work successfully—intuitive nudges, social intelligence and a myriad of creative soft skills. There are gushy things at play that you can’t point to on your P&L, but, trust me, they’re there.
I believe good design is everything. Consumers these days are nothing if not visually astute and every single element from the first three seconds of your reel to the font layouts in your email campaigns will affect your bottom line.
Founders have to define success for themselves. There is no one size fits all.
Yes, your business will make hardline demands of you, but you get to decide how quickly you want to grow, how your team will operate, and what you want your life to look like in real life. With small businesses, I always start there.
How To Join:
I’ll begin rolling out this series to paid subscribers next week and I think you’ll find they arrive just frequently enough—short, focused ideas that are easy to skim and apply to your work immediately.
Thanks in advance for joining! So curious to hear from friends and colleagues as we get the series going.
If a downloadable format interests you, let me know and I’ll consider adding that offering as well on Brand Ceremony here!