Overw8 Digital Agentur & Medien

17/04/2024

**talarm Do not mess around with a "must be" AI addition in your product if that messes with its core promise.

There is a graphic design tool out there
that thought it highly important to 'put in some AI'
(or rather it was probably 'the investors')
and now what you are left with as a user is
a product that had been working perfectly well
and reliable
but now

all
the
f****ing
time does not get your resources loaded
as the program is seemingly in overload getting it all handled.

You also can't dare anymore to use it 3pm onwards 🙈
as then the US gets to their desks 🧖
and it will get even worse.

Please:
💡Before you add to your product so called
'extra value'
make sure it does not mess
with your quality core product.
These are completely unnecessary risks
that mess with trust and
therefore brand and
therefore revenue in the end.

This accounts always, yes, even and especially when it is about 'that AI'. It only adds to AI's bad image - the fingers of both my hands don't suffice to count the useless 'solutions' I have seen happening.

Don't do it. Nope.
Really, please not.

29/03/2024

🐰 Is it possible to convincingly combine rabbits and entrepreneurs? Well, yes, of course! Which one is your favourite?

(🐇Feel free to share the Easter inspo with others. And most of all: Enjoy! Spring is here! New opportunities! Fresh spirits! 😁

28/03/2024

🌸 Easter and therefore spring is here.... Who's been counting the days till the long weekend? Come on... as much as we love our startups, products, big visions, sometimes the best we can do is to have a nicely recharging break. 🔋
What's on the agenda - some extended boozy brunch? First bike ride? What do you look for this Easter?

The OVERW8 team wishes you Happy Easter!

25/03/2024

I find myself repeating this simple phrase since I heard Wood, CEO of fashion brand All Saints mentioning this (also repeatedly) at the Vogue Business event in London the other day. Before you dismiss it as overly simplistic, let me assure you: it is not. Let me give you more context so you can appreciate its beauty, too. ✨

Peter had been asked about "how they would deal with the ask for omnichannel presence," etc..

He answered, "What I want my team to do is, at best, not to think in channels at all, but to think about "how can we make it as easy as possible for our customers" - to stumble over a dress of ours, to purchase it, to purchase more etc."

He was asked similar questions inviting him to make things more complex, but he kept returning to this:

📌 "We need to focus on how to make it as easy for them as possible."

That makes perfect sense because, like this you differentiate between strategy (making it easy) and tactic (a certain channel).

If a channel doesn't work, you don't stick with it; you move on. This includes UI and/or customer experience, transactional email, etc.

It also covers the good ol' discussion of 'Is this sales or marketing or what?' It does not matter. What matters is whether any of the things you want to do make things easy for your clients.

That is why this mantra is genius.

So, in case you're wondering...
and/or we would be working together...
It could easily be that I would trigger us to answer this question.

This is also the question we keep asking ourselves for Ägile Ässets and now for finding seed investors for it (know someone? thx for connecting us! 🙏)

Happy "making it easy for them" to you for this spring week!

💡What could you do today to make it as easy as possible for your clients?

11/02/2024

“In all that matters, it’s style that matters.” – Oscar Wilde
Instagram often has a tad of a trashy aura when it comes to social media marketing and building your brand. However... it is of course just a medium and you get to fill it with... trash or ... 🌟 quality.

We've compiled some tips to inspire that quality approach: "Instagram marketing with Style, Charm and Bowler Hat".

Btw: Can you tell who that is? Of course, it's the brilliant Diana Rigg with Patrick Macnee from Avengers. She's also known as James Bond's wife and Game of Thrones Star!

Head over to our blog and learn how to do even Instagram with style and class, then let us know what you think, what you would add for this year.

👉 https://bit.ly/10xInstaTip

06/02/2024

While the existence of Loch Ness may be debatable, these 11 marketing myths are not. 🐉 Have a look in our blog: https://bit.ly/dig-mar-myths - you might find a trap you've stepped into before - and now you do not need to do that anymore! 💡❌

What's a naive marketing assumption you've had in the past? 🤓
Which digital marketing myths would you like to bust?

Let us know in the comments!

