Media Mavens: In Conversation with Michelle Knight

When Michelle Knight launched Brandmerry just three months after her son was born, she never imagined how transformative the journey would be—not just for her career, but for her entire life. With a background in public relations, communications, and marketing, she leaped into entrepreneurship but faced her fair share of challenges, like many new business owners. 

In our chat with Michelle, she opens up about how an early branding misstep nearly set her back, only for it to become the driving force behind her success. She also shares the inspiration behind her Build a Better Brand Method, the importance of storytelling in today’s digital world, and how Pinterest became her secret weapon for growing Brandmerry.

CLEO: Michelle! You're a hyper-successful brand strategist now, but your journey to founding Brandmerry wasn't linear. How did you get to where you are now?

MK: I started my business just three months after the birth of my son. It was never my intention to run my own business, but after his birth, I experienced an intense shift and desire for my family. I combined my seven years of experience working in public relations, communications, and marketing to launch Brandmerry. 

Like most businesses, I struggled a lot in the beginning. But, the pivotal moment for me was when I realized that my branding was all wrong. I spent months marketing my business with zero results because I had skipped crucial parts of the branding process. In August 2016, about eight months after starting my business, I went deep into the branding process, rebranded, and signed my first client a month later. 

I fell deeply in love with the branding process and how it allowed me to show up as my true self online, so I went all in on this focus and grew my business to 6-figures cash in just one year.

Over the years, a lot of my offers have shifted, including my obsessions with sustainable marketing, but my core focus has always centered around helping entrepreneurs build brands that are true to them, their stories,  and their values.

CLEO: How did branding save your business?

MK: I often say that branding not only saved my business but also my life. I honestly feel as though the two are intertwined. 

In the beginning, I was so wrapped up in what other people were doing, and how they were showing up online. This caused me to create a brand and strategy that just looked like everyone else. In the Fall of 2016, I decided to create a truly stand-out brand, I needed to first identify who I was, and what my values were, and then share that through my brand. I didn’t realize it at the time, but I was designing my signature Build a Better Brand Method.

Once, I discovered more about who I was by digging into my story, I was able to connect with my business effortlessly. This included who I wanted to work with, what I wanted to sell, and how I would message it. My content became more aligned and I found it so easy to show up online because I was showing up as my authentic self.

It was one of the first times in my life where I felt truly authentic, truly me. It set me on a beautiful path of redefining who I was and as a result, I’ve been able to run an aligned business for over eight years now.

CLEO: You teach entrepreneurs how to monetize their personal brand, which is a lot of people's goal nowadays, whether they're influencers or founders. Are there any keys to balancing authentic and genuine storytelling with selling online to scale a business successfully? 

MK: I’ve found there are three key elements to doing this! 

Number one is that you have to do the inside work first. You have to know who you are, the mission behind your business, your core values, and the impact you want to make in the world. Entrepreneurs skip this step because they just want to market, sell or build their website, but this step is the most crucial when it comes to personal branding. This allows you to effortlessly share personal stories in your marketing which is 100% necessary in today’s digital world.

Number two is having complete clarity on who you want to work with (aka who will benefit from your work). Whether you’re a business owner or influencer this is key. While some of our stories might be our own experiences, they are intended for our audience. Understanding who they are will give you the power to tell the story in not only an influential way but also one that inspires action. One mistake personal brands make is to just talk about themselves in their storytelling, but at the end of the day, it’s all about our audience.

Number three is consistency in your messaging. Once you’ve nailed these first two aspects, this is all about commitment. Consistent messaging is proven to increase your revenue by up to 23%. Sharing stories with your audience that are consistent with your brand messages will create better trust with your audience, and the consistency will clearly articulate the benefits of your brand.

Choosing stories to share in your content becomes so much easier when you have these three elements in place.

CLEO: On that note, you stress the importance of having a "storytelling strategy," although people often fear telling personal stories. Why is it so crucial?

MK: Today’s digital world requires storytelling. Why? Because audiences crave this authentic and personal aspect of marketing. It’s always been a top priority in my mind, but with social media and specifically short-form videos, it’s crucial. Storytelling is a powerful business asset that not only makes your content more memorable, but when done correctly makes your audience feel seen, heard, and understood. At the end of the day, this is all humans really want.

When we feel connected to a brand, we can trust the brand, we will buy from the brand. 86 percent of consumers say that authenticity is a key factor when deciding what brands they like and support. And, 81 percent of consumers said that they need to be able to trust the brand to buy from them. Storytelling allows you to do this and sell your products and services which is what makes it so incredibly powerful.

I’d also like to note, that just because storytelling is important it doesn’t mean you have to share everything about your life online. I know it can feel this way because of TikTok and Instagram Reels, but when you have a real storytelling strategy, you’ll discover that it’s not about every aspect of your life, it’s more strategic than that. I always say that it’s important to define what’s sacred to you early on so you can keep those aspects of your life protected.

CLEO: You talk about how Pinterest is your favourite way to get your brand seen. Why? And if you're willing to share, we'd love to know more about how it's helped Brandmerry grow!

MK: I’m obsessed with Pinterest! I started using Pinterest as a marketing platform back in 2017, long before many brands were using it to sell services. 

Pinterest is an SEO platform, not a social media platform, despite what some might think. So, it’s a powerful tool to attract potential clients who are further along in the buying process. They know exactly what they are looking for and use that to discover content. It’s similar to how Google works, but there’s a visual component that a lot of people respond to.

Pinterest is how I drive around 90% of organic traffic to my website. This has resulted in 3k - 15k monthly website views just from Pinterest. It also allows me to share my blog content for years. I have a single Pinterest image, sharing a blog from 2017, that has resulted in over 42k website views, thousands of email subscribers, and over $55k in sales.

It’s one of the best evergreen marketing strategies around and if you’re willing to be a little patient it can result in website views, leads, and sales for years to come.

CLEO: You offer many helpful resources to aspiring entrepreneurs, from your podcast to your branding course to the Brandmerry Academy. Can you tell us more about each and where everyone can find them?

MK: I’m a big fan of providing value so there are so many amazing places to get tips and tricks for growing your business. My top resources are the Authentic Brand Builders podcast the Brandmerry Blog and YouTube Channel. All of these can be found at Brandmerry.com. I post weekly podcast episodes, blogs, and videos, so you’ll always have a way to expand your business.

Aside from my free content, I also have Brandmerry Academy which is my membership and includes business trainings on branding, marketing, storytelling, systems, and more. It also includes weekly support in our community, and monthly group strategy calls with me. It’s truly the best place to receive support and grow your business authentically and sustainably. It was really important to me to create a program that was accessible to entrepreneurs and the Academy is exactly that.

I also support my clients with Brand Strategy Intensives and long-term support which is great for entrepreneurs who thrive off more of a 1:1 level of support. This is great for anyone going through a rebrand, looking to optimize their messaging, or preparing for a big launch. 

All of my offers and resources can be found at Brandmerry.com and I encourage anyone who is interested to join my email list where I share more stories, and insider tips for my subscribers. You can join us at brandmerry.com/newsletter.

CLEO: And a fun one to finish off; what is your favorite way to take a break from work? 

MK: I’m a huge advocate for taking at least one week off every quarter. It’s something I started back in 2019 while traveling full-time in an RV with family, and it’s now grown to 2-weeks off! It’s my favorite way to completely disconnect and reignite my creativity. I love to travel with my family, so we try to head to Europe, spend weeks on the beach, or just last year went to Colombia, South America for the first time. During the weeks though, I love spending time in my garden in-between and after work sessions. I’m a nature lover and have recently expanded my garden so there is a lot of work to be done.