Watch My Social Insights

The fastest way to grow isn’t to talk to more people. It’s to talk to the right ones.

Before social media existed, I was building GHD into a global brand.

We didn’t spray and pray.

We found a small group of hairdressers in the right salons in the right cities and built real relationships with every single one of them.

We sent them product.
We visited them.
We listened.
We made them feel like insiders before the brand was famous.
They told everyone.

The brand grew to £300 million.
Before influencers had a name. Before Instagram existed. One relationship at a time.

The same principle works now.

Stop trying to reach thousands of strangers.

Find your people. Comment on their content. Actually reply when they engage with yours. Show up consistently like you mean it.

The algorithm measures reach. Your business runs on trust.

Those are not the same thing.

If you’re starting a business and you want the thinking behind the tactics, follow. That’s all I talk about here.

#startingabusiness #sidehustle #careerchange #brandidentity #workingmum ...

I’ve spent the last month doing research calls with people starting businesses and personal brands.

The people were all from different countries, with different products, at different stages of business.

And five things came up in every single conversation.

ONE.
Every single person described themselves as winging it. Their words, not mine.

TWO.
Nobody trusts the gurus. Not one person believed the viral hook promises. What made them listen was something that felt real and didn’t ask for anything in return.

THREE
Some had already made sales with tiny followings. The idea that you need 10,000 followers before you can sell anything — that’s not true.

FOUR:
Comparison was the thing stopping them most. Not skills. Not time. Not money. The feeling that everyone else had figured it out already.

FIVE:
What they all actually wanted wasn’t more tips. It was clarity. Who am I talking to, what am I offering, why does it matter.

The strategy. Before the tactics.

If any of that sounds familiar — follow.

That’s exactly what I talk about here.

#startingabusiness #sidehustle #careerchange #brandidentity #workingmum ...

The HIPPO effect is quietly wrecking small business marketing.

You know it from the boardroom version: Highest Paid Person’s Opinion. Whoever earns the most gets listened to, even when they’re wrong.

On social media it just changes shape. Highest Profile Person’s Opinion.
Big following = must know what they’re talking about.
Except it doesn’t work like that.

Followers tell you someone can get followers.
They don’t tell you their advice will work for your business, your audience, or your stage.

Next time you’re about to follow “guru advice,” ask one question first: has this actually worked for them more than once, in a way you can check?

That’s the whole filter. It’s saved me from wasting months on advice that was never built for me in the first place.

#startingabusiness #sidehustle #careerchange #brandidentity #workingmum ...

26 years in marketing, a £300 million brand behind me — but no need to get semantic about my age, is there?

Everything else he said, though — fair.

I’ve built brands.

I can spot bad marketing advice a mile off.

I’ve never once told anyone to “niche down and manifest it,” and I never will.

If you want to know what’s actually going on with your brand — not vibes, not guesswork — I built a free 2-minute test for that.

Comment “BRAND” and I’ll send you the link.

#startingabusiness #sidehustle #careerchange #brandidentity #workingmum ...

Your best beginner AI briefing guide. Save for later.

Most people open Claude or ChatGPT, type one line, and wonder why marketing content comes back sounding like AI slop.

Here’s what a proper brief actually contains.

The full AI Briefing Kit launches 17th July. Save this now so you’ve got a head start.

#startingabusiness #sidehustle #careerchange #brandidentity #workingmum ...

Why wouldn’t you take a free test that can diagnose your brand DNA in a few minutes?

And it’s built by a marketer with 26 years experience who built a £300m brand.

Or…you could comment “DNA” and I’ll send you the link to the test.

#startingabusiness #sidehustle #careerchange #brandidentity #workingmum ...

If you haven’t taken the Brand DNA Test yet - what are you waiting for?

People buy from people - so let’s make sure your brand is taking on human characteristics!

Comment “DNA” and I’ll send you the link.

#startingabusiness #sidehustle #careerchange #brandidentity #workingmum ...

How to make your brand impossible to ignore.

I’m Sarah, I’m a marketer with 26 years experience.
Let’s get into it.

ONE
Don’t write content, create a whole belief system. People need to feel like they can align with your values and that they can step into a world that you’ve created.

TWO
Go all in on the core of your identity. If you don’t yet know your identity, do my brand DNA test, it’s free. There’s a link in my bio. You have to know the psychology behind your brand in order for it to feel human. That’s what you’ll get from the test.

THREE
Get totally clear about your brand’s core truths. This is your behaviours, your characteristics, your values. Why should people love you? How are you going to connect with them on a human level? You can only do that if you’re really clear about your core truths.

