Episode 5 – Kimesha Walters

McMartin, Chris 0:04
I'm very excited to have this conversation with you. Very much looking forward to it, you have been such a superstar to deal with, an excellent partner to work with, and I'm excited for you to get to share everything that you have to share with all of our advisors that are on the line as well as all of our entrepreneurs who have joined us. So thank you so much for giving us your time today. Oh. You're on mute Kimesha.

Kimesha Walters - Oasis Integrated Communications 0:33
Oh, it's a pleasure to be here, I'm excited!

McMartin, Chris 0:34
There we go.

McMartin, Chris 0:37
Perfect. Perfect. So I always say Kimesha that you can do a better job at introducing yourself than I can. So, please give us a short little intro of who you are and what you do.

Kimesha Walters - Oasis Integrated Communications 0:49
I have a few questions for you and for those of what were on the MasterClass call today, have you ever come across a business that you didn't know about at all? And then all of a sudden you start noticing it everywhere, you see the positive impact, and somehow you feel connected to this business and you don't even know why.

McMartin, Chris 1:11
I know its happened to me! Absolutely, for sure. I see heads nodding, but it's definitely happened to me.

Kimesha Walters - Oasis Integrated Communications 1:17
Excellent! So that's the power of strategic communication and that's what I do at Oasis Integrated Communication. I've done this for billion dollar companies that will keep all heard of like Adidas, Hyundai, the car company and, of course, Scotiabank.

Kimesha Walters - Oasis Integrated Communications 1:33
What's exciting is that I also do this for solopreneurs and entrepreneurs like some of our guests on the MasterClass today. So my mission is to share with you some strategies and some practical advice that you can try to implement in your business so you can get some of the amazing results that we talk about from the communication strategies.

Kimesha Walters - Oasis Integrated Communications 1:54
Alright. So what I want you to do is to lean in, to take some notes, to write down any question that comes to mind that of course I can help to add value to you for being here today. And here's a fun fact! I'm on a mission to meet 100 new people for 2024, so if what I say today resonate with you, please feel free to follow me on Instagram or follow me on LinkedIn and let's get connected! And just one note before we get into the conversation, for those of us who stick around through the entire masterclass, I have a surprise gift for you today! A gift that will help you to amplify your visibility and to be seen, heard, and remembered.

McMartin, Chris 2:40
I love that! I love everything you just said. I'm looking forward to it and I've got to share with you that I feel like you and I were one of those connections! That we connected on socials and I was drawn to you, drawn to your brand, drawn to your business, and drawn to everything that you were sharing. And so maybe let's start there. What is your superpower with drawing in those connections? Let's just give me that little tip to kick us off.

Kimesha Walters - Oasis Integrated Communications 3:09
I think that super power comes from something which it's a French term that I've come in contact with and something that really connects with me, "je ne sais quoi". It's that thing, that quality, that makes people like you. That makes people, you know, they want to be around you, they want to be associated with you. So thankfully, I've been able to share this kind of energy with my clients, with the people have come across, with the amazing work I've done, with solopreneurs and entrepreneurs, and of course, the global iconic brands that I've worked with as well.

McMartin, Chris 3:41
I love that. I love that and I would agree with you that for me, there was just something about you, we needed to connect. So I think that's fantastic. So let's dive right in and we've got tons of questions we've received from our entrepreneurs and man, there's some really good ones. And so I want to start right away by let's talk about social media. So I know that a lot of the entrepreneurs we talk to on a regular basis really come to us with questions about, you know, "how do I amplify on social media?", "how impactful is social media on a small business?". Maybe you can talk a little bit about that.

Kimesha Walters - Oasis Integrated Communications 4:18
Alright, sure! So social media is actually one of the things that I think we all need to be making use of in today's day and age because social media is like the new department store. It's where you go when you hear about a business to find out what it is that they do.

Kimesha Walters - Oasis Integrated Communications 4:33
Who are they? Who are they serving and how are they serving? So with social media like half of the world now is connected on social media. So for you to have a presence there, to be authentic in that space, to showcase your branding, and to be consistent with the stories that you're showing up with, it's something that's a powerful tool that can help you to elevate your business or if you're not doing it so well, it might not have any impact or also if you're doing it in a way that doesn't help to put forward the brand that you have, put forward the story that you want to communicate and to connect with people, then it can also be to your detriment.

McMartin, Chris 5:12
Actually you made a good point in answering that question for us and I think it might be the answer to the next question, but I'm gonna answer it to make sure that it's clear. I'm gonna ask it for you. So one of the questions we got was how do you compete with the big giants, right? When you're a small business, how do you compete? And so I like your analogy of, you know, social media is the new department store. Right. And so when you're competing with those huge department stores, what are your best tips and tricks there?

Kimesha Walters - Oasis Integrated Communications 5:40
OK, great question. So before I answer it, did you know that over 90,000 businesses close and disappear every year across Canada?

McMartin, Chris 5:52
Yeah. Sad stat.

McMartin, Chris 5:53
That's a sad stat, yeah.

Kimesha Walters - Oasis Integrated Communications 5:56
That's a very sad, and if you think about the statistics across different countries and different regions, it would be even more alarming and I think, you know, becoming an entrepreneur is one of the bravest things that we could ever do in our timeline.

McMartin, Chris 6:06
Mmm.

Kimesha Walters - Oasis Integrated Communications 6:08
I love opportunities like this masterclass where we get to share advice about that, and today I want to take you to the story of a client that I had a while back. A real life transformation of a small business who did not have the big bucks, who did not have the big reach of the social media, and we were able to transform into a place where he was a budding entrepreneur. Michael, virtually unknown, like nobody really knew about this guy, but he had a dream to build a successful business that he could be proud of. And so we were able to tap into strategic communications to get him to the vision that he had. So here's what we did without fighting against the algorithm. And of course, without waiting for months upon months for social media, for SEO to pay off. And of course, without wasting like thousands of dollars and on ads that really didn't bring in any results. The first thing we redefined the story and positioned him with power. So he was young. You know, didn't have a lot going on for him and he was going up against a big giant for a restaurant that he was starting on the outskirts of town. Then you think about this. They're surrounded. So you could go, you could make a a lot of money there. There's a lot of visibility and depending on where your store is located, of course you will have the foot traffic coming in, but my client Michael decided. Nah, I don't wanna go to Toronto, man. I'm gonna stay in my small town and I'm gonna use this opportunity to build the business that I've dreamt about. So the first day I went to see him, he was still painting, you know, the furniture was just coming in and everything was so new. But I like the energy of the space.

