My Why: Putting Creativity to Work

In the early 1600s, England had a grave-robbing problem. People feared their bodies being stolen for medical experiments. One clever man put his creativity to work to ensure he was left undisturbed—William Shakespeare. His gravestone carries a warning:

Good friend for Jesus' sake forbeare,To dig the dust enclosed here.Blessed be the man that spares these stones,And cursed be he that moves my bones.

Some believe his skull was still stolen, but no one dares disturb his grave to find out.

Why am I telling you this? Because Shakespeare understood something fundamental: words have power. The way we tell a story, the way we communicate our message—it matters. It influences people, creates action, and leaves a lasting impact.

What does grave robbing and 400-year-old curses have to do with branding, marketing and graphic design? 

I’m so glad you asked. Id like for this article about what I do to leave an impression on you. I want you to remember it, and the way I’ll make sure you remember it is by telling you my why—what drives me, why I’m obsessed with branding, marketing, and design. My “why” is that like  Shakespeare, I find that I produce winning results when I put my creativity to work with a specific purpose in mind. 

When I was a kid, I discovered I could win things by putting my creativity to work. Grocery stores held coloring contests, and I figured out how to create entries that stood out. I started winning—over and over. Eventually, I won so many times that store managers at several of the stores asked my parents to stop entering me so that other kids could have a chance.

At 12, I put my creativity to work and had a poem published in the local newspaper.

At 16, the manager at the deli I worked at pulled me aside and instead of working with everyone else, that day I got paid to create a mural in the dining area.

At 18, I put my creativity to work to win a writing scholarship to Boston University.

At 21, I took an internship at an ad agency in Seattle. Instead of just fetching coffee, I designed a full ad campaign for an imaginary client and presented it to leadership. At the end of my internship the president called me into his office and asked me to leave school and work for him as a copywriter. Spoiler: I didn’t.

By 28, I started Alicia Nagel Creative, putting my creativity to work for small businesses and startups.

Design is not art

Design puts creativity to work. When I design for a client, I’m not making art for art’s sake—I’m crafting a visual and written message that furthers their business goals. A beautiful logo means nothing if it doesn’t communicate effectively. A stunning website is useless if it doesn’t convert visitors into warm leads or customers.

Why is a core concern of Brand Strategy

• Why does your company exist?

• Why should customers care?

• Why do they choose you over competitors?

I discover a company’s why. Then I put my creativity to work telling their story in a way that connects and captivates the target audience.

Brands aren’t created, they’re discovered

Branding isn’t about creating something from scratch—it’s about discovering what’s already there.

The Brand Discovery Process

I call the first phase of the brand strategy discovery process Archaeology—digging up what exists:

• The services and products on offer

• The type of people who are clients and customers

• What sets the company apart from the competition 

• The unique style and personality of how the company and leadership go about doing business

At this point, if you’re a business owner I want you to think about your own business. If someone asked you, “Why do customers choose you over competitors?”—how clear is your answer? If you hesitated even for a moment, that’s a sign your brand story might need some help.

The second phase of discovering a brand strategy is Alchemy—turning what we find into something powerful. I take the elements discovered in phase 1 and find the magical combination that makes your brand story irresistible to customers. I call it Alchemy because the goal is to combine these elements to create brand gold. That’s why my DIY branding course is called Create Brand Gold—because it guides you through this process.

Once you have a brand strategy, it becomes your marketing guide—so you get more results with less effort. Effective branding means you don’t have to constantly chase customers. Instead, they come to you because they connect with your story. They listen and remember your company because what you say resonates with them. They trust your brand because your messaging speaks to their pain points and helps you show up as helpful, not salesy. And because these folks are more likely to remember your message and tell their network, you don’t need to bombard them repeatedly with your message - it’s more likely to be remembered and passed on through word of mouth. 

I hope you remember my why

I truly feel I am on this planet to put my creativity to work. I do this through brand strategy, marketing, and design.

As Shakespeare said: "This above all: to thine own self be true." — Hamlet

Businesses win customers by knowing who they are and staying true to it. Brand strategy discovers the core truths, the beating heart, the why  of a company - and helps them communicate authentically. When a company communicates consistently,  honestly, and shows it cares about its customers pain points, it builds trust. And as Zig Ziglar said: "If people like you, they'll listen to you, but if they trust you, they'll do business with you."

Every company can benefit from brand strategy, no matter how small their budget or how complicated their offerings.

If you know a business struggling with marketing, consider suggesting they discover and define their brand strategy and use this to guide efforts. You can send them my way to learn about branding, discover their brand strategy, and put it to use to making their marketing radically more effective. 

How to get started

Step 1: Gain an understanding of branding and how it affects marketing.

Business owners should understand brand strategy and what it can do for their business. I have a talk I’ve given on this topic many times, that I call “Who Gives A Brand?” It’s basically: what is branding, why should you give a crap about it, and what can it do for your business. Last year I gave this talk at the Small Business Conference in Cocoa Village, and hired a videographer to make a recording that is watchable for free on my website as a virtual workshop. It’s available under Courses.

Step 2: Business owners should discover their company’s brand. 

Whether they hire me to do this as a consultant, or do it themselves through my Create Brand Gold DIY branding course, this is the foundation of creating really effective marketing. The results of the Create Brand Gold course is a written comprehensive brand strategy for your business, which can be used to inspire and inform marketing. It’s a valuable PDF that can be printed as a physical book, emailed to a marketing professional or designer to give them guidance, or it can be uploaded into chat GPT to create effective social media posts, blog articles, and more. The Create Brand Gold course can be found under Courses on my website.

Step 3: Business owners hire a marketing professional like me, and put their creativity to work to translate their brand strategy into all marketing materials. 

My most popular projects tend to be the most important marketing pieces of any business -  a name, logo, and website. If it’s a product, then it’s also the packaging. These are the some of the most impactful marketing tools of your business. As Forbes business magazine says, “The right branding strategy—powerful, consistent depictions of your brand via marketing— is perhaps more critical for a company’s success than product design and quality.” 

Clients hire me to put my creativity to work in several ways - those with a larger budget and ongoing needs may hire me as a fractional CMO or chief marketing officer. Those with a smaller budget may hire me to audit their website for opportunities for improvement and help them make those improvements. Start ups may hire me for naming, logo design, and their initial website. The services I provide vary in complexity and length depending on the client. If you know someone who is interested in working with me, or if you’re interested in working with me, the best first step is to send me a message using the contact form on my website. 

So let’s put creativity to work—and change your marketing from commonplace to captivating.

Have a project in mind that you'd like to work with me on? Let's talk.