A magazine editor’s approach to brand building with Leah Melby Clinton

A magazine editor’s approach to brand building with Leah Melby Clinton

This piece features insights from Leah Melby Clinton. Leah is the Director of Brand Marketing and Margaux NYC, a luxury footwear brand, as well as the Co-Editor of InKind Magazine and the Founder of the Diana Membership. She lives with her family in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. 

Clear messaging is just one facet of a fully baked, cohesive brand. That’s why I love connecting with brand strategists and smart marketers like Leah Melby Clinton. Leah transitioned from full-time journalism in the glossy magazine industry to the marketing space and I wanted to ask her about her experiences with the transition (although Leah continues to write and edit via new channels, too!). “My favorite part of my work life is ideation. I love brainstorming in small groups, letting ideas bounce off each other, grow and morph and pivot, or inspire someone else to say, ‘Wait, that makes me think of something…’ she shares.

A strategy that transcends channels

When we think of content strategy, we often think too strictly in terms of channels. In fact, many marketing teams are still divided by channel – social media managers write social media posts and create short form vertical videos, while the multimedia team focuses on longer-form horizontal videos, for example.

Leah stresses that thinking doesn’t work anymore: “Any idea, content shoot, or message should work in any channel. Rather than thinking of a dozen ideas, being thoughtful about how to slice and dice one really great concept is crucial to both optimizing workflow and sending a strong brand message.” 

“Trying to strip personality from a brand is a mistake in my book—the majority of companies can afford to show voice or a founder’s perspective in messaging and comms.”

While Leah admits that some brands have more room to play than others, “even while consulting for finance brands I’ve tried to push people to show who they are whenever possible. As consumers, we’re used to feeling like we know a brand, and there’s a lot to be gained from shoppers who like your product and services, but also you as the person behind the brand.” 

On finding your topical sweet spots

One step I always take with clients is creating a small group of topic clusters that surround your product offering. For example, right now I’m consulting on an app that’s aimed at women supporting new moms in their communities. Instead of posting only about the app itself, we’re focusing on the ring of topics that relate to the problem the app solves. Postpartum overwhelm, the most useful ways to help new moms, the societal expectations and burdens that new moms bear, etc. 

Leah takes this a step further: “Aliza Licht’s amazing book On Brand has a ton of actionable tools, including ways to use a Venn diagram to help identify your brand pillars. Once you have a clear, written-out view of what your brand stands for, think about “franchises” you can easily create to support that (the idea of a “franchise” is such an editor thing to think about, too, but again it fits for everyone!). If you’re a cookware brand, maybe it’s sending a monthly digest from the founder with recipes you’ve loved cooking or an ode to an ingredient—make it feel like you and true to your voice and what you’re passionate about. And then if you say you’re going to send it monthly, send it monthly!”

This consistency piece is where so many brands fall down due to lack of organization and resources, and I think this is why it’s key to have an implementation plan complete with assigned and empowered executors to accompany your strategy. 

The influencer to brand, brand to influencer trend

When I spoke with Leah, we somehow magically avoided the topic of AI. And I think it’s a beautiful thing that we focused on human-led, genuine branding. 

In fact, Leah shared “An analogy I point to a lot is how we’ve seen original influencers build brands that are meant to bigger/extend beyond them as a “blogger” (think about what Julia Berolzheimer‘s done or how Jacey Duprie went from being Damsel in Dior to creating Wyeth). The reverse needs to happen with brands that were brands first: Founders need their community and shoppers to know them.” Clinton cites Jessie Randall as a great example of a founder being her brand’s “ultimate ambassador.” Likewise, Gucci Westman has done a terrific job of using content to make customers fall in love with her Westman Atelier cosmetics. 

In the end, it comes back to humanizing the brand. It’s only when you’re willing to lean into personality that your content truly feels authentic, and just as interesting as chatting with a real life friend.