McMartin, Chris 7:48
Hmm.

Kimesha Walters - Oasis Integrated Communications 7:49
It was rustic, it was on the outskirts outskirts of town, and he wanted to build this vision. Kind of like competing with The Keg and the bigger restaurants if you're thinking in the Canadian context, right?

McMartin, Chris 8:00
Yep.

Kimesha Walters - Oasis Integrated Communications 8:00
But he didn't want to channel the resources away from the small town community that they had. So what we did was we positioned him as a new entrepreneur to watch, right? So he was a leader on the rise and because he was so worried that "nobody would cheer about my story, they don't wanna hear about me". We had to redefine him to get more people to notice him. So we supercharged his visibility by getting in stories featured in the top Media. So when you think about TV, the online news that everybody was reading, we got in stories in those types of media and we created some new events that never existed before, right. We do the Community fun day for the kids. They had music that was pounding. We have face painting. We had activities. All of these were free! For the community to come and witness what this young man was about to do, to invest in his community and transform the space. And on the day of the event, you know what else we did, Chris? We hired a photographer and we had him served meals to the kids as if he was a waiter. So we got him to really connect on the grassroots level with all the the people who are turned out and it was just something that was amazing. To push it even further, what we did as well was to reach or to an orphanage in the area and we, you know, try to get an idea which of these boys would like to become a chef? Because if they would like to become a chef, we could do something special for them.

McMartin, Chris 9:30
Mhm.

Kimesha Walters - Oasis Integrated Communications 9:30
And so we found a young man. He had this real high interest in becoming a chef and we, you know, gave him a scholarship and we invited him to the restaurant to experience the day in the life of a chef. And all of this, all of this work that we do, we captured content for social media.

McMartin, Chris 9:42
That's fantastic.

Kimesha Walters - Oasis Integrated Communications 9:48
We captured content for TV. We captured content for online media and so we were able to use all of it to promote it. Remember now, he is a new entrepreneur going up against the big guys.

McMartin, Chris 9:58
Mhm, yeah.

Kimesha Walters - Oasis Integrated Communications 9:59
Nobody knew about him before.

McMartin, Chris 10:02
Yeah, yup

Kimesha Walters - Oasis Integrated Communications 10:02
So in the end, what did we get? Millions of eyes on his business, many of these people converted into paying customers. We had tons of digital stories and prominent interviews that came out and within a year, his business was booming. And now he has over 30,000 loyal followers that are brand ambassadors who don't get paid, but because of the love they have for this individual, because he invested in his community, they just really love him and they connected with him.

McMartin, Chris 10:28
Yep. I love that. And you know what I love about that story is, is you really show really his authentic self like you. You didn't make up a story. You told his story and really showed his authenticity. So I absolutely love that. I absolutely love that and I think that that rings true for yourself as a successful entrepreneur as well. You always show up as your authentic self and tell your story. So I love that. And one of the questions that we received was particularly about that in your story is that how does your Jamaican heritage influence your story and how you proceed as an entrepreneur?

Kimesha Walters - Oasis Integrated Communications 11:13
Ah, ah, that's an interesting, interesting question Chris. A really interesting one. So I consider myself to be a global communicator and to be honest, it's 2024, right. And going forward, being a global communicator is one of the factors that will differentiate you whether you're an employee or whether you're a business owner, right. You need to break down the barriers to communication and that's where I come in.

Kimesha Walters - Oasis Integrated Communications 11:38
So you know, some people are shy and they're reserved and they get intimidated by the spaces that they step into. You know some of those people? Well, I can tell you that's not me.

McMartin, Chris 11:47
Yeah.

Kimesha Walters - Oasis Integrated Communications 11:49
OK, so. As a global communicator, one of the key differentiators is that I'm a strategist by design. I come in, I look at your business, I do an audit, I bring some ideas, and I get to pinpoint the thing that you need to do so you can grow, right?

McMartin, Chris 12:06
Hmm.

Kimesha Walters - Oasis Integrated Communications 12:06
I've worked with iconic billion dollar brands like we said, Microsoft, Western, and even Adidas and solopreneurs, and this has given me a unique set of skills that it takes to make, of what it takes to make, a commercially viable brand or business. So I'll tell you a little bit about my Jamaican experience and what it was like to make the transition to Canada. So in Jamaica we have two point something million people right now.

McMartin, Chris 12:29
Wonderful.

Kimesha Walters - Oasis Integrated Communications 12:34
But if you think about it, Chris, that's like the population of Toronto, right? So coming from the Jamaican experience, we know all the media houses. We could tell you the editors, we could tell you the journalists that cover the different types of stories.

Kimesha Walters - Oasis Integrated Communications 12:49
But getting into Canada, when you look at almost 40 million people, that's mind blowing! Right? You step over into the US cause I've had clients over in the US as well, that's over 300 million people!

McMartin, Chris 12:56
Yes, yes, yes.

Kimesha Walters - Oasis Integrated Communications 13:05
So, the strategies I learned in Jamaica, yes they were important, they were foundational. But at the same time, having to step into the regional market, like across the Caribbean, and having to step into the North American market I've had to make adjustments to make sure that what I'm doing.

McMartin, Chris 13:15
Hmm hmm.

Kimesha Walters - Oasis Integrated Communications 13:19
Yes, we have the basic. Yes, we have the foundation, but people get to understand the message, they get to see what we're doing and appreciate it. So a part of what I do is I harmonize the messages across different platforms and different audiences and with different people. Whatever the background is, right? I break it down into digestive, bite size bits, and present them in an in a relatable and actionable way that gets you seen, heard, and remembered.

McMartin, Chris 13:40
Yes.

Kimesha Walters - Oasis Integrated Communications 13:54
Basically, you're an ignorable.

McMartin, Chris 13:56
I love that and you know, I really appreciate how unique, and specific, and very tailored, all of your strategies are in communication. But is there any advice you can give to young entrepreneurs and when I say young entrepreneurs, I mean young in business, not necessarily in age. So starting out entrepreneurs, fresh entrepreneurs. That's a little general and I know that you get right down into the details, but is there, you know, a handful of tricks that you could give them as far as when they're just starting out building that brand?