FOUR
Get clear about your always and your never. What does your brand always say and do? What does your brand never say and do? The boundaries are important. They provide consistency. Make sure you stick to them. Being clear about them will make your audience love you more.

FIVE
If you are using AI to create content, make sure it is briefed correctly. AI slop is not going to build a brand. But if you brief AI correctly, you can have an incredible marketing assistant to hand to help you create all your content. If that’s something that sounds interesting to you, let me know in the comments because I have a really exciting launch coming up that is going to effectively mean you have on hand a brand and marketing assistant all the time to help you with everything that you need to do from a brand perspective.

So make sure you like and follow so you don’t miss it.

#startingabusiness #sidehustle #careerchange #brandidentity #workingmum ...

How to make your brand impossible to ignore.

I’m Sarah, I’m a marketer with 26 years experience. Let’s get into it.

ONE
Don’t write content, create a whole belief system. People need to feel like they can align with your values and that they can step into a world that you’ve created.

TWO
Go all in on the core of your identity. If you don’t yet know your identity, do my brand DNA test, it’s free. There’s a link in my bio. You have to know the psychology behind your brand in order for it to feel human. That’s what you’ll get from the test.

THREE
Get totally clear about your brand’s core truths. This is your behaviours, your characteristics, your values. Why should people love you? How are you going to connect with them on a human level? You can only do that if you’re really clear about your core truths.

FOUR
Get clear about your always and your never. What does your brand always say and do? What does your brand never say and do? The boundaries are important. They provide consistency. Make sure you stick to them. Being clear about them will make your audience love you more.

FIVE
If you are using AI to create content, make sure it is briefed correctly. AI slop is not going to build a brand. But if you brief AI correctly, you can have an incredible marketing assistant to hand to help you create all your content. If that’s something that sounds interesting to you, let me know in the comments because I have a really exciting launch coming up that is going to effectively mean you have on hand a brand and marketing assistant all the time to help you with everything that you need to do from a brand perspective.

So make sure you like and follow so you don’t miss it.

#startingabusiness #sidehustle #careerchange #brandidentity #workingmum ...

Couldn’t resist this trend 🫣 ⤵️
In 1931 a man called Neil McElroy wrote a three page memo at Procter and Gamble.

Ad Age magazine named it one of the biggest moments in 75 years of advertising.

It contained four things.

Know your customer.
Own your brand.
Have a plan.
Be accountable for results.

That’s it. That’s the whole game. Written 95 years ago in a few pages.

Here’s why the marketing industry doesn’t want you to find it:

Because if you know this, you don’t need their help!

You don’t need the complicated frameworks. You don’t need someone to sell you a twelve week program to figure out what a P&G executive wrote down before your grandparents were born.

The fundamentals were never complicated.

They were just buried under an industry that profits from making you think they are.

Comment GUIDE and I’ll send you the full breakdown.

#startingabusiness #sidehustle #careerchange #brandidentity workingmum ...

This is the third time I’ve built something from scratch. You’d think it gets easier.

The countdown is always there.

Counting down to launch. To running out of money. To having to go back to the day job if it doesn’t work out.

And to the next time someone asks how your “little project” is going.

That one hits different.

There’s no official deadline.
Nobody set it but you.
But it runs in the background of everything — every morning you wake up, every time you check your numbers, every time you wonder if this is actually going to work.

I call it the silent countdown.

And if you’re building something new right now, I’d bet everything you can hear it.

The cruel part isn’t the pressure. It’s that you chose this.
You looked at your life and decided that building something of your own mattered enough to carry the weight.

That takes total badass bravery. And not everyone has it. But you do.
You’re not behind. You’re not failing. You’re just building something real.
And that has never once been quiet.

#startingabusiness #sidehustle #careerchange #brandidentity #workingmum ...

There’s a hidden problem inside every small business. And it might be silently killing yours

In marketing we have a name for it.
The HIPPO.
Highest Paid Person’s Opinion.

In big businesses, the HIPPO is usually the CEO or the MD. The person whose opinion overrides everyone else’s in the room. Even when they’re wrong.

But when you’re running your own business?
You are the HIPPO.
And that’s the problem.

Because when you believe in what you’re selling, it’s almost impossible to see it clearly.

You’re too close to it. Too invested. Too convinced that everyone else will love it as much as you do.

So you skip the research.
You trust your gut.
You launch.
And then nothing happens.

Not because your idea was bad. Because nobody validated it before you built it.

Here’s what to do instead:

ONE - Before you create anything, ask people about the problem you’re trying to solve.

