[Top Women Leaders] Mastering Brand Visibility With Kelly Sinclair of KS&Co. 

Kelly Sinclair is the President and CEO of KS&Co., a company dedicated to supporting entrepreneurs and small businesses in building their brands and increasing their visibility. With a strong background in public relations, Kelly has successfully worked with major organizations such as BP and National Public Relations, helping them navigate crisis communications and shift public perceptions. An advocate for relationship building and personalized strategies, she also hosts the Entrepreneur School podcast, providing education and inspiration for ambitious individuals. Her personal journey, marked by a transformative career shift after a family tragedy, highlights her commitment to balancing professional success with personal fulfillment.

Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:

• [03:16] How Kelly Sinclair helps brands achieve maximum visibility
• [04:43] The importance of public relations and shifting perceptions
• [06:18] Crisis communication strategies from real-world scenarios
• [08:57] Strategies for effective internal communication
• [10:52] How a personal loss became a catalyst for Kelly’s career re-evaluation 
• [19:02] Kelly’s shift from PR services to scalable online courses
• [26:34] The impact of creating anticipation and leveraging collaborations for retail businesses
• [31:56] How podcast hosts sift through pitches and select standout guests

In this episode…

Are you struggling to make your brand stand out in a crowded marketplace? Do you feel like your business is stuck in a cycle of mediocrity, unable to break through and connect with the right audience? How can entrepreneurs effectively engage with their audience to create meaningful and successful connections?

Kelly Sinclair shares her journey from working in high-stakes corporate communications to becoming an advocate for entrepreneurs seeking to build strong brands. She emphasizes the importance of understanding audience perceptions and engaging with them to foster trust and authenticity. Kelly’s experience highlights the shift from traditional marketing to more personalized, audience-driven strategies, showcasing her journey from consultancy work to creating scalable online courses. Her approach is a blend of media relations, public engagement, and innovative marketing strategies, aimed at helping businesses achieve visibility and growth.

In this episode of the Inspired Insider Podcast, Dr. Jeremy Weisz interviews Kelly Sinclair, President and CEO of KS&Co., about building brand visibility and authentic connections. Kelly shares valuable insights into successful branding strategies that focus on understanding and engaging with your audience. She offers actionable advice for entrepreneurs on leveraging relationships to grow their brands and emphasizes the importance of visibility and customized marketing strategies for achieving long-term business success.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Kelly Sinclair on LinkedIn
• KS&Co.
• Entrepreneur School Podcast
• Brand Visibility Accelerator
• Cubicle to CEO Podcast

Special Mention(s):

• Jordan Gill on LinkedIn
• Systems Saved Me Podcast

Related episode(s):

• “[Top Women Leaders] Women and the Burden of Success With Jess Begen Galica, Founder of Reclaim Your Career” on the Inspired Insider Podcast
• “[Top Women Leaders] HR and Staffing Solutions To Overcome Workforce Challenges With Corinne Milien” on the Inspired Insider Podcast
• “[Women Leader Series] The Secret to Standing Out and Growing Your Business With Winnie Hart of TwinEngine” on the Inspired Insider Podcast

Quotable moments:

• “If you don’t put yourself out there, if you don’t create an audience, you don’t have leads, you don’t have sales.”
• “It’s really about understanding what your audience wants and needs because of what they think their challenge is.”
• “We had lots of conversations about what they are worried about? What is keeping them up at night? What are they thinking about?”
• “I’m still doing what I went to school to do, which is PR, but I love PR because there’s such a broad reach in what that actually means.”
• “Finding those smaller groups to get to be part of is incredible because those relationships turn into podcast guesting collabs.”

Action Steps:

1. Engage in public relations activities to shift perceptions and manage company narratives: Effective PR is crucial for portraying a positive image and can help a company navigate through crises by addressing staff and public concerns.
2. Utilize digital courses and online education for scalable growth: Transitioning to online programs creates opportunities to reach a wider audience and facilitate growth beyond one-on-one consulting.
3. Implement group coaching programs for increased support and accountability: Group programs with one-on-one elements ensure clients receive personalized advice while benefiting from shared experiences and peer interaction.
4. Foster community connections for new business visibility: Creating partnerships, attending community events, and hosting VIP experiences can significantly boost a new business’s visibility and reputation.
5. Offer value through content and collaborations: Providing valuable insights through content and leveraging collaborative efforts can build trust and establish authority within your industry.