04/02/2024

Just a little reminder before a new crazy week is coming up. 😉
What a you up to... DO sth. or not do something about your next level goals?

02/02/2024

Which font do you love or hate most?

Here at o8, we have a love/hare relationship with fonts. Or maybe we are just a bit Soup-Nazi about them. 🙈👼

We love them when they underline the story they tell. 📖
When the selection is small but well-chosen, and there aren't ten fonts at once that hurt your eyes. 🙈

When it comes to fonts, more is certainly NEVER more and yep, we smell a bad designer from miles away, if they don't know how to use fonts.❌

We loathe having to look at wild concoctions of fonts that do not align, breathe, or help with the overall brand atmosphere.

👉 For your brand communication, let a good agency help you choose 2-3 fonts during the brand creation process - and then use them consistently, anywhere and always. Or, well, just check in with us how we could help with your branding.

01/02/2024

What use is your amazing website if nobody ever sees it? 😢
You need to show people the way. Kind of like a scavenger hunt. 🥅
That is why social media has become so decisive even in B2B: You need to sprinkle breadcrumbs and hints and LEAD people to your business - this is where it happens. 🍞

In marketing we call those breadcrumbs "contact points". 😉

Get yourself read up about it on our blog: 👉 https://bit.ly/o8-cont-points

What would be your take?
What would you add?

31/01/2024

from 4 years ago. Our CEO shares:

💬 " Hartel (digital artist) carr (curator of the Kunsträume am See) and pretzel (Munich Philharmonics) had conceptualized this artsy concept - and we at got to support them with the festival look and feel as well as yes, posters.

The whole affair was super artsy, quirky, clairvoyant even a bit. Why? Because "BeyderZeit" meant a reference towards the Baroque and the topics inbetween human vanity vs. us all having to die at some point.

The pandemic was just about to begin when the festival took place, all of us having no freaking idea what was ahead of us.

This is one thing we love about being able to work with creative brilliant people like these... it gives you a truly different perspective and they might be sensing something that is in the air.

So, for me, this poster, this layout of ours, is a clear pre-pandemic milestone and I am really grateful we're off of that hook at least in the meanwhile."

What is one of your "shortly before pandemic" milestones?

ℹ There are quite some cool features around that branding, check it out here: 👉 https://bit.ly/echo-makingof

30/01/2024

🥂"OVERW8 to receive media innovator award".

Sooo much is happening these days, we nearly forgot to share this cool award given to us by the curators of "Innovation in business". It says "Best Marketing Strategy & Development Firm 2023 - Bavaria". Ok, we need to work a little still on the - world part, but hey, give us some time, will ya!? 😁 🤠

Thanks so much! We're thrilled. *happydance* ✨

What's a professional recognition that though maybe not main part of your business still was nice to get? Please share so we get to applaud you, too! 🤸♀

More about it: https://www.innovationinbusiness.com/winners/overw8/

24/01/2024

Meet our founder + CEO at !
👉 As Barney (How I met your mother) would say: 🤩 "This will be legendary!" 🤩 Ex-Ci-Ting news to share here!

The city of Munich with Munich Business and Munich Startup, had opened applications for a special startup program and delegation to head over to together - and we assume 😁 - rock it.

So, after one of those crazy weeks before Christmas 🙈
Kristin decided it was worth a try
and invested the Sunday afternoon
into that application
AND
it turns out

we or resp. Ässets
were invited to come along!

🎉

So, now

✈ ✅ she's got a booked flight to Austin, Texas for Thursday, the 8th.

🛂 ✅ has gotten over her Kafkaesk paranoia and already got the ESTA "I am not a Visa but will actually ask for more data than you ever had to give for any Visa" sent and approved.

🏡 ✅ Will stay till including the 12th and be available for in-person meet-ups.

For now:
We 🙏 thank the organizers for the trigger to think about it at all as well as the (yes, not only, but also financial 🙏) support that is provided. Also, I am looking forward to meeting all of you who come along next week in Munich.

Are you also at the and have some idea where we could have a productive or at least fun overlap? DM us a suggestion - because who knows what might come of it?

