We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Hilary Hartling a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hilary, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?
My 15 years in marketing at Walt Disney Studios inspired my understanding of how to position a brand to win the hearts of your audience. I chose to start my own brand strategy consultancy and education platform with a clear mission: to help entrepreneurs create captivating brands that resonate. While I offer brand & messaging strategy, there’s a bigger why behind what it’s really about.
It’s about being the way-shower to greater clarity, deeper meaning, and bigger purpose. It’s about inspiring others to allow their magic to unfold and be seen by the world (because it’s this magic that is the unique value proposition for their brand). It’s about telling stories that move audiences. I believe that inspired people do their best work, and your audience is a mirror of how you, as the business owner & brand, show up. So, wouldn’t it benefit everyone to love your work? That’s why I do what I do.
Of course, we’re going to define your purpose, focus your message, get to know your ideal audience, position your business – – – but we’re also going to help you stand out, not blend in, to forget about trends and forge your own path no matter how scary it may be, to follow your excitement, speak your truth, and show up fully loaded – with your skills, talents expertise, ideas, perspective and experience on full display to attract the right people to what you offer.
The story behind my mission is helping entrepreneurs become bold enough to manifest their dream business and life.
Hilary, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
Sure thing! I’m a Brand & Messaging Strategist drawing from my 15+ years experience leading visionary integrated marketing and synergy initiatives for film releases from global entertainment brands: Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Touchstone, and Dreamworks. After helping launch and grow multi-million and billion dollar franchises for The Walt Disney Company (Toy Story, Cars, Pirates of the Caribbean, Frozen, and more) and experiencing industry success with 70 #1 opening weekend box office wins, I decided to leverage my work on over 250+ movie marketing campaigns and my Fortune 50 experience to establish a brand consultancy and online education platform helping entrepreneurs create captivating brands that resonate.
I’ve been a featured expert and speaker for American Film Institute, Allbright, Goldman Sachs and WICT (Women In Cable Television), and have been honored to have my expertise featured in Forbes, Thrive Global, Belong Magazine, The Social Bungalow, Quench Collective, Girl Unfiltered Podcast, The Ambitious Introvert Podcast, Classy Career Girl Podcast and B.R.A. Network’s Carried Away Podcast. and on virtual and live event stages alike with Boss Project Summit, Women’s Health Summit for Female Entrepreneurs, Build Your Brand Conference, Happy Mom Conference and Follower 2 Fan Society’s Event.
My education includes a BA in business administration from University of Hawaii and a Masters in Global Marketing Communication & Advertising from Emerson College in Boston. Influenced heavily by the creativity and storytelling genius I experienced working at Disney, I’m passionate about helping entrepreneurs create a cinematic-level brand that immerses their audience in the story and value of what they offer, resulting in winning the hearts and business of their ideal clients. My 3 main offerings that help entrepreneurs elevate their brand include: 1) A DIY online course students love, called The Brandpolish Academy, 2) VIP 1:1 Done-For-You Brand & Messaging Strategy development, and 3) Brand Evolution Mastermind for those entrepreneur ready for high level branding and marketing strategies to continue to evolve their brands.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
My big career (and life!) pivot came in leaving Disney after 15 years and having to discover – what’s next? I’d felt for some time that it was time for me to move onto a new challenge because I’d marketed so many movies, it felt like I could do it with my hands tied behind my back. The pivot was, at first, hard to even imagine. I’d spent my entire career up until that point dreaming of and then manifesting a job in marketing at a major motion picture studio. Once I did, I spent the next 15 years building my career, advancing, and creating my dream job inside the company. Plus, I have to admit, that comfort was a huge factor. Corporate life can make you very comfortable: steady paycheck, regular bonuses, traveling in style, a company car, etc.
All I know, is that when you’re crystal clear about what you want, the Universe listens. There was an internal joke (not so much) that if you’ve been at Disney for awhile and want to leave – stay, until you’re laid off and get that great separate package. So, I stayed long after I really felt like it was time to go. On January 1, 2015, I decided that’s it. It’s time to leave Disney and I did a google search on something about “mid career changes” and what popped up was a questionnaire – and the first question I read was – WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF YOU WERE 10X BOLDER? I knew my answer instantly. I’d leave Disney without a plan for what’s next, I would take a year off, rediscover myself, reignite my inspiration, travel, visit friends and family, take classes for fun, renovate my backyard, read, write, really…do anything I wanted to do. Why? Because I was in search for my next dream. I’d spent so long manifesting and living out my movie industry dream job, I’d forgot to dream about my next dream.
Well, 2 weeks later on January 15th, I had a 9am meeting with my boss – and HR.- where they laid me off in an organizational restructure…and my separation package paid me my salary for A YEAR. Thank you, Universe! I spent the next 12 months (honestly it was probably more like 15) doing exactly what I intended when I answered that 10x bolder question. Once I felt like myself again, outside of the busy, chaotic, all-consuming corporate environment, I decided starting my own business was my next big dream, and that’s how my business was born. It was a huge pivot for me, and one I can happily say was a successful one for me. To this day, I continue to check in and ask myself – what would you do if you were 10x bolder, and then I shift priorities around based on my answer.
Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?
The most effective strategy for growing my clientele has been brand consistency as well as providing high-value content and free resources so people get a taste of me, my teaching style and my knowledge. It’s also been delivering great experiences and results and having past clients refer new clients. In addition, I started and grew my business by in-person networking. When people can meet you, and get to know you, it establishes a foundation for a relationship and trust and if you’ve got your brand strategy in place you are effectively sharing what you do, who it’s for and how it truly helps your clients and others know exactly who to refer to you and when. It was my in-person networking that also started to grow my social media – the people who knew the people I met would find me and it grew from there.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://hilaryhartling.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hilaryhartling/
- Facebook: https.//www.facebook.com/HilaryHartlingHQ/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hilaryhartling/
- Other: PINTEREST: https://www.pinterest.com/hilaryhartling/_created/ FB GROUP: https://www.facebook.com/groups/thebrandbuildingentrepreneur
Image Credits
Photos by: Girl Squad Media