folder Filed in Interviews, Podcast
From Band to Brand: Haylee Kalani’s Journey in Marketing
By SmartBranding Team access_time 5 min read

Intro

Today, we’re joined by Haylee Kalani, a seasoned marketing professional with over a decade of experience. Haylee focuses on creating attention-grabbing content, leading dynamic creative teams, and crafting outstanding advertising campaigns. She is a firm believer in teamwork and is known for unlocking the full potential of marketing teams to drive profitable returns.

Meet our guest

Name: Haylee Kalani

What they do: Haylee Kalani McDonald is the founder of Kalani Consulting. She works directly with Marketing Teams & CMOs of 7-8 figure brands – helping them gain & retain more customers through creative strategy & brand response marketing.

She is a keynote speaker and co-author and has been featured in major publications like Brainz Magazine, in addition to dozens of podcasts sharing her marketing expertise with thousands of business owners, entrepreneurs, and creators.

Her mission is to embed a culture of creativity in every business so that they can achieve more innovation, impact, and income.

Interesting fact: Haylee stumbled into marketing almost accidentally, driven by her deep love for music. Witnessing the struggles faced by talented artists to make a living, she became determined to find a way to create attention and build audiences for musicians. Starting with her own music, she ventured into social media marketing and provided a range of marketing services to bands and recording studios, which later led to the founding of Kalani Consulting LLC.

Where to reach them:

Quote


The biggest difference I see in marketing is the shift between B2B and B2C, where the focus changes from work to personal life mode. When targeting B2B audiences, it’s essential to create content that holds attention while providing the right information to the right person.

Haylee Kalani

Brand consistency is crucial in marketing, as inconsistency can create confusion and undermine the brand’s credibility. Entrepreneurs should carefully consider their branding choices from the beginning and strive for long-term consistency that resonates with their target audience.

Haylee Kalani

Short overview

We begin by discussing Haylee’s background and how she entered the marketing field. With a deep passion for music and experience playing in bands and working in music production, Haylee’s firsthand experience with the challenges musicians face in making a living sparked her curiosity in attracting attention and building an audience. She began promoting her music and offering marketing services to bands and recording studios. As social media platforms evolved, Haylee’s interest in social media marketing grew. Her drive for independence led her to establish her own consulting business Kalani Consulting LLC, specialising in creative and social media strategy. While she initially worked with clients in the music industry, her expertise expanded to include fitness gyms, CrossFit gyms, jiujitsu gyms, and real estate brokerages, allowing her to gain diverse industry experience.

Haylee highlights the significant distinction between the B2B (business-to-business) and B2C (business-to-consumer) aspects of marketing. She emphasises that the priorities and interests of these two audiences differ significantly, with B2B focusing more on professional interactions and B2C catering to personal lives.

When it comes to creating attention-grabbing content for B2B and B2C clients, Haylee believes it boils down to understanding human behaviour and psychology. The key is to craft a compelling hook that instantly captures the audience’s attention, followed by delivering on the promise in the headline or caption. Haylee draws inspiration from successful YouTube creators and reality TV shows that have mastered holding people’s attention for extended periods, applying similar frameworks to engage and captivate her clients’ target audiences.

Haylee notes that the perception of marketing has shifted in the last five years, with a growing recognition of its importance alongside sales. Entrepreneurs, particularly younger ones, are increasingly excited about marketing due to its accessibility and the visible success stories they witness. It has become a necessary and celebrated skill for building a successful business alongside sales and product development.

We talk about brand consistency, with Haylee sharing her own experience of initially overlooking it and highlighting the importance of taking the time to establish a harmonious brand identity.

Haylee points out two common branding and marketing mistakes that she sees people make. The first is the tendency to emulate other successful companies’ content without genuine inspiration, leading to inauthenticity. The second mistake is a need for clarity on the target audience, as some business owners try to serve too many different types of people instead of focusing on their core audience. 

Our chat continues with Haylee sharing the value of AI and ChatGPT platforms for idea exchange, feedback, and workflow streamlining with features like data visualisation.

Don’t skip the end of our conversation and discover what exciting plans are in store for Haylee and the 828 Collective!


We host engaging conversations about naming, branding, and entrepreneurship, exploring everything from initial triumphs to the hurdles along the way. If you’ve got insights on innovative branding strategies, lessons learned from entrepreneurial ventures, or thoughts on the significance of a solid domain name strategy, and you’re keen to chat about them, we’d love to hear from you!


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