Kimesha Walters - Oasis Integrated Communications 14:32
Ah, of course. I have always have, you know, tons of advice.

McMartin, Chris 14:36
You've always got something up your sleeve. That's it.

Kimesha Walters - Oasis Integrated Communications 14:39
Yeah! So, I would like to tell them this magical secret to strategic communication, you know, to be so visible that people just cannot afford to ignore you. And I call it the ABC. One, Authenticity, we have Branding, and we have Consistency.

McMartin, Chris 15:00
Hmm.

Kimesha Walters - Oasis Integrated Communications 15:00
OK. So remember, we spoke about that special thing, that "je ne sais quoi", earlier on? You have be authentic to you are and to the brand that you are creating, right?

McMartin, Chris 15:06
Yes.

Kimesha Walters - Oasis Integrated Communications 15:12
So if you're creating a brand that you want people to love, and to believe in, and to be connected with. Then you need to be telling stories around that brand to create that kind of experience. On the branding side, you have to create something memorable. You have to differentiate yourself.

McMartin, Chris 15:29
Hmm.

Kimesha Walters - Oasis Integrated Communications 15:31
You know, whether it's gonna be the colors of your logo, the tone of the messages that you're sending out, or the product itself that you're delivering, or how you're delivering the product. See? Consistency. So the first thing you have to do is show up. I was just talking to my niece just before I came on the call just now, and we're talking about how different people start off with, you know, maybe a social media platform and nobody sees them or you don't hear anything. But after you become consistent, people start to notice you. They start to notice you, and they start to comment, and they start to give you feedback. Whether it's online or you're offline and you see them at some kind of event.

McMartin, Chris 16:04
Yes.

Kimesha Walters - Oasis Integrated Communications 16:13
So when you're being consistent, add value.

McMartin, Chris 16:16
Hmm.

Kimesha Walters - Oasis Integrated Communications 16:18
Be helpful. And build the credibility for yourself in the space that you want to be in.

McMartin, Chris 16:19
Yes.

Kimesha Walters - Oasis Integrated Communications 16:25
So if I should take it back to my client Michael. He's consistent, was showing up, being present in the community, having different kinds of events, being present in the news, and reflecting the kind of brand that we wanted to see, and grow, and develop.

McMartin, Chris 16:42
I really appreciate that and one of the things that you and I spoke about before that I think was really unique for me, it was, and we all know it, but sometimes we get that advice, those information, that tips and tricks, and you just like you said earlier, you just have to hear it from a certain person or a certain way and all of a sudden it clicks, right? And you said this before, and I think this is important to share with everyone is that, find the uniqueness to your story.

Kimesha Walters - Oasis Integrated Communications 17:03
Right.

McMartin, Chris 17:12
Is that, you know, you might have a business that maybe that business is similar to another business, but it's there's something unique about each business, about each entrepreneur. And so I think that's important. I think there was great, great advice that you gave earlier is that, you know, be your authentic self and find that uniqueness. Oh, I think Kimesha has frozen. Let's just give her a second. Technology is not always our friend. So we'll just give her a moment. I'm sure she'll be back with us. Sorry for the delay folks. While we're letting Kimesha get logged back on, if questions are popping up, please be sure to put them in the chat or jot them down, because you'll definitely be OK to come off of mute and ask questions at the end. This is a good time to keep that in mind and take a moment to do so, because I believe that Kimesha's just logged out so she can log back in. There we go.

Kimesha Walters 19:23
Oh.

McMartin, Chris 19:25
Kimesha, we've got you back.

Kimesha Walters 19:28
Oh man, I have not sure what happened but let me know if you can actually hear me now.

McMartin, Chris 19:35
Not an issue. We've got you back. We don't have your camera back, but we've got your sound. So not an issue. Technology is not always our friend, so don't worry about that.

Kimesha Walters 19:48
OK.

McMartin, Chris 19:51
There we go. There you are. Tada, the magic of technology.

Kimesha Walters 19:54
Oh my word. Yeah. Technology, right? When you're on the live, it's just one thing, then you go online, it comes.

McMartin, Chris 19:56
That's OK. No, that's no worries. That's no worries.

Kimesha Walters 20:02
OK.

McMartin, Chris 20:02
I think that we finished up with that question, but I did you know what I wanted to ask something. I was just looking at the questions we received and I just wanted to add to the social media conversation that we were having because one of the questions actually, I'll admit several of the questions pointed in the same direction. And so we could answer a few of them all at once is, what is the social media of the day? if you will. Should you be on all of them? Do you have to be on all of them? Is there one in particular that seems to be the best use right now? When you're building that new brand, what's your opinion on that?

Kimesha Walters 20:40
I think that's a great question and it's something that I've been asked for several years now because people want to know what the best way they can get connected to their audiences is. So here's the takeaway I have for those of us who are entrepreneurs or budding entrepreneurs. You do not need to be on every social media channel. OK, you do not need to be. So there are some of us who will do products and services that we will be selling to mass audiences and there are some of us who will need to connect with specific businesses which is need to be communication.

McMartin, Chris 21:13
Umm.

Kimesha Walters 21:14
The other one we call B2C communication. So if you're doing business to business, then you might want to be connecting with business owners. So LinkedIn, for example, would be a channel that would be amazing for you because there are so many business leaders and business owners and managers and entrepreneurs who are on that platform, right? If you're selling a particular product, then of course you want to make sure that you're on different social media channels. And I know TikTok has been one of them that has basically has had a meteoric rise and interestingly, a lot of people think they need to be doing all these latest TikTok dances, and little trends, and little stuff. But you don't need to be doing that either, right? We are actually living in what I call, "a sea of sameness". So we have the template, we have the TikTok dances.

McMartin, Chris 22:03
Hmm.

Kimesha Walters 22:06
We have the trending audio, we have the trending songs, and you know people feel pressured into doing it because other people are doing it. So one just to wrap up, you don't need to be on all the platforms. Two, you don't need to be doing all the things and all the trends that you see out there, you don't need to be participating in that, know your audience and stick to the ABC.

McMartin, Chris 22:15
No, that's that's great advice. That's great advice.

Kimesha Walters 22:33
Yeah.

