Brand Building with Content Creator Hey Alisha

Building a brand is rarely a linear journey. Online seller and creator Alisha Leben has learned this lesson over her past eight years of creating, sharing, and pivoting her content. 

“In 2014,” Alisha shared with Squarespace, “I often traveled for work and wanted to document my travel experience: the fun places I’d visited and the people I met. So, I started heyalisha.com to share some of my favorite restaurants and activities.” 

Starting her blog helped Alisha find her voice and lay the groundwork for building her online presence. But as her content and audience developed, so did Alisha’s vision for her brand—which has grown into so much more than travel blogging. 

Learn how Alisha’s brand has evolved and the ways in which Squarespace has empowered her to build her brand online.

Brand-building around core values

“Although my brand has grown from being solely a travel blog,” Alisha says, “I still incorporate my love of culture in my blogs, online shop, and the Chit Chat Connoisseur podcast.”

As a brand with projects that span multiple surfaces and media types—from podcasting to blogging to selling apparel—Hey Alisha has built a cohesive brand through adhering to her core values. 

“The common thread for my brand is inspiration, connection, and culture,” Alisha says. “If an idea comes to me for an additional segment of the brand, and it doesn’t align with those core principles, I move on—and focus on what does.”

Instead of creating in a single medium, she lets those principles guide her. This approach supports more creative freedom: She can explore different ways to channel her passions, while preserving the heart of her brand and using her Squarespace website as a hub for her various projects. 

For example, her lifestyle blog creates a space that taps into the “inspiration” aspect of her brand values. According to her Squarespace website, through her blog, Alisha can “share personal experiences and cultivate a space where people can be inspired, motivated, feel connected to others sharing similar experiences, and have a good laugh.” 

“Although inspiration can be subjective,” Alisha says. “I believe that if I’m putting content and stories out that have inspired me to try something new and grow as a person, why not share that with someone? Pay it forward!”

Growing community through ecommerce

Another segment of Alisha’s brand is the Hey Alisha Shop, where she sells apparel that fills a niche in her community: typographic tops and hats that feature phrases common in Caribbean and Black communities. 

“I am the daughter of Caribbean immigrants,” Alisha says, “and so much of who I am is tied to West Indian and Black culture. One of the common threads of the Caribbean—in addition to family—is food. So many dishes in the Caribbean are the same but prepared differently, depending on the country. Sayings like ‘Oxtail Extra Gravy’ or ‘Platano con Salami’ are something you often hear in the West Indian community.” 

Shirts with those sayings and more have reached members of her South Floridian community and beyond. “Once I released these shirts on my online shop,” Alisha says, “I heard great feedback from many people who felt seen and represented. I find it incredible that a couple of sayings can resonate with many different people and build community.” 

For someone who channels her passion for culture in everything she creates, this has been an exciting evolution of her brand. “This overall theme of the representation of community has opened up a whole new world around Hey Alisha—for those who appreciate the phrases on the tees and those who now are interested in trying something new.”

Tapping into her “connection” and “culture” brand values, Alisha’s online shop has opened up an income stream outside of her blogging and podcast content creation, while keeping the products closely aligned with her overall branding. 

Marketing with Squarespace

Creators are also their own marketers, which often takes valuable time away from actual content creation. Finding tools that help simplify and streamline marketing tasks are key. 

“As a starting entrepreneur,” Alisha says, “many strategies include creating content on your own, and Squarespace has products that make it easy.” 

Alisha’s marketing content has made a measurable impact on her online sales and brand awareness:

“When I started creating marketing videos, my sales went up over 50% from the year before. The videos have also increased traffic to my website and overall engagement,” she says.

Pivoting to podcasting

“I’ve tried to think of the last two years as ‘pivot season,’’ Alisha says, of her creative innovation throughout the pandemic. 

At first, she wasn’t sure how she’d be able to work with other creators during lockdown and social distancing. “I eventually figured I could create content at home: connect with other creators virtually, create an online shop, and start a podcast. I did all of those things, and once businesses began to re-open, I got back into what I love writing and talking about the most: culture.” 

Based on her success with podcasting over the past couple years, Alisha has some advice for people considering a new podcasting venture. 

“It can be overwhelming to see the number of podcasts out there,” Alisha says. “You might think: Is this a space for me? Will I even have a following? That’s perfectly normal to feel that way. I believe that if you focus on what you’re passionate about, there is certainly more than enough space for you, and there is an audience who will be eager to hear your podcast.”

Alisha’s own podcast, Chit Chat Connoisseur, has found her audience by tapping into her core brand values. With each episode, she carves out a space to not only channel her own passion for culture and community, but creates a platform for other inspiring voices to be heard. Her podcast episodes center on conversations about “lifestyle, culture, and the journey of some of the most interesting and multifaceted people from all over the world.” 

Using her Squarespace website, Alisha is able to link out to every service where audiences can listen to her podcast—and even embed the latest episode so anyone can listen directly from her website. 

“Create content that you’re interested in and care about, and that will show in your podcast,” Alisha says, offering some final words of wisdom for aspiring podcast creators. “No one else is you, and that is your superpower.” 

Inspired by Alisha’s story? Start building your own brand on Squarespace.