We were lucky to catch up with Brianna Doe recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Brianna, thanks for joining us today. Alright, so you had your idea and then what happened? Can you walk us through the story of how you went from just an idea to executing on the idea

I first thought about launching my own business a few years ago, when I was still working in-house. But I had recently transitioned into the tech industry, and I was grateful for the opportunity, so I pushed those thoughts aside.

Fast forward to 2023, as the tech industry continued to endure layoff after layoff after layoff… you get the picture. I had recently started a new job as a Director of Marketing at a fintech startup, and I was miserable. Initially, I hired a career coach to help me learn how to manage up. I was determined to see and understand my own professional blind spots, so I could be a stronger employee, marketer, and leader. Instead, after the first coaching session, my career coach said, “It’s pretty clear that you don’t want to be in this 9-5. You want to work for yourself. So we can go 1 of 2 ways: we can continue with what you hired me for. Or we can begin planning your corporate exit. It’s completely up to you.”

Long story short, I chose the former. Over the next 6 months, I figured out what I wanted to launch (a marketing agency), and mapped out my finances, benefits, tech stack, and more. I was in no rush to quit my job, and I wanted to do this right.

Brianna, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

As the Founder and CEO of Verbatim, a full-service marketing agency, I help ambitious businesses achieve high-ROI and sustainable growth through innovative marketing programs. We specialize in helping SMBs and startups drive revenue, grow on social, and become household names in their respective industries. Our core services are web design, brand strategy, social media, growth marketing, influencer marketing, and content.

A few things set us apart: We coach you through our process, so you’re successful for years to come. Saying ‘no’ or telling you what you need versus want, isn’t difficult for us. And as a team of creatives & entrepreneurs that have scaled and sold their own businesses, we have a 360-degree perspective on what it takes to succeed.

With deep expertise in both B2B and D2C marketing, I spent the first decade of my career working in-house before I went out on my own. I chose to work in lean, fast-paced startups so I could wear a lot of hats (read: all the hats) and dive into multiple marketing functions.

As a content creator, I’ve built an audience of 200,000+ on LinkedIn. My insights and thought leadership have been featured by Fast Company, CNBC, HubSpot, and the American Marketing Association.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

A lesson I had to unlearn: If you do good work, it will always be recognized.

Growing up, I was taught that if you kept your head down, did good work, and applied yourself, you’d be celebrated and recognized. Then I graduated from college, entered corporate America, and realized that wasn’t the case. At all.

I’ve never been the loudest person in the room. I work hard, but quietly, and I didn’t make a point to draw attention to myself or my wins. But I saw colleagues and friends getting promoted, landing new jobs, being celebrated at work, and I felt like I was constantly overlooked.

Learning how to advocate for yourself goes hand-in-hand with self-promotion, and I wasn’t sure how to tackle either. It took time to first understand the value in both, and then understand how to implement them in my own life and career. Eventually, I found a mentor and worked with a few supportive managers that encouraged me to share my wins. Self-promotion still doesn’t come easily, but I’ve learned how important it is. Whether you work for yourself, for someone else, or a combination of both, you can’t expect people to see you and understand the value of your work if you’re not sharing it.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

When I started creating content on LinkedIn, I didn’t expect to build any sort of audience. As someone who’s spent years working in content and social, I’m used to building audiences for brands, but I wasn’t sure what I wanted to say for myself.

At first, I figured I would write about my work as a marketer, what I was learning, my wins and failures, etc. But I quickly realized that wasn’t the case. Instead, I realized I was passionate about creating content that allowed me to share my wins, failures, lessons, and mistakes throughout my career. As a first generation American and a Black woman working in tech (at that point), I’d had to ‘figure it out’ most of the time. And because of that, I’d made a lot of mistakes, done a lot of things right, and had learned a lot about myself, the career I wanted to build, and who I wanted to work with. So why not talk about it and maybe help someone else along the way?

One thing I hear often is that my content feels authentic. And when it comes to building an audience on social, that’s so important. I write the way I speak and I rarely frame my content ‘Do this, not that.’ When it comes to building a career and a life that you’re proud of, there’s rarely one right way to do things. So instead, I share ideas, my experiences, my learnings, and enable people to think critically about how each experience can apply to their own situation.

For those looking to start building a social media presence, I recommend starting with your “why.” Is your goal to land more speaking engagements? Network with hiring managers? Establish yourself as a thought leader? From there, think about the content that resonates with you. What can you learn from it? What do you want to write/record videos about? And what about your perspective or journey makes this content compelling?

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.weareverbatim.com
• Linkedin: https://linkedin.com/in/brianna-doe
• Other: Personal Website: www.briannadoe.com

Image Credits

Jessica Juniper