Branding workshop success

I’ve blogged a lot here about the online workshops on branding I was going to teach.

But now the first one has happened, and it was an enormous success, more so than I’d ever dreamed. I worked with six people, from various walks of classical music life, and by the end of the third and last session, all of them felt they’d made enormous strides in their branding. I thought they did, too. It was heartening, for instance, to see someone with an impenetrable website emerge as a vibrant, irresistible musician and storyteller. And to see him (once he saw what his problem was) find exactly the approach that would make his real self visible to anyone who saw anything he’ll make available in the future.

With person after person, that happened. And it warmed my heart. I have testimonials I almost blush to share, but here are some of them, either from Twitter or from email the participants sent to me:

Finished up @gsandow ‘s branding class this week feeling so energized and inspired to launch my new website! (Catherine Shefski, pianist and teacher)

Greg is a natural and experienced leader. (Deborah Mason, composer and visual artist)

Thank you for making this seem possible, important, and even necessary that we do this, because we each have so much to offer. (Amy Cheifetz, soprano and teacher)

I find that I’m thinking about my own marketing in a comprehensive way that I was unaware of before. (Bruce Kiesling, composer, conductor, and teacher)

Although I have to say that my favorite comment came from Deb Mason:

Thank you for the things you said, and for the things you thoughtfully omitted, and for the many things implied, hinted at, danced around, and joked about and for not one drop of insincerity.

I’m genuinely flattered to know I could make my points without being harsh. But then the same was true of everyone in that workshop. I asked them all to critique their own materials — their own current branding — and, as they did that, others of course would join in. But always with courtesy and kindness. And good humor.

What was really fun was to see the discussion start to soar as the sessions continued. By the end, I often felt my role was just to zip my lips, and let everybody else talk. They were focusing on exactly what was most important. And helping each other tremendously.

I teach these workshops for groups of six people, charging each $200, and conducting the workshop in three online sessions, each lasting 90 minutes. For a longer description, see this page on my website. Or email me with any questions you might have.

I want to teach more of these, and have people signing up for workshops in June and July. There’s still room for more, though, so if you’re interested — and I hope you are — contact me and sign up! I think you won’t be disappointed. And at $200, the workshop is a bargain.