We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Hannah McConnell. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Hannah below.

Hannah, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

I think, like most entrepreneurs, our unique approach to marketing came from a place of frustration and a longing for something that, at the end of the day, made our work feel more meaningful, for us, and for our clients’ communities.

My name is Hannah McConnell, and I’m the founder and marketing director at Birches Brand. We’re a rebellious digital marketing agency that supports change-making business owners who, like us, sought out a new way of working with the world.

I’ve been in marketing since 2017 and have found myself in a variety of work settings over the years, including working for other agencies, going part-time freelance, and eventually establishing my own agency and growing a team of 8 international marketers.

And at every stage, I kept finding myself overwhelmed, burnt out, and frustrated that the essence of genuine connection in my work seemed to be fading away, overshadowed by algorithms and unaligned clients whose ultimate priority was profit.

This lost connection to my work ultimately led me down a path of revisiting my values and getting back to intuitively daydreaming about what I wanted my future to look like.

It wasn’t until I taught a class on soul-aligned marketing in an online community that our rebellious approach really shined through for the first time publicly. I spoke about the value of dreaming freely and embracing our humanity, urging others to consider their own aspirations and the emotions tied to their work.

And in that moment, the answer finally felt clearer than it ever had to me: there is a dire need for a new approach to marketing, one that puts people at the forefront and prioritizes genuine connections at every touchpoint. I envisioned a rebellion against the one-size-fits-all strategies and best practices that were suffocating creativity and stifling the voices of those who were driven by a deep purpose.

Rebellious, human-centered marketing refers to a mindset and approach that challenges traditional marketing norms and embraces a more empathetic, authentic, and people-centric way of connecting with our audience. It involves breaking free from conventional marketing practices that prioritize sales-driven tactics and instead focuses on building meaningful relationships, understanding the needs and emotions of the audience, and creating content that genuinely resonates with the real people on the other side of the screen.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Birches Brand is a team of eight rebellious marketers from around the world, currently based in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and beyond. We’re always looking to include diverse identities and perspectives in our work, because ultimately, it helps us do our job — connecting with humans — better.

Our core focus is providing rebellious, human-centered marketing solutions that foster meaningful connections and drive more remarkable results for our clients. We believe in going beyond surface-level understanding to deeply connect with audiences, enabling authentic relationships that propel businesses forward.

At the end of the day, what I’m most proud of at Birches Brand is the genuine relationships and partnerships we develop through our work. We make it a point to get to know our audiences well, of course, but the second piece of that comes in getting to know and anticipate our clients’ needs as well – and how we can best show up for them as humans. Ultimately, this highly personalized partnership enables us to step into their businesses as secondary visionaries and better support their team and their communities – and make a meaningful impact on the world through their mission. All while enjoying our work more than ever before!

We’re passionate about connecting with humans, embracing diversity, and providing personalized, human-centered marketing that helps our clients make a meaningful impact on this world.

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

There’s a lot of learned skills as a business owner – and one of the most demanding skills for me has been growing transparent, growth-oriented relationships.

I think one of the best qualities a manager can have is seeing the people they work with as human beings, first and foremost. You wouldn’t think this needs to be called out, but if you’ve worked in marketing before, I’m sure you can relate to this sentiment. Relationships can get far too transactional here, both with clients, team members, and your audience, if you’re not careful. And we’re worth more than that.

We’re all humans here. We all have hard days and personal lives. Life is complex!

And I hope every member of my team feels like they can show up and be vulnerable and transparent about where they’re at with me. I hope they feel like this work is a creative outlet, and a means to an end (surviving capitalism) in some ways – because we’re much more than just workers in this life. We have full lives outside of this work too.

I try my best to show up, to connect with my team on a personal level, to check in, and to be vulnerable about my needs, too.

It’s really that simple.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

By far, one of the biggest influences and kindest mentors I’ve ever worked with is Lexi Merritt from Pretty Decent Internet Cafe. (https://www.prettydecent.org/)

Lexi operates an internet business and community called Pretty Decent that teaches people how to be “good at the internet”. But it’s more than just that. She reminds us to experiment intuitively, to be kinder to our minds, and to find the joy in our dream work life.

I encourage every business owner or freelancer at any stage of business to join her free community at the very least – and to strongly consider joining her paid community. Lexi’s mind and her community have been personally life-changing for me, for my team, and for my business! I’ll be a lifelong Study member for sure!

I wish I had the right words to truly summarize Lexi’s contribution to this world! But if I could, I’d say she’s just an empathetic person, meeting other humans exactly where they’re at, and empowering them with a kind mind that helps them feel a little more human again in their work.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.birchesbrand.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/birchesbrand/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hannahleigh/

Image Credits
All photo credits to the AMAZING duo at Meet the Bryants – https://www.meetthebryants.com/. Jason and Alejandra Bryant.