McMartin, Chris 22:34
We've got a question in the chat that I'd love to put forward to you Kimesha. They would love to know, what challenges you find as a woman in leadership role and how you address them?

Kimesha Walters 22:46
As a woman in leadership. Wow.

McMartin, Chris 22:49
You're definitely a woman leader. There's no doubt about that. There's no doubt about that. So and no, I'll say a quote that I've heard from another entrepreneur that I love and she said struggle is part of the story and so, is there challenges or struggles that you face and and how do you how do you deal with them? What do you do?

Kimesha Walters 23:11
To be honest, when I say the challenges I do not think of them as a challenge because I'm a woman, right?

McMartin, Chris 23:16
Hmm, that's fair. That's fair.

Kimesha Walters 23:19
It's because I'm a young entrepreneur. Having listened to different stories from entrepreneurs across the world, from entrepreneurs will failed miserably, from entrepreneurs who have had immense success. I know that their challenges that will come, whoever you are, wherever you are in the world, right? And some of these have have to do with the teething pains of learning how to build a business and to develop that business and to go through this process. So you can create or add value to an audience that is out there wanting the kind of product or service that you're offering. So in terms of challenges, I think business development is is one of the challenges that I think I would have faced earlier on in my journey.

McMartin, Chris 24:05
Hmm.

Kimesha Walters 24:06
You know, I've had so many clients, so many amazing clients who have referred business to me. You know, I've had a great work that I've done, but in some aspects making a concerted effort, a strategic effort, to develop the business has been one of the challenges that I've faced. Sometimes it's a matter of resources as well, but what I've found useful in Canada is that there are so many organizations geared towards giving you the resources and the tools for success. So for example, there's Startup Canada, I'm one of their ecosystem partners.

McMartin, Chris 24:38
Hmm. Yes.

Kimesha Walters 24:42
I've done quite a bit of work with the Canadian Small Business Women. I've had a different type of entrepreneurship program coming out of Ontario and even as far as Nova Scotia that have given me the tools and the support that I need to overcome the challenges that I've had, right. So I think those are important and of course they'll be, they'll be challenges everywhere. If you had a 9 to 5 now you you're gonna have challenges.

McMartin, Chris 25:04
Yes, yes, absolutely, absolutely.

Kimesha Walters 25:09
Right. So we have this thing. Uh, yes, they might. They might be there, but we have to think from the solution perspective as well.

McMartin, Chris 25:16
Yeah, I love that. And I I think you're right. I think there's so many resources available at times. I've heard entrepreneurs say that there are so many resources available that they don't know what resources to start with, so I love that you pointed out like Startup Canada, one of The Scotiabank Women Initiative partners, actually Startup Canada. So highly recommended resource. I will plug The Scotiabank Women Initiative is a wonderful resource to use as an entrepreneur.

Kimesha Walters 25:43
Right!

McMartin, Chris 25:44
So we have, we have tons of tools and resources available for entrepreneurs, but I love that you talk about those building those relationships and using those partners around you. So I think that's so important and it's really great advice for sure. We had one of our our entrepreneurs ask a question and you had mentioned this earlier about finding their audience. So when you were talking earlier about what social media platform to use, making sure you're using the right one for your audience, what if you're not sure who your audience is or where is the best place to find them? Do you have any advice for those entrepreneurs who are really looking to find out? Where do I find my audience?

Kimesha Walters 26:25
See the audience question is one that I think should take off the core of the foundation of what your business is going to be like.

McMartin, Chris 26:33
Hmm. Yes, yes.

Kimesha Walters 26:37
It's thinking about what am I good at? What service would I like to provide? What value would I like to create? How can I differentiate myself from the competitors with the existing part of their service? Because in order to serve an audience, you need to have an idea of all of these things so that you can properly present yourself, create a product, create a service, and hit the pain points that they have so that they will want to pay you for this product or service.

McMartin, Chris 27:11
Hmm. Absolutely, absolutely. You offer some of these phenomenal, you know, advice, guidance services for your clients and I've heard some of your amazing client stories and success stories, really. If an individual, if one of our entrepreneurs is listening right now and thinking this might be exactly what my business needs is to work with someone like Kimesha, how can they get prepared? What sort of things are you going to ask them about their business, about their products, about themselves? How can they get prepared to work with an individual like yourself?

Kimesha Walters 27:51
Well there's so many things that you can do to prepare.

McMartin, Chris 27:53
Yeah.

Kimesha Walters 27:54
To answer that question, I will take it from the perspective of some of the common mistakes that I find that businesses and business owners make when they're leaning into strategic communications and trying to get marketing communication services for their business.

McMartin, Chris 28:00
Ohh, I'd love that. Yes, yes.

Kimesha Walters 28:12
So the first one is hiring too soon.

McMartin, Chris 28:15
Hmm.

Kimesha Walters 28:16
OK, in the case of my client, Michael, who I spoke about earlier, it might have seemed like it, he hired a little bit soon, but the honest reality is that he had all of the things lined up already. So he was still painting. He had his business idea, had secured a location. He had a proper date that he wanted to get everything off the ground and so that early communication was important. But if you don't know who you're serving, the audience you're serving, that's a problem.

McMartin, Chris 28:39
Hmm.

Kimesha Walters 28:42
If you don't know what differentiates you, or what you're passionate about, or what what value you can add to the market, that's also a huge problem. So the main thing is to have the foundations ready.

McMartin, Chris 28:52
Yeah.

Kimesha Walters 28:54
Also, who are you? Have you figured out your social media? Have you have put together a website? Because some of these also help you to get into the intricacies of what you're doing and the nuances that will differentiate you from somebody else. OK, the second thing I would mention is that, you know, as a new entrepreneur, they could be... say they launched and they have a product or service, but it's not up to standard as yet, right? You need to fix that first.

McMartin, Chris 29:26
Hmm.

Kimesha Walters 29:28
If you have a bad product or a bad service and you come to me or any other marketing communications consultant and you say hey, I need to do a campaign around it, so I need to get more eyes on this product or service. Then it only makes sure that more people will know about your bad product or your bad service.

McMartin, Chris 29:47
Hmm, right.

Kimesha Walters 29:50
Fix the internal problems first.
What you also need to know is about hiring somebody who is proficient, rather than somebody who dabbles in the kind of work that you're looking for.
OK, that's a big mistake that some people do, and then they come and say, "Oh but I paid this amount to somebody and they didn't get the work done", because you didn't hire professional.