Episode Transcript

Intro 00:15

You are listening to Inspired Insider with your host, Dr. Jeremy Weisz.

Jeremy Weisz 00:22

Dr. Jeremy Weisz here, founder of InspiredInsider.com where I talk with inspirational entrepreneurs and leaders. Today is no different. I have Kelly Sinclair, you can check her out at KSCo.ca and Kelly, before I formally introduce you, I always like to point out other episodes of the podcast people should check out.

Since this is part of the Top Women Leaders series, I had Jess Galica on who started and founded Reclaim Your Career, so she kind of helps high performing women in corporate transform their career trajectories. That was a really interesting one and pivot. She also wrote a book around it. Corinne Milien also specializes in HR and staffing. And really, she works with colleges and helps get really high performing interns for some of these, you know, companies and gets them great experience, gets the company’s great staff that also can stay on later and be long term staff for that company. Another good one was Winnie Hart of TwinEngine. She also has a book and has an amazing company, TwinEngine, because she actually has an identical twin. So check that one out as well. And more episodes on InspiredInsider.com. 

This episode is brought to you by Rise25. At Rise25, we help you give to and connect to your dream relationships and partnerships. How do we do that? 

We do that by helping you run your podcast. We’re an easy button for a company to launch and run a podcast. Kelly has a podcast. She’s a big proponent of podcasting as well. We do the accountability, the strategy and the full execution. 

So, Kelly, we call ourselves the magic elves that run in the background to make it look easy for the host and the company so they can create amazing content, amazing relationships, and most importantly, run their business. You know, for me, the number one thing in my life is relationships, and I’m always looking at ways to give to my best relationships. And I found no better way over the past decade to profile the people and companies I most admire and share with the world what they’re working on. So if you’ve thought about podcasting, you should. If you have questions, go to Rise25.com or email me at support@rise25 com. 

I’m excited to introduce Kelly Sinclair. She’s CEO of KS&Co. KSCo.ca. She hosts the Entrepreneur School Podcast, an education hub for ambitious women or anyone really who wants to be ambitious and, you know, learn more about branding, strategy, visibility. She works with people one on one. She also has group coaching programs and much more. So Kelly, thanks for joining me.

Kelly Sinclair 03:05

Thank you so much for having me, Jeremy. I’ve been looking forward to this for quite some time.

Jeremy Weisz 03:11

So start us off and just talk about KS&Co. and what you do.

Kelly Sinclair 03:16

Yes. So KS&Co. has been an evolution for the last several years for me. And what we do primarily is we support entrepreneurs and small business organizations with building their brands and getting visibility so that they can build their audiences and grow. Because if you don’t put yourself out there, if you don’t create an audience, you don’t have leads, you don’t have sales. And so for solopreneurs and small businesses, which is where I’m primarily focused right now, that’s really about finding the ways to get in front of the right people so that you can get your message out there and ultimately build those relationships.

And I love how you said relationships as the core of what you do. That’s definitely the foundation for me when it comes to visibility as well. And then for any nonprofit groups or associations that I work with as well. This is about bigger picture awareness, thinking about how to broaden the message for their overall mission and mandate.

Jeremy Weisz 04:19

You know, you kind of cut your teeth in some pretty big companies in communications. So if you’re listening to Kelly, like, how did she gain all this knowledge? Talk about some of the experience and what you learned that you bring into what you do now? I know you worked with BP, National Public Relations, some big companies. What did you learn there that you bring into this company?

Kelly Sinclair 04:43

So unlike a lot of entrepreneurs, which is surprising to me, I actually am still doing what I like, went to school to do, which is PR, but I love that PR and why I knew it was the right fit for me as well is because there’s such a broad reach and what that actually means. It’s about figuring out who you are, who you’re talking to, and how to get that message in front of the right people. And so what’s the goal of that message? Whether it’s to provide information, education to help shift somebody’s perspectives. A lot of the work that I did in the PR agency I worked for before and in corporate oil and gas here in Calgary, was definitely, you know, about shifting perceptions and helping people to see different ways of looking at things.

