Last month, a student spent the day career shadowing me.
Let’s call him James.
When he first reached out and said he was interested in branding and marketing, my first thought was that my corner of that world is actually quite small. My work lives primarily inside personal brands and messaging, and it’s deeply centered on the written word.
One of my clients, though, happens to own a large healthcare marketing agency with a full team, multiple departments, and a brick-and-mortar presence.
So we designed the day intentionally.
Half with me. Half with them. (Shoutout to clients who rise to the challenge when you ask!)
Two completely different vantage points inside the same industry.
Start With Something Everyone Thinks They Understand
We started the morning in a Starbucks.
Not because I needed coffee- although that certainly didn’t hurt- but because it’s one of the easiest places to teach Branding 101.
Why these colors?
Why this layout?
Why does a Starbucks in Charleston feel familiar to one in Stuttgart or Bangkok?
At first James answered the way most people do.
Coincidences.
Preferences.
Style choices.
Then something shifted.
You could see the light bulbs start firing as he connected the dots.
The lighting.
The layout.
The menu boards.
The music.
The familiarity.
None of it was accidental.
They’re not just selling coffee.
They’re selling an experience.
A club you’re part of.
A feeling you recognize the moment you walk through the door.
Brand architecture, hiding in plain sight.
The Same Mechanics Show Up Everywhere
From there we ran the same exercise on something he already loved: his favorite basketball team.
Colors.
Symbols.
Identity.
Loyalty.
A completely different category, but the mechanics were strikingly similar.
Then we did something even more fun.
We laid the foundation for his personal brand.
What values would guide his decisions?
What kind of leader would he want to be?
What would he want people to understand about him after working together?
What kind of experience would he want clients or teammates to have?
This is exactly how I approach my work with clients.
Not starting with tactics.
Not starting with platforms.
Starting with the bigger picture.
What Do You Actually Want to Create?
What do you want to create for the people who encounter your work?
What do you want them to understand?
What do you want them to do with the ideas you share?
And what do you want to be known for once the immediate transaction is over?
From there, everything else can be reverse engineered- visibility strategy, content, messaging, platforms.
The Problem with Most Marketing Advice
As we moved through the morning, I realized James had stumbled into something many experienced professionals feel but rarely articulate.
A lot of marketing advice simply doesn’t translate to their reality.
Most of what fills our feeds today was designed for creators.
People who are building audiences from scratch.
People whose credibility is established through consistency and personality.
People whose business models depend on constant output.
Professionals operate differently.
A physician doesn’t build trust through daily content volume.
An attorney doesn’t establish authority through trends.
An executive or founder doesn’t gain credibility by mimicking influencer behavior or traditional brand collabs (unless they’re super strategic).
Their credibility already exists.
The real challenge is translating that expertise into language people can hold onto.
Which is where messaging strategy becomes the leverage point.
The Unexpected Teacher in the Room
Another thing James reminded me of that day:
We often assume students come to shadow us because they want to learn.
But if we’re paying attention, the learning goes both ways.
Young people ask questions that force clarity.
They don’t accept vague answers.
They don’t care about industry shorthand.
They don’t assume anything is obvious.
If we can’t explain what we do in terms that make sense to someone curious but outside our field, there’s usually a clarity gap hiding somewhere.
That gap is often the difference between being excellent at your work…
…and being known for what you see.
Which, not coincidentally, is the work I spend most of my time helping people navigate.
If this kind of conversation resonates with you, make sure you’re subscribed here. These are exactly the ideas I explore regularly- especially for professionals thinking about visibility, influence, and the long game of credibility.