McMartin, Chris 30:12
Right, hire the experts.

McMartin, Chris 30:13
Build your team of experts.

Kimesha Walters 30:16
Hire the expert. The other thing I want, I know is a common mistake is that some people, and I think this was also a fault of mine. I have to have to admit this one. Is that sometimes we do the communication so well, we do the marketing so well, that we and we do not put enough emphasis on sale, on the sales process.

McMartin, Chris 30:40
Hmm.

Kimesha Walters 30:41
So say Chris, you decided to hire me for something and I get you millions of eyes on your business, you know, we're getting you people to notice you beyond your social media and your website.

McMartin, Chris 30:53
Yes.

Kimesha Walters 30:54
But at the same time you have 100 queries coming in and you don't know how to manage that. That's a sales issue, right?

McMartin, Chris 31:01
Yeah.

Kimesha Walters 31:03
That's an internal problem, so I can get you all the visibility. I can get people to see you, notice you, remember you, but if you don't take it from there to complete the sales process, then that's when there will be a huge challenge, right?

McMartin, Chris 31:14
Hmm.

Kimesha Walters 31:17
And one more thing I want to bring to the attention of the entrepreneur, the budding entrepreneurs in the call today, be wary of scams.

McMartin, Chris 31:27
Hmm.

Kimesha Walters 31:28
There are people with pop into your DMS on Instagram or they could send you a message on LinkedIn which might make it seem a little bit more legit. And they're charging you $5000 or 10 or $20,000 to get you featured in Forbes. And because you hear Forbes, or you might hear Oprah or something else, you think, "Oh my God, this is amazing!". It is not. It is a scam, OK? They're looking to get you to pay money for something that you might have otherwise been able to get for a fraction of the price, if not for free. So you've gotta be aware of some of the mistakes that exist in the space and learn how to avoid them.

McMartin, Chris 32:05
And how do our entrepreneurs know? How do they know what is a legitimate opportunity for exposure or communication versus a scam? Is there any information you can give us to really watch for?

Kimesha Walters 32:22
Yes, absolutely. So I think one of the biggest red flags is when they, for instance, somebody comes and says to you, Chris, if you pay me $10,000, I'll get your feature in Forbes. Do you know if I want to be featured in Forbes? Do you know what the problems are in my business?

McMartin, Chris 32:37
Umm.

Kimesha Walters 32:40
Do you know anything about me yet? Right? Because first off, we've not had a conversation.

McMartin, Chris 32:45
Right.

Kimesha Walters 32:45
So you do not know what my priorities are, and I feel like that's the first red flag that people should look out for. The other thing is with marketing, advertising, public relations and some of these communication terms, they all seem to jumbled into one, but this is essentially advertising. When you pay for an added, it comes out on the day you expect, the media house you expect it to be in, and everything is aligned in that same space. If you're looking for strategic communications or publicity, what you need is powerful third party credibility.

McMartin, Chris 33:20
Hmm.

Kimesha Walters 33:21
A journalist is not going to charge you to publish a story. Right? A PR consultant will have fees associated with getting the strategy right, getting the messaging right, and getting the publicity done for you but we are not charging you to place a story in one publication, that's advertising.

McMartin, Chris 33:41
Right.

Kimesha Walters 33:43
So if somebody comes to you and they say, "I guarantee you that next week you'll be featured in this media house!", it's a red flag.

McMartin, Chris 33:50
OK, OK.

Kimesha Walters 33:52
The other thing I want people to think about is the authority of different types of media. So, I had a call with somebody the other day, a prospective client and they were saying, "Yeah, when I spoke to this person in the States and they were guaranteeing me coverage across 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 media houses". And we had a conversation around it. Now, those five media houses, could be fine. Could be all well and good, I don't know, right, but when you look at the authority that they provide it could be 0.

McMartin, Chris 34:25
Hmm.

Kimesha Walters 34:26
It could be 100 people who are visiting that site as opposed to if we think of in the context of Canada. The power of CBC News, or CTV, or Global Mail.

McMartin, Chris 34:37
Yes.

Kimesha Walters 34:38
Massive, massive reach like millions of followers, millions of readers across these pages. And if you should go into Jamaica, for example, I know we have a few people from Jamaica from the call, if you have a smaller website that's just new, they might have a few people on there. That is nothing in comparison to one story that gets you hundreds of thousands. If not millions of viewers on the Jamaica Green or the Jamaica Observer. So the authority of the page, that's also something they look out for and just a note on that Chris, this is something that I'm teaching in a course that I've developed specifically for entrepreneurs.

McMartin, Chris 35:09
Umm.

Kimesha Walters 35:18
So they can tell the difference between the types of media, the scams that are coming out, and get an idea of how to pitch to the media, how to get their stories in the media, so that they can be seen, heard, and remembered, and get visibility there on their website and social media.

McMartin, Chris 35:36
Oh, and I think that's so important. I love that and we'll definitely make sure that all of our participants today hear more information on how they can get registered in that course because I think that's definitely of interest to many of our entrepreneurs.

Kimesha Walters 35:39
Yeah. Yeah.

McMartin, Chris 35:48
And I think that's very helpful. So I was wondering if you could share with me because you mentioned this and I think it's a good point, but you mentioned that you know a lot of people interchange the words, marketing, advertising, communication.

Kimesha Walters 35:51
Yeah.

McMartin, Chris 36:06
There's so many right? PR, but they interchange them. So can you clarify for us maybe what the differences are? Like when you say communication strategist share with me, tell us what that is, define that for us.

Kimesha Walters 36:23
For me, when I think about communication strategist, I think about what I call integrated communication. So the name of my business is Oasis Integrated Communications, right? And I'm coming from a background of advertising, marketing, corporate communications, public relations.

McMartin, Chris 36:35
Umm.

Kimesha Walters 36:42
So it's all of those things intertwined.

McMartin, Chris 36:45
Yes.

Kimesha Walters 36:45
So with advertising as per the example I gave earlier on, you want to get featured in a particular media outlet, a podcast or something, and they generally have a package that you outline a specific cost.

McMartin, Chris 37:00
Umm.