ℹ We are opening doors these days for a seed investment round (just to pre-impress you a bit, check out the 🗺 of where in the world we already got users: LINK). Should you be or know so. interested in this, let's set something up.

ℹ We will also be ready to present / inform about our new super pro version for agencies (think client management, whitelabel, fort know version...). So, should you be involved in the agency business and interested in that or know so., please say hi and let's check how we can get together.

Ex-ci-ting!
See you there!?

02/11/2023

🤔 What does it tell you from an investor and even potential work partner POV if a startup has:
- lots of "C-Suite" - but no one to execute?
- a 12 pages+ NDA - but no sellable product
- "a big list of leads" aka "the wishlist of clients we hope for"?
- no real marketing plan and budget?

I can tell you what it tells me as a person who

💡has worked with startups for years now,

💡was part of the `New Economy" as a young "Vice President Marketing" (translate that to CMO today 😉)

💡 did a (not successful) angel investment myself (yes, I had seen the red flags and yes, I had ignored them)

💡and overall seen a f**ing lot across industries from over over to and :

When I see this....

I smell danger. 🔥

At OVERW8, we learned the hard way (and got an uncomfortable reminder of that again just recently) that

❗if we get involved with startups
and even if people and business model seem nice if not even sexy (the business model, not the people 😁)

❗we MUST do our own due diligence

when selecting whom to work with - or not.

This has become so important, by the way, not just for us

that this year angel investors asked me to do due diligence from our special POV before they invest.

We did so.

It ended with an informed ⛔ No
- and as they said

"even and especially like this, it was well worth the investment". ✅

We now only need to stick to our own advice 😉

and make sure we act upon it

(you know how these things work - easier said than done and always easier if you`re not involved, that neutrality is part of the value add we can give for so. else).

Well, so if you are in doubt and you are thinking about getting engaged with a startup,

might that be as

- an investor
- a co-founder or employee
- or a work partner such as an agency

look out for those aspects mentioned up here.

They are not the complete picture yet

but these pieces of info should be available in most of the cases

and those factors ARE

extremely telling. 💡

Oh, and one bonus point (informed by 20yrs+ consulting expertise):

❗Whatever the company / 'leaders' talk about very often, such as "loyalty" for example, you can place a bet, that this will exactly be where the real problems stem from 💩 (loyalty interpreted as keeping up with lies for example).

This rule beats them all.

My stats say this will apply in 9 of 10 cases (if there are no overstated topics, these are simply not relevant. Which is good news.)

Okay, so I hope this can be helpful in preventing some weird unnecessary stuff from happening. If I can help with due diligence from the market/brand/business model value POV, feel free to send me a DM to arrange for a chat.

[📸 My own / Should this give off the impression of me thinking "you better not try to mess with me / get away with that BS" - yeah, you`re right on the money there. 😉]

01/11/2023

Dear fellow entrepreneurs (and anyone who's living their lives outside their comfort zones or had a challening time, so probably a lot of you dear ones), I wanna make sure you don't miss out on this...

Did you realize that this week provides us with LOTS of inspirational messages just via the holidays that are on the schedule?

How about I told you there are some 'mentors' from 'the other 💀 side 😉 just waiting to inspire the heck out of you? 😁

1⃣ I had already shared this... about Samhain being a different take that reminds us to: Let go of old stuff. Sow the seeds for new things. Consider this to be a 'new year' point in the year.

But there is more...
I've got an even better one for us.
And (as so often) I was happily surprised myself 😅
that what I/we had concocted years ago
now serves as a timeless and powerful inspiration
for how to
💪 ✨ recharge (mostly mentally)
for the rest of the year.

2⃣ So, here we go:
It's the
💀 💃 "Día de los Mu***os".

A celebration of life
triggered by the acknowledgement of death
💡a reminder to be humble
and not play the game all in 'vanity mode'
but recall that in the end
underneath all of that ado
and maybe PR hype

we are all
just a
pack of bones.

