I’ve been teaching for over 15 years now, and I jokingly call all my students snowflakes. I truly believe that the combination of their backgrounds, interests, talents, and gifts, make people utterly unique. This month, I’m talking to Brand The Change Certified Trainer Hanneke Laaning (1984) based in Groningen, The Netherlands. Hanneke, as a person and a brand professional, is a snowflake in the best sense of the word.

AM: We got to know each other quite well during the six months we spent as part of the Brand The Change trainer's certification programme, and I’ve been impressed and somewhat enamoured with how you’ve honed in on a very specific set of clients and their needs, and how you help them through creating stronger brands. You call them hidden pioneers. I’d love for more people to learn more about your work with this group.

HL: I use this label only internally, as the clients themselves are usually too humble to identify with this term. Externally, I call them conscious entrepreneurs. ‘Conscious’ can relate to sustainability or, as I like to call it, taking care of the earth, as well as social initiatives, personal growth, natural health and spirituality.  Although that groups seems quite wide, what the people I work with have in common is that they have been doing their thing for a long time, say over 20 years. They are experts in their field, and marketing or branding was never something they needed or cared about because of their large network.

At some point that changes. When they come to me they are at a crossroads. Not necessarily because they need more clients, although this is welcome, but because selling themselves better to the world is something that will actually help them be more focussed and clear about what they do and why. They know they have been putting it off for way too long and start to feel empty handed without it. 

I work with, for instance, an ecological publishing agency, a permaculture designer & teacher, a media professor who teaches journalists how to use media to create change, a filmmaker that makes documentaries about buddhist monasteries, a social entrepreneur who wrote a book about homelessness and who’s on a quest to healthier relationships with smartphones, a project about renewable energy, a project about edible gardening in a community. And so on. All things that are contributing to a better world. 

AM: How will a stronger brand help them?

HL: Hidden pioneers are not aware that they are indeed hidden pioneers. They are people who have loads of experience, knowledge and wisdom about ‘conscious’ topics. Unfortunately the rest of the world doesn’t know that yet. And that is a waste. I even call it selfish sometimes. I work with them to help them with a stronger brand so they can pass on their knowledge and wisdom to more people and the world can benefit more from everything they have to offer. 

They usually come to me with a practical request: visual branding, or a new website. They don’t realise they need a brand strategy instead of a new logo. But when I explain what it is, they understand that’s exactly what they need first. 

Before the process starts, they feel like their old reputation/brand (or no reputation/brand) bugs them and keeps them smaller than they are. They want to grow, and they want to refer potential collaborators, funders or clients to a brand and website that really reflects who they are and what they do. 

This means they don’t have to prove themselves as much anymore. The brand will speak for itself, it creates more trust and lets their credibility shine through.

Doors will open more easily than before. They don’t have to work as hard to be taken more seriously, people will recognise them better for who they are. 

Brand strategy creates clarity, so things will speed up in the right direction. It provides people with a map and a direction. It helps to make choices: to recognise opportunities which seem great but actually will take them away from their intended direction. It really helps them to stay focussed in their business. 

A side effect I’ve noticed is that people feel more confident in putting themselves out there when they have a strong brand. They become more active and they become their own best ambassador. They feel supported by their own brand. 

What I also see (and aim for) is that people fall in love with their own brand. Creating a stronger brand will make them feel more connected to it and their business. Which gives them more joy and motivation in their work. Which will also help with the quality of their work. 

AM: What does your process with them look like?

HL: I work in three phases. The first part is four brand strategy sessions where I use the Brand Thinking Canvas and my own branding workbook. The second is design and the third is a website.

It looks like this:

We start off with a Focus Session, here I use the goal setting tool and a let them dream big. Then we do a Soul Session, a day of getting to the core of who they are, what they do and why. This is the brand core of the Brand Thinking Canvas One, and additional topics from my own branding workbook. The third session focusses on audience, for which we use the second Brand Thinking Canvas, and focus on the challenges of their audiences and how they can help address them. We then move to an Identity Session, the visual and verbal identity part on the Brand Thinking Canvas One. I brainstorm ‘style words’ and the client makes a Pinterest board. Together we make a selection and add things that match the brand.