Kimesha Walters 37:00
So once you pay that money, you have your advertising message. It goes out and you know it's coming out and say the 23rd of May, for example. After the 23rd of May, if it's say you advertise on Meta, for example, that disappears, nobody sees it anymore, it's gone.

McMartin, Chris 37:07
Yes. Yeah.

Kimesha Walters 37:15
With marketing we have some of the messages that cross over into advertising, but it's generally geared towards sales or towards meeting a particular target, right?

McMartin, Chris 37:27
Yes.

Kimesha Walters 37:28
With public relations or the strategic communication side now, that's where we think about the building awareness of your brand. It's getting people to know you, to like you, to trust you, and to want to be associated with your business.

McMartin, Chris 37:39
Hmm.

Kimesha Walters 37:48
With the strategic communications and the public relations as well, what we get for you is powerful third party credibility. So say we had a marketing or advertising campaign. We ran it from May 1st to the 23rd after today, that's gone. Unless we paid for an ad in a, you know, maybe a physical paper we designed out or we did a video that leads somewhere else. It's done.

McMartin, Chris 38:13
Yeah.

Kimesha Walters 38:14
But, say we ran a marketing communications campaign and we got featured in the Global Mail, we got CBC, we got the Jamaica Gleaner, we got media houses in Bermuda. Those powerful stories are told by journalists. There's not the me, me, me. I'm amazing! Look at me, right? It does not disappear at the end of the campaign. It lives on for the next 5, 10, 15, 20 years and you can still find traces of it online. Besides that, because it's being told by somebody else we say, "Hey, Chris is amazing!

McMartin, Chris 38:44
Yes.

Kimesha Walters 38:50
These are some of the things that she does. These are some of the services that she provides. You want to be more associated with her." Like hmmm. Maybe I should start paying more attention to Chris now.

McMartin, Chris 39:03
Yes, yes, I love it. And thank you for for sharing the differences, because when you said that immediately I thought, Yup, everyone seems to interchange those few terms. So thanks for sharing the differences.

Kimesha Walters 39:14
Yes.

McMartin, Chris 39:16
I think that's important and I think the idea of understanding the integrated communication style or strategy is really important to understand that that envelops all the important things within it.

Kimesha Walters 39:18
You're welcome. Right.

McMartin, Chris 39:30
So I think that that's great and thank you for sort of you know clarifying all of that for us.

Kimesha Walters 39:30
Yes.

McMartin, Chris 39:36
So I'm going to ask the final question that I have on my list from our attendees that submitted it beforehand, but this is the queue for the audience. If you wanna put your questions in the chat or if you'd like to come off mute and ask your question, that's gonna be coming up next. So this is your time to get typing or to be prepared to come off mute in just a moment. So the final question I have that you haven't answered just yet that was submitted previously was when you're starting out your brand, when you're building your brand, do you have any recommendations on how to build that brand framework?

McMartin, Chris 40:15
Is there certain things that you should have like you were mentioning? Have a website, have you know? Is there a list of things that you should have to really kick off that brand before you go "live" let's say? That you would recommend that these are your necessities for your brand.

Kimesha Walters 40:34
Absolutely. So First off, you don't need a website or anything else to make sales. This is something that my one of my sales consultants kept reminding me. You don't need a website, you don't need to do this, right? But you have to be strong and sure about who you are.

McMartin, Chris 40:47
Hmm.

Kimesha Walters 40:47
So to get started, which is different from getting the visibility now, that's different. You really don't need that if you know who you are and who your audience is and what you're providing.

McMartin, Chris 40:51
Yep.

Kimesha Walters 40:57
But to get started on the communication or the strategic communication side is where you need to make sure that you have the fundamentals ready. Say for example a bio. You know your website, your social media channels. Do you have these points of contact ready? So if we're going to get you a media interview that you have an idea of who you are, what you stand for, and who you serve, and I'll take this back again to the ABC's of strategic communication.

McMartin, Chris 41:14
Hmm.

Kimesha Walters 41:29
Once you have those in place, they should be authentic to you are and they should be authentic to the brand that you're creating.

McMartin, Chris 41:33
Hmm.

Kimesha Walters 41:39
Once you think about the branding, you also need to think about what do I want people to feel from this brand that I'm creating. So if I should put myself into the picture here, my business, the name that I chose for it was carefully selected, "Oasis", right?

McMartin, Chris 41:54
Hmm.

Kimesha Walters 41:56
Oasis is like a fertile place in the desert, and my grand promise is a respite. A break from the chaotic world of marketing and communications, where you're trying to figure it all out. I provide that for you because I come in, I get the strategies done, I get the messages done and my aim. My only aim is to be an enabler of your greatness.

McMartin, Chris 42:20
Hmm.

Kimesha Walters 42:22
So that is my brand promise.

McMartin, Chris 42:22
An enabler of your greatness. I have to repeat that, I love that, an enabler of your greatness. That's fantastic.

Kimesha Walters 42:30
Right. Perfect. So with my branding, when you see me, if I take a picture, you should get an idea of who I am as a person.

McMartin, Chris 42:37
Hmm.

Kimesha Walters 42:38
And the energy that I bring into the space that I go into. And then the final thing on that note, having put the information together, make sure that your message is consistent across the different channels. So if you're gonna be on TikTok, even if you wanna do the dances on TikTok, right? Your messaging should be representing who you are, and what you stand for, and then you be consistent across the different channels. So you don't come one day and put, "oh I was at the club last night," on your business page.

McMartin, Chris 43:09
Right.

Kimesha Walters 43:10
No, be consistent with the branding. That and the experience that you're creating as an entrepreneur.

McMartin, Chris 43:18
I love that and that reminds me, what is your opinion when it comes to personal socials versus business socials? Like because I get this question all the time, right? Do I just have one? Do I show up on just one personally and business, or do I have two separate? Do I hide my personal from my business? So I'd love to hear your thoughts behind that.

Kimesha Walters 43:44
My first thing keep them separate. Please keep them separate. For your business, of course, because your business is based on a foundation of your why? Why are you doing this kind of business you could have stayed in the 9-5, even if you're in the 9-5. Why are you in this job?

McMartin, Chris 44:01
Hmm.