💡 Part of the message is to acknowledge and welcome the dark sides of life (and entrepreneurship) as much as the light ones. We can't have the Yin without the Yang. That is always so easily said... but are we really leaning into it? 🤔 Maybe, acknowledging the shadows provides us with more strength than trying to only see the light?

💡 It wants to remind us that even when the s**t hits the fan, we can carry ourselves upright and handle it with honour and dignity.

📝 In the mood for a mini-workshop?
These are the 3 trigger questions to coach ourselves I had created:

❓ What are elements, people, etc. that for you feel esp. "deadly" these days? (no need for evidence, your perception is sufficient)

❓ How can you embrace this adversity? "Smile it down"? How could your "see me thriving it anyway" / "watch me do it anyway" approach look like?

❓ How can you esp. in the face of that adversity / shadow behave in a way that you could potentially become an inspiration to others?

Write down your thoughts, do not judge, let it flow, then mark up what hits your eye, act upon it.

So what about the messages the 'mentors' got for you? I will share in the comments below. 👇

And as all learning needs to be fun to be sticky...
We created a fun mini poster and screensavers.
Feel free to download the cool screensavers or the colouring book. It is 💯 free, if you have fun / fresh inspo with it, it would be great ifd you let me / others know.

30/10/2023

This is a truly interesting week coming up here. Did you know that during this week 3 (at least) big holidays and their respective rituals are happening?

You might think of Halloween first, maybe in the DACH region about 'Allerheiligen'

but really interesting are also

- the Día de los Mu***os - mostly celebrated in Mexico, but catching on a lot (it IS very intriguing for the whole imagery)

- Samhain - the Celtic new year.

Esp. about Dìa de los Mu***os we had real creative and design fun, so I am planning to share quite some of it this week. It might get.... colourful! 🖌 🌈

Let's start today with this fun time lapse we created about the development of 'our' Catrina (we even have the matching emojis in our slack! 🤩 Unnecessary, BUT fun! 🦄) How do you like her? Isn't she the stylish-est? ✨

If you haven't already, be sure hit the 🔔 in my profile so you don't miss out on that cool action. 😁

28/09/2023

🔵 This is THE #1 mistake I see (especially but not only) B2B founders make with their branding.

🔵 They choose BLUE as their main colour.
Pretty much as 80% of their competitors.
This might feel 'safe' and it's common knowledge, that 🔵 = trust.

Still it creates a huge problem in most of the cases:
🌫 They do not differentiate.

Hint: This will make it hard to tell a different story.
To be perceived in a different way.
🌫 You're going to be mixed up in the minds of your potential clients or user
with ALL the others

ALL
THE TIME.

🚫 Please, don't do this.
Remember that it's absolutely fine not to be a specialist in that area of branding on top of all your other expertise. Rather than letting a random choice make your life as a founder and the work of your sales team unnecessarily harder, lets's work together.
💙 We'll check out your market and goals first
then make sure we develop a brand
(and story told by it)

🌟 that is unique
and will make sales so much easier.

How many brands, companies, startups do you know that just randomly went for 'something blue' as their main color choice?

P.S.: Sometimes there might be a good reason to use blue. But even then, one can do it in a bold, differentiating, helpful way. We know how to get that done, too. 😀 💙

08/09/2023

Another qestion we often get in our work as an international brand agency is:
"What do you think - shall we communicate in the mother tongue of our target group or not?⁠"

So, of course, in cases like this we do not rely on gut feeling alone but on insights that we continuously collect and curate.
⁠
💡 The rule of thumb is that you will more easily gain their trust in their own language 💗 (more trust => more sales => more turnover) 💲.
On the other hand, of course, it means more effort, more budget.

Clearly, there will be no 'one fits it all' approach.⁠
Basically, one needs to do the math - how big would the additional market be - what would be the size of the (realistically) missed opportunity - and how much will it be worth to us to seize that opportunity?⁠

Have you had similar decisions like this on your table yet? How did you handle them? If you have got any insights to share with other entrepreneurs and their teams, it would surely be hugely helpful for them, too.
⁠
👉🏻 We're happy to help you analyze your situation and come up with a solid recommendation.⁠⁠⁠⁠

07/09/2023

🤩 "... whenever I have doubts, will visit our homepage and I will feel great and proud about what we are doing here".