And when I decided to start my own business and specifically focus on entrepreneurs, and I thought about how do you translate that skill? It’s just about, what are you getting your audience to try and do? What are you helping them to see? What are the perspectives that they need to be aware of and that you can shift for them that will help them ultimately realize that they need to work with you or buy your thing.

Jeremy Weisz 05:55

Can you talk about that for a second? I think it’s interesting. Shifting perceptions and maybe an example from it could have been from national public relations, BP or anything. And you can keep the who of the sources anonymous. But what was an example of something that happened and then how you had to help the company or the person shift perception?

Kelly Sinclair 06:18

Yeah. I mean, who I worked a lot in crisis communication. So that’s always like an interesting example. And yes, I was at BP during the major crisis that happened there. So that was a really interesting learning ground for public relations.

And I was actually working in internal communications. So that was about like talking to the people about what’s happening in this company and how people are perceiving our company.

Jeremy Weisz 06:45

That’s huge because the morale of the staff is largely how it’s going to affect the company in a huge way.

Kelly Sinclair 06:54

Yes. And ultimately, like the costs from that incident resulted in divestitures of the company. And so then dealing with people like literally sitting around waiting to be sold and, and how do you keep people engaged and feeling proud about working? There was a very challenging job. I will definitely say that.

And so it was just, I think a lot. 

Jeremy Weisz 07:19

What do you do to boost morale in that situation? Because, I mean, I was talking to someone the other day on the show and something similar, right? Something happened with the company. They lost a client. And even just I mean, it’s not as big as something that happened to BP, but to them it felt huge.

How do they communicate that to the team so people don’t lose, you know, energy and morale. So what do you do with the company?

Kelly Sinclair 07:47

I think the top thing is to listen. So it’s about engagement, right? It’s not about what is our message that we need to tell people and try and get them to believe things. It’s about what are they worried about? What is keeping them up at night? What are they thinking about?

And that again is really interesting. You’re like connecting some dots for me too. And like this, this transferability of the skill set is that when you as a business owner are thinking about what you’re creating and the message you have and what you want to sell, it’s really about understanding what your audience wants and needs because of what they think. Their challenge is not what you know it actually might be.

Jeremy Weisz 08:28

So in that situation, or whatever, something happens in the BP, would you go to the team members and say, hey, here’s what happened. Like, what do you think about it? Instead of trying to spin a certain narrative?

Kelly Sinclair 08:40

I mean, ideally, yes. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. So it would be like we would have, we had lots of—

Jeremy Weisz 08:45

More of a conversation than like here. We’re just going to put out this narrative and hope people believe it or whatever. It’s more putting it to them and saying, hey, like, what are your thoughts on it?

Kelly Sinclair 08:57

Yeah. Yes. And we had a great leader at BP Canada at the time. I have to say, I felt like I was like 23. And so she’s like the president, she’s coming down and sitting on my desk and asking me, what should she do? And I’m going, why? Why are you asking me? I don’t know, but I would like let’s talk to people.

Jeremy Weisz 09:17

You’re throwing in the fire right away.

Kelly Sinclair 09:18

Oh my gosh, so much. Let’s talk to people and see what they’re concerned about. Like, because, you know, if your neighbors know that you work for this company and they think this company is terrible because, you know, CNN is certainly portraying it that way, then what are they dealing with, like over the fence in their backyard or, you know, with their kids on the street? That was a really serious consideration.

Jeremy Weisz 09:42

No, that’s hugely valuable to hear from you because I don’t know, like, I maybe sometimes just jump to, okay, we got to put this message out there. But it’s really talk to people, see what they’re concerned about. And I feel like it’s translatable to when people are, we’ll talk about the evolution of your services a little bit, which is the same thing. You talk to the customers, see what they want, see what their pain points are, instead of trying to put something out there that may not hit.

