“Our tagline is, ‘Your brand, your voice, your story’ because our belief is that if you… share your actual story behind what you do and why you do it, people will listen.”
Businesses and non-profit organizations regularly open and move in Saskatoon. Today the StarPhoenix talks to Lindsay Fuchs and Krystal Thorhaug, who recently opened Undercover Creators.
Both grew up in small-town Saskatchewan and they have been friends since childhood. The day Krystal decided she wanted to start a social media marketing company, she invited Lindsay to join as a co-founder and help her build the business.
Lindsay respectfully declined her invitation more than a few times, but Krystal was persistent. When Krystal asked Lindsay to review the business plan (with Lindsay’s title, picture and bio already written in), Lindsay finally agreed and said yes.
They are complete opposites, and a perfect balance to each other. Together, they help unheard entrepreneurs, growth-focused leaders and purpose-driven executives share their authentic stories through copy and messaging online.
Q: What is Undercover Creators?
Lindsay Fuchs: We’re a social media company that specializes in helping purpose-driven businesses and nonprofits gain clarity on their mission, find their voice, and connect with their audience online.
Our tagline is, ‘Your brand, your voice, your story,’ because our belief is that if you actually are authentic and you share your actual story behind what you do and why you do it, people will listen. People won’t buy into what you have to offer until they buy into you and why you do it.
Q: How do you help your clients share their own story?
Lindsay: We get pretty deep to understand our client’s back story, their why and their voice. A lot of times that means having consultations to help them clearly define their mission and identify their audience, especially when those areas need updating or haven’t been fully developed yet.
We have a process that helps us understand their voice personality and their tone. Like even if they use exclamations or emojis, or if they would say this, and do not say that.
When we’re creating content for them, nobody should ever know it’s not them doing it. It should sound exactly like them and represent what they do and what they stand for. We have a unique process to extract their own voice and transform it into engaging messages for social media, blogs, email sequences or wherever they want to be seen.
Q: What services do you provide?
Krystal Thorhaug: We provide clarity for startups, impact for non-profits and visibility for brands. Clarity for startups is where we help startup businesses or businesses that have been in business for a while that aren’t sure of, or don’t have a vision statement. We help them define that as well as their ideal client profile and how to connect with that audience. We make sure their messaging is consistent to who they are communicating to.
Impact for non-profits is near and dear to our hearts. We’re big on giving back and helping them attract the resources they need to do their work. We’ve partnered with a couple other companies to help them get access to grants, do the grant writing and get big donors. And then we help with the messaging and the marketing.
Visibility for brands is all about developing brand awareness and having a presence on social media as well as with email marketing and making sure people are seeing them. It’s all about the consistency. We want to make sure that we’re building their brand so they can be seen, heard and remembered by those who need to see it most. We do everything from the writing to the content creation to the strategy piece.
Q: How do you consult and put together content for your clients?
Krystal: We usually Zoom or video chat with clients, depending on what their preference is. We prefer to do Zoom because then we can record it. We transcribe everything and we can play it back. It’s easier to Zoom then meet on site, but some people are much more natural in person, so we want to do what works best for them.
It’s a strategy and content interview, so we talk about what’s going on in their business. Are there announcements to make? Is there a new launch? Is there something behind the scenes for employees that we can help them kind of share that story?
It’s all about what’s going on in the business right now. What are the important things and important messages you need to get out right now? Are there changes? And then we balance that with the story pieces. And we use their answers to our questions to create that content.
Lindsay: We make sure all things are working together and coordinated. So what you’re saying in your emails can be used for your socials, or what you’re doing next can be used on your website. It’s all related and you want to have a really cohesive message.
If you’re saying one thing in your emails and something else on social and something else on your website, it’s confusing. And I always say a confused mind will never buy. You have to be very clear on what you do, who you do it for and why you do it, and how it impacts that potential customer.
We also partner with people to help elevate the look of our client’s brand. We partner with photographers, videographers, SEO specialists because nobody is the best at everything. So we do what we do best and partner with others who are the best at what they do.
Q: You do all your work behind the scenes?
Lindsay: You’ll notice on our website that there’s very few pages where you’ll see our faces. We usually cut our faces off in pictures or allow only half of it to show. Even though we know that with marketing psychology faces can play a powerful role in building trust and connection, it’s an intentional brand decision. We don’t want people to know who’s behind the scenes — we want them to know our client and our client’s brands.
Q: You write a regular blog on your website?
Krystal: We try to have at least one a month, and they are just tips to help people who are still trying to do it on the side of their desk or who need a little guidance. We’re just hoping that if it gets too overwhelming, they’re going to remember us because we’ve given them tips along the way.
Q: What do you love most about running Undercover Creators?
Krystal: I love designing and creating. I love the variety of people that we get to showcase and the challenge of representing them each uniquely. Sometimes as a business owner, you know every piece about your business and you can overlook things or be dismissive about what should be shared about you. So I love offering that outside perspective and helping them see significance and helping showcase what others probably don’t know about that company.
Lindsay: My favourite thing is when I’m working with somebody and they say to me, ‘You get me!’ I’ll say something to them and then they’ll just be like, ‘I didn’t even know that about myself.’
We’re really good at helping others articulate things. There’s a video testimonial we have on our website and it was completely unsolicited. This girl needed help with her mission. She’s got a partner and they are both communicating about the technical pieces of what they do. And they are so great at what they do, they just didn’t know quite how to communicate it. So after I helped her get her mission statement into something that had clarity and was meaningful, she sent me a testimonial as a thank you and she said when she read it, she actually cried.
It’s so meaningful, being able to help people articulate those kinds of things so they can get the message out about the things that they are really passionate about doing.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
Undercover Creators
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