Kimesha Walters 44:01
What is it about it that speaks to me or serves who I am in this moment? So you have to keep them separate. You can throw in a little bit of your back story, throw in a little bit of your why. Maybe give a look at what your day is like, but at the same time they need to be demarcated. So too much of your personal life isn't seeping into the business because you want people to take you seriously.

McMartin, Chris 44:25
Yes.

Kimesha Walters 44:26
You want people to remember you. And when I say I remember you, now, I mean, remember you in a way that's you know, "I would love to do business with Chris."

McMartin, Chris 44:35
Hmm.

Kimesha Walters 44:36
And the other thing is that you want people to be connected with you and to hopefully become your brand ambassadors. I've had so many referrals just because of the energy I put out, the types of post that I put out, and the content that resonates with who I am, without crossing too many boundaries or too many wires, right?

McMartin, Chris 44:50
Yep.

Kimesha Walters 44:56
So they need to keep that in mind.

McMartin, Chris 44:59
Yeah, I think your power to create impactful relationships is very evident.

Kimesha Walters 45:00
Right.

McMartin, Chris 45:05
You definitely are someone who I remember always and definitely someone who has the power to create those powerful relationships.

Kimesha Walters 45:10
Ohh.

McMartin, Chris 45:13
So if there's anyone out there who's who's, you know, looking for a lesson in building relationships.

Kimesha Walters 45:14
Perfect. Thank.

McMartin, Chris 45:20
Kimesha, is who you should be speaking to. And that being said, I will let you all know that we have just put in the chat all of Kimesha's social links, LinkedIn, Instagram, kimesha's website. So please feel free to connect with Kimesha like you said Kimesha, she's trying to meet 100 new people in 2024. Where are you on that goal Kimesha? How many people, new people, have you met so far?

Kimesha Walters 45:45
I think I've had meetings in about 10 and I have another 20 lined up and, you know, a few in between.

McMartin, Chris 45:50
You're getting there. You're getting there.

Kimesha Walters 45:54
Oh, I'm getting there. It's coming along really well and I think you made a note about connection and I really wanted to get this out just because I promised leading up to the masterclass. It's like this question that somebody asked me. If you have a brand or a business that has a terrible reputation, how can you turn it into a positive one and move it from this negative connotation that people have towards the brand?

McMartin, Chris 46:11
Hmm.

Kimesha Walters 46:21
Because of course, they're gonna be losing out if you don't have a proper brand, right? And move it to a place where you start to make a profit and you also start to get loyal customers.

McMartin, Chris 46:25
Yes.

Kimesha Walters 46:30
Now, I have this story and when I speak back to this story, it's one of those foundational moments, and one of those pivotal changes that have I've seen me be in this career and starting my business and looking forward to build a business that I can be proud of. Because having turned this client around, I'm saying that there should be nothing in this world that I cannot do, right.

McMartin, Chris 46:56
I love that.

Kimesha Walters 46:58
So we have this clients and they are a compromised brand. When I say compromise, I mean nobody wanted to buy the product. The customer service was terrible. They had a bad reputation and they were the whole stuff for the problems that were coming in, right? So what happened is that there was a change in management, so this is the first good thing that they did. There was a change in management and they had a new outlook for the brand and they wanted to increase the sales, you know, and of course we were thinking the audacity, like. You have all of these problems and you want an increase in sales.

Kimesha Walters 47:37
So what did we do to turn this brand around, right? We created a customized strategy that allowed us to show the change in management.

McMartin, Chris 47:46
Hmm.

Kimesha Walters 47:46
It allowed us to redefine the branch story and position them from a place of power, knowing that we change the brand, we're changing things internally, and we want to make our customers happy. In doing so, we wrote press releases, we wrote feature stories about who the employees were, why they were excited to be working with this brand, where they were happy to be on board, and all of these stories we put them at different strategic points. So if you go online, you see. You open the newspaper, you see. You're on TV, you see. You are social media, you see and then the message has picked up momentum, right? So we talked about the staff, we talked about the amazing work, we talked about the accolades that were coming in, having changed the the ownership of the company.

McMartin, Chris 48:35
Hmm.

Kimesha Walters 48:36
And one of the things that we did Chris, that stands out to this day and you know, it's really an inspiration for me is that we created a series of first of its kind events. They were never ever done before. Never.

McMartin, Chris 48:49
Wow.

Kimesha Walters 48:49
So we offered special deal. We had premium customer service, we had red carpet treatment, and we had a whole list of freebies. So you could come. You get swag. You could get a free item here and these were items that were valuable to customers. And you know what?

McMartin, Chris 49:10
Hmm, that's a good point.

Kimesha Walters 49:11
In the end, yeah.

McMartin, Chris 49:12
That's a good point. Valuable giveaways!

Kimesha Walters 49:14
Yeah, they have to be right in the.

McMartin, Chris 49:14
Yes! We get giveaways all the time, but valuable giveaways is a good point.

Kimesha Walters 49:21
That is so true. You don't want to give somebody something and they're turning their backs and they're just gonna toss it in the bin.

McMartin, Chris 49:25
Yeah. Yeah, that's a good point.

Kimesha Walters 49:29
Right. So in the end we had an exponential increase in sales and year over year growth and that brand has become one of the top brands several years later that people love it, they buy it, and they recommend it to other people.

McMartin, Chris 49:43
Hmm.

Kimesha Walters 49:44
Besides that, we've had, you know, millions of viewers and readers who were introduced to the brand and from those free, from those events at the premium service and the freebies, we had people clamoring to get into our events. If they they missed it, it was real FOMO.

McMartin, Chris 50:00
That's fantastic. I appreciate you sharing your real life experience and your real life stories with your clients because I think that really resonates.

Kimesha Walters 50:02
Yes.

McMartin, Chris 50:09
I know it does with myself, hearing a real life event is much more impactful. I think than than talking in general terms, so I appreciate the stories that you brought and were able to share with us today about your actual clients and your lived experience. Is there anyone that has a question that didn't get answered during Kimesha's talk with us today? Is there any other questions that you would like. If you would like to, you could come off mute and ask them. If you're more comfortable you're welcome to put them in the chat and I would love to share them with Kimesha and get her expertise while we have her. Now's the chance.

Kimesha Walters 50:45
Yes. Please let me hear them. You don't have to rush now.

McMartin, Chris 50:49
Now's the chance. Kimesha, I know that you gave such a huge amount of information today that that, you know, please don't take silence as a bad thing. I think you just gave so much information that everyone's digesting what you had to say today. I will. I am sorry Communication Skyport.