So talk about and I know you worked at the company and unfortunately you had something tragic happen where your mom had breast cancer. And then you’re like, you could probably relate to the you know, the interview. I was saying like a career change, like, I can’t do this anymore. You needed balance. You kind of saw the priorities for you. And you’re like, I’m not doing this corporate thing and family is more important. And you had kids at the time, so you changed course. 

What did you start off? So you’re like, okay, I’m going to do something different. What did you start off doing? We can kind of take through the path. 

Kelly Sinclair 10:52

Yeah. So I was at the PR firm at the time when my mom passed away, and I had taken a leave of absence just before, as I was seeing. Kind of like the end is near. And it was way more near than I knew. Unfortunately, it was actually eight days. It’s terrible.

Jeremy Weisz 11:10

Holy cow.

Kelly Sinclair 11:11

I was like, finally had the realization. And so, you know that it’s so cliche when they’re like, life is short, right? And you don’t know until you really know. Like if you have had a personal loss in any way, you really understand this in a different level than maybe you thought you did beforehand. And I looked at what I was doing and how I was spending my time.

And I remember like I lived just outside of Calgary, so I had to get downtown before rush hour. My husband was driving. I was a zombie. I had a thermos of coffee to refill my coffee mug before I got to, like I could have used an IV. I was like, just caffeinate me. I’m dying. Like I was up before 5 a.m. To me, that should never happen in my life. I’m not a morning person. 

We got the kids out. They were 6 a.m. at dayhome and I picked them up at 5:30. They were hangry. I fed them, they went to bed. We did it again the next day and I was like, what is going on? This is not the life that I said that I wanted. And I don’t see an end in this unless I make a big change. And then the universe changed it for me. 

So when I left my job after losing my mom, I took some time to just go. What should I do? And then I realized, well, I know how to be a consultant because that’s what I was doing inside of a PR firm, being a consultant. And that seems like a pretty simple business model. Like I will do work for you. It will cost X dollars per hour and you will pay me. Done. 

What can I do? I can do all these PR services. I can do messaging. I can do media relations, I can do strategy. I can do brand development. And when I started thinking about it, how I was going to get myself out there and make a name for myself. So. P.S. the story will come full circle in a minute when you realize that that’s the way you have to get clients. I looked in the newspaper and I saw an event that was happening, which I went to, and I met my first client, which was a coworking organization, like a coworking facility that opened here. It was the first one of its kind. They now have five locations, which is amazing. 

And then I got my second client, which was the Cochran Tourism Association. I ended up working with them for five years on doing their in-house marketing and branding. Basically, we did a whole project, which I loved, which was developing the brand for Cochrane as a destination. So that was about figuring out how do we make this location stand out from Calgary and Banff and all the places that are around us? I don’t know if you’ve been this way.

Jeremy Weisz 13:47

I was just in Banff this past summer. I’m like, how do you compete with Banff? Right. So.

Kelly Sinclair 13:53

Right. Well, you have to try and get people to stop here on the way. That’s what you have to do. Yes. And the way that I did that was through engagement like creating public engagement. We did a survey.

Jeremy Weisz 14:09

This is them, right?

Kelly Sinclair 14:11

Yes, yes. I haven’t been on the website in a long time, but yeah. Yeah, we created all this. It actually, I can’t even see the It’s the feeling anymore. Anyways, maybe they’ve evolved from there to as brands do, they evolve. That’s all fine.

Jeremy Weisz 14:29

So you’re saying they did a survey?

Kelly Sinclair 14:30

We did a survey to get people’s opinions on like what is it that you love about Cochrane. Why should people want to come here and to try and make it more than like we’re famous for ice cream currently. So how do we, like, expand beyond the ice cream and make, you know, people come for more than 30 minutes. So we created this brand called It’s the Feeling because we’re in this beautiful valley. You come down the valley, you see the mountains, there’s a river.

It is beautiful. It’s warm and welcoming and inviting. And that all came out of like connecting with the people who are around here to get input, to get feedback on how we can message and position this to who we’re trying to reach.

[Continue to Page 2]