When we got this feedback from Karolina Decker, it felt especially great because... it shows how important and rewarding it is to give ideas enough shape, such as by means of

a great website,

brochure or whitepaper,

pitch deck,

or whatever it is the medium of choice.

Creating before/after effects such as this are what makes us fall in love again with our work.

What makes your work feel rewarding?
What are you proud of this week?
Which of your ideas could need a little help so others can get how great it is, too?



P.S.: Should you want to get a bit more details about what the Mind the Gap team and we created together, check out the "Making of" story here - let us know what you think! 👉

06/09/2023

Dear Startups, you need to know this before it is too late: (Most) of you got the order ALL wrong! This is how you end up in chaos.

⛔ Stop messing around with your website without even having a basic stylesheet.

⛔ Stop hiring a 'designer' to fix the mess after some IT guy set that HTML monster up.

This is like trying to build a house from the roof down.

You can try, but.... 👻

This is how to go about it instead:
1⃣ First, define your business model and product concepts. The business model canvas is good; it might need a good marketing/innovation/business consultant to get the product concept right.

2⃣ Create a business plan. At least roughly. 💡It needs to contain a sales and marketing section.
Make sure to put in a budget for marketing AND sales.
This budget MUST allow for some basic (but professional) branding if not more, and for creating a solid marketing and sales playbook.

❗If you do not allocate enough money here, you will spend (or rather lose) it over time through lost process time and lost deals. It can get super frustrating like this.

3⃣ That marketing and sales plan MUST contain a solid target group definition. NO, NOT personas (those are ok, but somewhere else). They will not suffice from the business perspective, plus not allow you to set up a working marketing and sales system.

4⃣ Yes, of course, you can get a clever, experienced agency to help you with all of these (aka yes, us), OR if you have someone experienced on the team, you can do this DIY.
ℹ When we say "experienced", we mean MORE than a BA containing a marketing module. It will not do.
You need a person who knows more about how to brief and coach a brand designer, a copywriter, etc., and bring the crafts seamlessly (1) together. If you underestimate the gaps between the crafts, you and your business can easily end up in that gap. 👻

5⃣ Please please please be realistic about the skill set available within your team. Starting up is a bit like mountaineering - it is risky and needs the right equipment. If you start fiddling around based on Dunning Kruger, it will pay back later (in a very uncomfortable way). Do not do this to yourself or your team.

If you seriously consider getting help for that, feel free to set up a first complimentary call with our CEO Kristin:
📆 https://bit.ly/3P6chlf

05/09/2023

💡This might very well be of the reasons that your sales pipeline does not stay fluid and deliver results. Or the reason why your sales system (from client POV) seems too pushy (and thus mess with the deals). Good leads simply might need their time to develop and grow.

The only answer you need find is: How can you make sure that once they are ready, your offering will be top of mind?

Were you aware of this?
Now that you are:
Can you relate? Does that make sense for your business?
Can you imagine that this might change your approach? And if so: How?

05/09/2023

“Hey, Kristin, I noticed you’re a human, so I assume breathing is important to you?” 🙈 The "11 or 10 points sales cringiness" list. 😉🚷

Let us start with the sheer basics of what NOT to do (the good news is: If you avoid those like the plague, you are already far ahead in the game.)

[and btw: Welcome to my mini-series of posts around sales with style in 2023. I am 100% convinced and know it can be done in style. It should be done more in style. Therefore, Please feel free to share. 📣]

1⃣ Do not simply run into another person’s house expecting them to have nothing else to do. Nope, they are not sitting there waiting for your call. Approach the ‘target’ respectfully.

2⃣ Do not be so rude as not even to introduce yourself. State clearly who you are, why you are 'here' and why that might be a good idea for the other person. In an e-mail that means to include a clear and solid signature and yes, probably the links to your social profile(s).

3⃣ Do not use awkward “question/answer” templates. How creepy can it get!? “Hey, Kristin, I noticed you’re a human so I assume breathing is important to you? Aha, great, if that is the case, let me…. ”
WTF.

