Hallmark Mahogany is rapidly evolving beyond signature Hallmark greeting cards and into a community that gathers, empowers and celebrates black women.

At the helm of this grand evolution is Alexis Kerr, VP of Hallmark Mahogany. She tells us about shifts in the brand under her tenure as well as the latest techniques used to build an authentic, genuine and meaningful community around it. Hear how she’s creating customer connections, empowering internal team members, marketing creatively, and releasing spectacular new content – all of which are contributing to the growth of the Mahogany brand and garnering support for its mission internally and externally.

“When it comes to black women, we want to see ourselves. We want to see ourselves in the products and services that we’re supporting. We also want to purchase products and services that support our community ” – Alexis Kerr, Hallmark Mahogany

In this episode, Alexis Kerr discusses:

• The power of utilizing research to truly understand the needs of their community
  
  
• Championing the support, voice, and ideas of those both internally and externally to succeed in rapid change
  
• The ways in which they are building an engaged and empowered community
  

Consider and discuss: How can I apply this thinking to my business?

• What is your business doing to create community?
  What does your community look like? What does that relationship look like? What’s the dynamic between your brand and your internal team? How could you change or evolve these relationships?
  
• What are you doing to support the businesses around you?
  What are you doing to support your internal team members? How can you gain support from others? What does support mean for your business? How would things change if support was available? Are there avenues you haven’t been using to garner that support? How can you pursue those avenues now?
  
• How would you define the speed at which things happen in your business?
  What would it mean to have rapid change? Would it mean a couple of months? A couple of weeks? What’s the turnaround time to finish a product or project? What would it mean to have something finished quicker? Think about the costs associated with speed. How does that change your perception of speed in your business?
  
• What do you know about your customer?
  How are you acquiring that information? Are you gathering information from a reliable source? Are you operating purely on gut instinct or is informed by data? Is the customer that you are targeting present in your advertising? Is it the same on that actually ends up buying yoru product or engaging with your service? Is there alignment in that? Are you serving what the customer really needs? Are you aligning with what your customer is asking for? What would make your service more valuable? Is there opportunity to make that happen?

Key themes

• Customer relationship
• Business operations
• Marketing strategy
• Content
• Branding

For extended show notes, resources, and ways to connect, learn more at: mavenminds.com/season-1-trailblazers
Podcast Editor and Strategist: @episodeready