We recently connected with Lynn Tickner and have shared our conversation below.

Lynn, appreciate you joining us today. Taking care of customers isn’t just good business – it is often one of the main reasons folks went into business in the first place. So, we’d love to get a conversation going around how to best help clients feel appreciated – maybe you can share something you’ve done or seen someone do that’s been really effective at helping a customer feel valued?

We are an empathy-first marketing studio, and empathy is applied equally to our clients AND to our clients’ clients and customers.

We design clear journeys for our clients beginning with the first discovery call and continuing through every process. We include messages and encouragement designed to make our clients smile throughout all our communication. We also have regular touchpoints for our clients including weekly updates so they never need to wonder what’s going on with their project.

When we create a clear brand message for a company, we do a deep dive into the company’s ideal customer. We learn what problems keep them up at night, what they care about, and what they want so everything we create from the brand design to the website to the marketing makes the customer feel seen and heard.

We love to surprise our clients with unexpected gifts like fun gourmet ice cream or homemade soup and bread delivered to their homes. We try to learn about each client so any gift received feels personalized.

I’ve received lovely gifts from others, and my most recent favorite surprise was from a consultant who sent me a personalized Yeti cup.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Instead of getting lost in the noise, we help your brand live rent-free in your customer’s heads so when they’re ready to buy, they’ll think of you first! Ink and Key is a full-service, empathy-first branding and marketing agency and we help businesses build, launch, and grow standout brands so you can attract the right people, help your customers win, and achieve your goals!

I started Ink and Key over 8 years ago because I saw major issues with using contests to help business owners find a name for their businesses. I’m a problem solver at heart and came up with an idea for a personalized, secure, and efficient way for people to tackle the daunting task of naming a business or a product.

I gathered a small team of expert namers who believed in my dream for Ink and Key, and we launched our website to the sound of crickets. I spent all my time learning and improving our processes while putting tons of effort into writing good content. Before long, we began to grow as we wanted to continue to serve our naming clients in ways that made sense like brand strategy and design, brand messaging, website design and development, and marketing.

One of the most rewarding things we get to do is partner with a business owner from the idea stage all the way to launch. The process of making an idea real and using it to serve others and solve problems is so rewarding for us.

We also LOVE helping established businesses refresh their brand by clarifying their message so customers understand what they do, how they make their lives better, and what they need to do to buy it. We equip businesses with 7 sound bytes or talking points so anytime someone on the team needs to talk about or write about the business, they’ll all be pulling from the same 7 sound bytes. Teams refer to the brand message playbook we prepare for them anytime they need to create content which makes life so much easier for everyone. This also means their customers get a clear and consistent message every time they encounter the brand, which will help them remember the brand. Then, when the customer is ready to buy, they’ll think of that brand first instead of the competition.

We believe clarity and consistency, backed by a big dose of empathy is the best way to stand out in any industry.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

Showing up day in and day out and putting in the reps.

Showing up: Effort applied consistently toward a singular focus will always lead to the biggest gains. This isn’t my original quote but I have it written on a dry-erase board in my office as a daily reminder.

For example, I ask clients, “How did you find me?” Many times, they’ll say something like, “Oh, I’ve been following you on LinkedIn for the past year.” Well, not once did that person ever like or comment on a post, but they were watching and when they were ready, they reached out to me. That encourages me to keep going because I know others are watching even if they aren’t engaging.

Putting in the reps: I remember how my stomach hurt before my first-ever client call because I was so nervous. Now all these years later, I still prepare for calls but I’m not nervous anymore, just excited because I love meeting new people and helping them help others. I’m still learning, though, and always trying to improve.

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?

Applying the principles of They Ask, You Answer by Marcus Sheridan. What’s encouraging to me is that long before this book was published, I somehow figured out that answering the questions people were asking would be an excellent way to become known in my industry, so that’s what I did, and that’s what I continue to do.

Content I wrote several years ago continues to rank and be an excellent source of inbound leads. Just this week a new client told me she scheduled a call with me because she liked the way I wrote an article that answered a question she’d been struggling with.

This is one of the reasons we provide content marketing services for our clients, too. Good content writing is an excellent investment that will continue to serve you well for years to come.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.inkandkey.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/inkandkey/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/InkandKey/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lynn-tickner/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@inkandkey

Image Credits

Stephanie Williams Portraits