4⃣ Do not ignore obvious information. My profile for example, states clearly that I am the owner of a digital brand agency. That does not keep roughly 20 guys per week from offering me the stuff we are offering. All. the. f***ing time. 🙈

5⃣ Mindblowing secret coming up here! Listen:
🚀 If the other person says NO, they are not interested, OR gives you a clear indication that they are not interested (them not taking action DOES count!), take that No as what it is:

It’s a NO!

6⃣ Do never ever get pushy or impolite with follow-ups. Or who told you that “Hey, I haven’t received any answer yet from you after I’ve spammed your inbox 4 times” would get you a "Yes"? 😉 Here is a hint: It. will. NOT. NEVER. EVER. (sth. similar was indeed in my inbox this morning).

There is more, but that already would make a huge difference if adhered to.
What's missing?
What would you add?

[In case you're wondering: The gif is a cut out from forever fun fantasy movie "Princess Bride".]

30/07/2023

Personas, ICA, Target Groups: What they mean for your startup success

Target group, personas, ICA - what do I need in digital marketing, when and for what? Are they the same - or how do they differ?

30/07/2023

🙈Already reached that moment on a Sunday when your entrepreneurial mind already starts revising the priorities for the week coming up... ? 😉

Gotcha! 🍻 😁

Let us give you this friendly reminder:

The credit belongs to you who

Dare to turn your ideas into reality,

to risk the No's to get to the Yes,

to all of you who, even if defeated,

get up again and again and decide to shape the reality of tomorrow.

The credit belongs to you each of you, men, and women, whoever you are.

Give yourself a break.

Tap yourself on that strong shoulder.

We see you and applaud you. 😍

Happy rest of the weekend to you!

See you next week, endeavouring your next adventures! 💪✨

28/07/2023

❗Do not try to sell to this person unless you thoroughly understood her.
Who. is. this. person? How would you describe her in a book? Write her story?

Building a brand, creating a credible brand universe, often is like writing a book, being a writer. It all starts with a really heartfelt diligent thought (and research. Close up listening).

❓
Who are these people, those humans we are trying to serve?

Whose trust are we trying to gain?
What is important to them?
What do they dream of?
What are their biggest fears?
What are the things they wouldn't tell anyone - and if they would, in what kind of words would they do it?
❓

You can practice it in a fun way by listening in at the neighbouring table in a cafè.

Our CEO Kristin quotes her professor who once said:
💬 "You think marketers sit at their desks, making clever decisions.
In reality, you need to go out there, be out there and get a sense of how the people's minds and hearts are working."
(and which is why even after 20+ years she loves the job 😍)

She says hi and adds:
"Let me add an important learning gained from more than 20 years doing marketing for already big and still small brands.

💡Make sure you approach it with an as non-judgemental attitude as anyhow possible.

To become an excellent brand builder, you need to channel your best Yogi.

Be as clean a slate as possible, and then let people surprise you.

I've found that this attitude seems to have a certain halo that people detect. They will start telling you things you would never have dreamed of.

Based on that, you can continue building that brand. Or write that book. Or that sales copy that gets you the sale.

Have you ever thought of it like that? What do you think about it now? Want to give it a try? (or if you'd like to find out how we at OVERW8 can help with that, feel free to DM Kristin).

27/07/2023

So great to hear! 😍⁠ Thanks so much Hartel!⁠⁠⁠⁠

27/07/2023

Lots of talk about likes/impressions these days not really being the most helpful thing to keep your eyes on. But what do instead?

(Not only here on Linkedin, but also on Instagram, Facebook, any social media).

Let me share what we have developed for our clients - and use also ourselves.

It is not as seemingly 'correct' but, at the same time helps to keep the eye on quality - of content, of contacts, of leads. And brand perception overall.

Because that is what branding is about: Quality.
Quality that induces trust which preps for sales.

What do you think?
Are those metrics worth a try?

Let me have your thoughts and questions! 🙋

(there is a 2nd way of getting this done, which I'll share during the next days, be sure to hit the 🔔 so you get notified of new posts)