We then go into the brand design phase (mood board, logo design, brandboard, graphic design for collateral), and create a simple website. That process is broken down into a website strategy session, a brand photoshoot, wireframes, website of six pages or more. If they need web copy and a good brand story I bring in my brand-BFF Sandra de Jong who’s also a part of the Brand The Change community. 

AM: During the certification course, as brand professionals amongst each other, that we are really therapists. It sounds like that is a huge part of your work too.

HL: I have to admit I like it when people cry during brand strategy sessions. I know this can happen, so I always keep a box of tissues close. When this happens that means things are touching them on a deep level. Shifts are happening. It can be very emotional to let your soul's purpose come to life on a canvas or a whiteboard. 

Getting clear on what you’ve been doing all these years, looking back, reflecting and seeing it from a distance is intense. To see who you are and what you do for the world in words or a visual form, and to let someone else translate it into a focussed strategy can be very liberating for people. They step even more into who they already are, embracing their unique point of view, usually different than their mainstream colleagues.

Oftentimes in their lives they've been laughed at or felt like an outcast for sharing their views. I help them by using these unique aspects as a brand proposition. Not only embracing these parts in themselves, but using it to stand out and really share their voice for the people that are dying to hear from them. 

Giving people the permission and encouraging them to be fully themselves in their brand and website is really fulfilling for me. I love it when I see that happening in front of me. That’s what brings me joy and fulfilment. Especially because I only work with clients who are contributing something meaningful to the world. So I feel like I’m indirectly contributing too. 

AM: What is your favourite tool from Brand The Change, and why?

I like both of the Brand Thinking Canvases because they let the whole picture become so clear in one view. You see links between different elements you wouldn’t see if you write it out in a document. My clients love that too. I always joke with them that they have to hang it above their beds so they can look at it every day and never forget their direction. The canvases as a Northern Star to guide them. 

I also like the insight generator tool. During the trainers programme this tool gave me the most insights that I wouldn’t have figured out on my own. Really useful!

The whole method is filled with practical tools for a potential transformational process. 

AM: Which special flavour do you add to a the tools that make them yours?

I’ve been working with these tools since I was first introduced to them by my friend and client Marian Counihan in 2017. I never looked back. I gradually incorporated them into my business. And I’m still learning with them every time I use them. I mainly work one-on-one, so let’s say I’ve used them with between 20 - 25 clients during an in-depth process.

I put more emphasis on the visual identity part because I am a designer too, and I let my clients add a Pinterest inspiration board with that part of the canvas. I don’t always use all the tools, but I pick and choose when it is appropriate for the situation. Not every business has the same branding needs. 

AM: What other methods or books do you combine it with?

I’m also inspired by the guys of the Happy Startup School. Their playful approach to business strategy is very positive, unique and helpful. I did workshops with their canvas but I don’t specifically use their tools. But their approach I definitely am inspired by. Also for my own business. 

I love some of their phrases like:  “Make happiness your business model.”  “Happy is the new rich.” and “Business hippies this way >>>”.

I like to do more with teams and also group coaching with a group of 6-8 entrepreneurs. Sometimes I think about teaching design students with the canvas, because I believe they will have way more impact with their work if they understand brand strategy from an early stage on in their careers. We’ll see. 

AM: Can you share one ‘PRO’ tip for other facilitators?

Create a nice pdf of the finished canvas and print it out as a poster and put it above your desk (or bed ;). So you won’t forget the guide you made to create the best business you can for yourself and the world. It’s easy to get off track because of life. Looking at the canvas every day helps you to stay on track. 

AM: Any dream clients left on the list?

Hidden pioneers are my dream clients, so I am just looking for the next one to knock on my door so we can bring their gifts to the world.

AM: Can I just say that I think you yourself are a hidden pioneer too? It took you a while before you were ready to accept my invite for this interview. You know what they say: “At the plumbers house the taps always leak”. So l wanted to ‘do you a Hanneke’ by sharing your story with the world.

Hahaha thank you Anne. 😘

CREDIT: Photography by Ritzo ten Cate.

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