TWO - Don’t ask friends. They’ll be kind. Find strangers.

THREE - Listen for the language they use. That’s your marketing.

FOUR: If nobody can describe the problem clearly, the market might not be ready.

FIVE: If everyone nods along but nobody asks how to buy it, that’s a signal too.

The research doesn’t have to be expensive or complicated. It just has to happen before you launch.

Comment GUIDE and I’ll send you my free Brand Clarity Guide. It’s the starting point for making sure you’re building something people actually want.

If this is the kind of no-nonsense marketing advice you need right now, follow. That’s what I’m here for.

#startingabusiness #sidehustle #careerchange #brandidentity #workingmum ...

I saw a post recently that broke my heart a little.

A woman selling something she made by hand. Something she loved.
Except it wasn’t selling.

Here’s what nobody told her before she started.

ONE: Not everything should be a business.

TWO: Loving what you make is not the same as there being a market for it.

THREE: If the market isn’t there, nothing else will fix it. Not better branding. Not more posts. Not a different price point.

FOUR: The research has to happen before the launch. Not after.

FIVE: The first question to ask is never “how do I sell this?” It’s “do enough people actually want this?”

This isn’t to be harsh. It’s to save you the heartbreak of finding out later.

If you’re turning a hobby into a business and you want to make sure you’re building on the right foundation, comment GUIDE and I’ll send you my free Brand Clarity Guide. It’s a good place to start.

If this is the kind of thing you want to hear more of — the stuff nobody else is saying — follow. That’s what I’m here for.

#startingabusiness #sidehustle #careerchange #brandidentity #workingmum ...

I saw a post recently that broke my heart a little.

A woman selling something she made by hand. Something she loved.
And it wasn’t selling.

Here’s what nobody told her before she started.

ONE - Not everything should be a business.

TWO - Loving what you make is not the same as there being a market for it.

THREE - If the market isn’t there, nothing else will fix it. Not better branding. Not more posts. Not a different price point.

FOUR - The research has to happen before the launch. Not after.

FIVE - The first question to ask is never “how do I sell this?” It’s “do enough people actually want this?”

This isn’t to be harsh. It’s to save you the heartbreak of finding out later.

If you’re turning a hobby into a business and you want to make sure you’re building on the right foundation, comment GUIDE and I’ll send you my free Brand Clarity Guide. It’s a good place to start.

If this is the kind of thing you want to hear more of — the stuff nobody else is saying — follow. That’s what I’m here for.

#startingabusiness #sidehustle #careerchange #brandidentity #workingmum ...

Everyone says the same thing.

Post more.
Show up every day.
Be consistent.

So you do.

You film things.
You write captions.
You spend Sunday night scheduling the week.

And nothing changes.

Not because you’re doing it wrong. Because you’re doing the wrong thing.

Posting is not marketing.

Posting is a tactic.

Marketing is the thinking that happens before you ever pick up your phone.

There are three questions you need to answer first…

ONE:
Who are you actually talking to?

TWO:
What do they need to hear right now?

THREE:
Why should they pick you over everyone else?

Most people skip straight to the content without answering any of them.
So the content goes nowhere.

Not because they’re behind. Because nobody told them what marketing actually is.

Comment GUIDE below and I’ll send you my free Brand Clarity Guide. It’s the starting point for getting this right.

If you’re building something and putting in the effort without seeing anything back, follow.

That’s exactly who I’m here for.

#startingabusiness #brandidentity #careerchange #smallbusinessmarketing #workingmum ...

This account is 7 weeks old.

I started it with 80 followers and a plan to prove something.

That you don’t need a massive audience to sell. You need the right one.

So here’s what’s happened so far.

Sales to the US, South Africa, Pakistan and the UK. From a standing start. No ads. No viral moment. No borrowed audience.

But the number that matters more than any of that?

The conversations.

I’ve been doing research interviews with some of my followers. Real ones. Sitting down and asking what’s actually hard about building a brand when you’re just starting out.

And what I’m hearing is shaping everything. The products I build. The content I make. The problems I focus on.

That’s what proper marketing looks like. Not guessing. Not copying what’s working for someone else. Knowing your customer well enough that when you make something, it’s for them specifically.

If you’re starting something and you don’t know where to begin with your brand, the Brand DNA Test is free and it takes about 2 minutes. Comment ‘DNA’ and I’ll send you the link.

If you want to follow the experiment as it unfolds, hit follow. I share everything. The wins and the parts that aren’t working yet.

#startingabusiness #sidehustle #smallbusinessmarketing #brandidentity #workingmum ...