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Root + River

a beliefs-based branding strategic consulting team

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Why You Sound Like Everyone Else

January 8, 2021 By Emily + Justin

  As the people in charge of our brands, we want to stand out. We want our voices to rise above the lesser operators, the people who give our industry a bad name. We want someone to hear our message and reach out to us with a hearty: “I want to work with you!” But two issues thwart us in our intentions: We are scared to tell the truth.  We don’t know what to say.  There’s no ...

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Slow Down to Speed Up

November 30, 2020 By Emily + Justin

As a director of marketing, you’ve become friends with timelines and time management, buddies with bandwidth. Even if the leadership team loves your ideas and encourages you to execute, they then repeatedly and persistently ask one question: “When?” When will it be done? When will the website launch? When will the new brand language be live? When will we see results? And you are always ...

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The Unstoppable Power of an Aligned CEO and CMO

November 9, 2020 By Emily + Justin

In our work with mission-based leaders, there is one factor above all others that leads to successful brand differentiation. That factor doesn’t involve SEO or PPC. It’s not the best ad campaign. Nor even the best product.  It is spiritual and strategic alignment between the CEO and the CMO. Particularly when the CEO has been thinking for a while: “There’s something missing from how ...

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Planning for 2021 is foolish: Question instead

September 30, 2020 By Emily + Justin

  A plan is a method for achieving an end, so says Merriam-Webster. If 2020 has taught us anything, it’s that relying too heavily on the solidity of your plans is foolishness. Defining yourself by your adherence to a plan subject to the current volatility of our world can leave you feeling disappointed, jaded and cynical -- and cause you to operate from a defensive or a defeatist ...

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How do I do biz dev now?

September 3, 2020 By Emily + Justin

  Even as we’ve settled into routines around working remotely, meeting virtually and supervising online learning, many of us still seem stuck when it comes to how to carry on doing business development.  More than once recently we’ve heard the exasperated frustration, “I used to go to lunches and happy hours and events! Now I can’t do any of that, so how do I still do biz ...

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Why is marketing so hard right now?

August 6, 2020 By Emily + Justin

  Branding and marketing have never been easy. But throw in a pandemic, social and political unrest and a recession and that will complicate things a bit more. So no shame from us if you went into hunker-down mode. We get it! But we would also challenge you to consider this: the world needs you and your brand right now. So maybe it’s time to re-emerge. Maybe the reason it was ...

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Bored of Marketing? Have More Fun! An Interview with Misty Megia

August 4, 2020 By Emily + Justin

Q: Who are you and what do you do? I am Misty Megia, I am a CEO/Creative Producer and Business Strategist. Q: Do you have any nicknames you care to share? The only nickname I've heard people call me is Sunshine, which I will gladly take ;) Q: What do you love about marketing? I love the creative world of marketing and figuring out the solutions to consumer problems. I love the art, ...

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Branding is Still a Performance

July 8, 2020 By Emily + Justin

Authenticity. Vulnerability. Transparency. Being more human. These are the standards of a modern brand.  Branding is still a performance, and a powerful one. But it’s not a performance built on pretense, on flimsy supposition or shallow projection. It’s a performance that rises from truth, integrity, and genuine emotion.  It’s a performance because you, as a brand, always have an audience. ...

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Your audience is practicing attention curation. Are you?

June 24, 2020 By Emily + Justin

Unless you intentionally live in a self-created bubble, everyone and everything is trying to get your attention at all times.  Therefore, we don’t give our attention for any length of time to just anything. Our attention must be earned.  It’s something we call attention curation, and it works two ways.  For individuals, attention curation is the disciplined practice of consciously ...

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This is who we are

June 1, 2020 By Emily + Justin

Injustice in our country must be addressed. It begins, as all deep work does, by looking inward. This is precisely what Michelle Obama highlighted in her public statement May 30, “It's up to all of us—Black, white, everyone—no matter how well-meaning we think we might be, to do the honest, uncomfortable work of rooting it out. It starts with self-examination and listening to those whose ...

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Co-Founder @emilyatlarge was recently asked about ...

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Co-Founder @emilyatlarge was recently asked about intentions.

“No words came to me,” she writes. “Instead, my heart filled, my mind flooded with emotional visuals, forms and feelings blending seamlessly into one another. (This is how most important ideas begin within me.)”

Read more about why she doesn’t do resolutions and her unique process for setting intentions. Link in bio

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In the years I spent as part of a fundamentalist ...

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In the years I spent as part of a fundamentalist church, “Grow where you’re planted” was a common trope. It was typically used as an admonishment to someone’s complaining about their circumstances, writes @fosterthinking.

The phrase is an adapted relic of survival. While its roots are in hope, it’s usage in contemporary times encourages hopelessness, he continues.

Visit the link in bio to read Justin’s three tips if you’re stuck in a survival situation or mindset.

rootandriver

For those of you who are new here, welcome! We’d...

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For those of you who are new here, welcome! We’d love to share a little bit about who we are.

We are a team of four (from left): Jen, Justin, Emily and Cat. Our mission is to inspire others to go inward. We are the founders of intrinsic branding, the practice of building your brand from the inside out. No cheesy gimmicks or taglines allowed in our work.

A few more facts about us:
 We are defiers. Each of us have stories about going against the status quo, shaking up the stale and trying new things. 
 We are teachers. Our team loves guiding others, teaching new concepts and freely sharing what we know. Plus, Cat was an actual teacher earlier in her career!
 We are a silly bunch. Ask Justin about his library of Dad jokes.

Drop us a line below to say hi and ask us a question.

Photo credit: Jean Laninga
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Root + River

We believe all great brands are spiritual experiences. Branding is an experience that will change you. It will shift the borders of your thinking and give you a practical framework for how to collectively carry the brand forward.

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  • Why You Sound Like Everyone Else
  • Connecting the Dots from Mission to Brand
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  • 3 Mistakes You Could Be Making When Telling Stories
  • The Unstoppable Power of an Aligned CEO and CMO

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