Kimesha Walters 51:09
I think I see one hand.

McMartin, Chris 51:11
I don't know your name. I'm sorry because it's your business name. Communications Skyport 51:13
Hi, I'm Zena Edwards, and I've worked with Kimesha many years ago and I've quite enjoyed this.

McMartin, Chris 51:18
Hi, Zina. Communications Skyport 51:24
Thank you, Chris, for having this platform. I just had an observation Kimesha about, you know. I think you were talking about your new entrepreneur client that was doing the restaurant, the Keg or not the Keg. Sorry, right, he was competing with the Keg.

Kimesha Walters 51:41
Yeah, the restaurant, yes. Communications Skyport 51:45
And I think what I, you know, when you think about this, the work that you're doing with some of these brands and clients, what I feel is that you know, you keep using the word community, right? And how do you find, where does community fit in with this shift to, you know, get visibility and get sales and brands, umm, elevation? I feel like that seems to be something that you've said in almost every example.

McMartin, Chris 52:13
Hmm.

Kimesha Walters 52:22
Right. Communications Skyport 52:22
And yeah, I don't know. What do you think?

Kimesha Walters 52:25
That's an amazing question, Zina! I was just having a conversation with somebody and I was saying, "oh my word, I cannot scroll for 30 seconds on Instagram without seeing ads." Before you know, your news feed was so much different, but now it's everybody's pushing a marketing message. You go online it's sell, sell, sell, sell.

McMartin, Chris 52:47
Hmm.

Kimesha Walters 52:48
So I think the difference now is, again, what you just pointed out, a lot of it is going back to the sales and marketing messages, but I speak to community because I believe that at the essence of what a good corporate brand is or a good entrepreneur who means well for themselves and the world, they should be so well integrated in the community that they feel connected. Yes, your business exists to make a profit, but it should be done ethically and morally and in alignment with the development and the greater good of society. And a huge portion of my work, I feel, has been to showcase the good work of my clients.

McMartin, Chris 53:32
Umm.

Kimesha Walters 53:32
If my client's don't have any good work.
I create the good work for them and so it is a relationship that allows the business to grow or my client to grow as well as to enable the community to grow as well So that's the difference between Kimesha and Oasis Integrated Communications and maybe some of the other consultants and businesses that you know out there.

McMartin, Chris 53:52
Hmm. Thank you. Great question. Thank you so much.
I think that was really, really well related to the conversation because like I said before, the community or the relationship building is definitely your superpower Kimesha. And so I'm glad that we got to highlight that. If anyone else wants to connect with Kimesha has further questions I know she said she is absolutely open to do so.

Kimesha Walters 54:19
Thank you.

McMartin, Chris 54:24
So please get connected. We've provided all the links to her socials. Please get connected with Kimesha and speak to her. Ask the questions that you have for her. Kimesha, I wanna thank you on behalf of The Scotiabank Women Initiative. Your conversation today was so insightful. You really taught me a lot. You taught everyone here a lot and I really appreciate you taking the time to chat with us today. It's been an absolute pleasure, so thank you for joining us today. Thank you everyone who took the time out of their day to join us today was much appreciated. Now Kimesha, you had a surprise for everyone, so I'm going to turn it over to you. You said you have a gift for everyone at the end, and so I'll turn it over to you to do that.

Kimesha Walters 55:05
Yes. So thank you so much Chris and thank you to The Scotiabank Women Initiative for hosting me today and thank you for those of us who have stayed up to this time. I appreciate you all. For the surprise gift, if you have a business or you're a budding entrepreneur and you want to be seen, heard, and remembered, and for more people to do business with you, right. Send me an email at kwalters@oasisintegrated.com. It should be in the chat somewhere here with the subject line, strategic.

McMartin, Chris 55:36
Mmm.

Kimesha Walters 55:38
Just the one word that you can write whatever you want to write in the email, and you'll get a free 15 minute discovery call. So I will help you to figure out how do you expand the reach of your business beyond your website and beyond your social media.

McMartin, Chris 55:47
Oh. That is a huge gift. That is a huge gift, so make sure all of our entrepreneurs on the call today please make sure that you're taking advantage of that. We will make sure that Kimesha's email is in there. Remember, subject line, strategic and then you'll get your 15 minutes with Kimesha. That'll be 15 minutes that you'll be impactful with your business. So thank you so much. I appreciate all of you for taking the time today and Kimesha, especially to you, your time and your expertise, so valuable.

Kimesha Walters 56:24
Did we miss a question? I think we're supposed to have like what do you do when you know it's gonna be a great day or something like that? I hear you ask that question all the time.

McMartin, Chris 56:35
I did. I did. I'm not there. I'm not there. I gotta get my thank you's in!

Kimesha Walters 56:38
OK. OK.

McMartin, Chris 56:40
I gotta get my thank you's in.

Kimesha Walters 56:40
I was like wait, wait!

McMartin, Chris 56:41
Don't worry, I had you prepared. I had you prepared. I always the last thing I ever do before we say goodbye. The last thing I ever do is I always ask every guest, what is the one thing you do every day to start your day to ensure it's going to be a good day?

Kimesha Walters 56:58
Oh, and you can tell that I'm just really excited to answer that! So I love music. I'm a music lover.

McMartin, Chris 57:00
Yeah, I know you were ready.

Kimesha Walters 57:06
I'm a budding DJ, actually launched a YouTube channel a while back just so I could practice, and show off my skills. So the number one thing I do in the morning that can guarantee that I'm going to have a good day is to play music and when the music hits then you feel the rhythm and you feel the lyrics and you feel everything.

McMartin, Chris 57:20
Hmm.

Kimesha Walters 57:25
And it's like, yeah, I'm ready! And it's like nobody can spoil my day today. Today's gonna be amazing. I'm gonna get some great results and I'm going to love it.

McMartin, Chris 57:36
Fantastic. I love that and I agree musics a great way to start the day. Start every day with a dance party. I love it.

Kimesha Walters 57:42
Yes.

McMartin, Chris 57:43
Thank you so much everyone. Enjoy the rest of your day. Take care.

Kimesha Walters 57:48
Thank you so much everyone.

McMartin, Chris 57:49
Bye bye.