The Nitty Gritty
- Why Ali’s new brand message is all about shifting the way her clients see themselves
- How she draws a connection between health and politics — and positions her opinion in a way that her ideal customers breathe out: “finally, someone gets it!”
- What writing exercise she used to inform her new website copy (and exactly what her company’s new position is)
- Why you should always ask your customers for feedback, plus the exact process Ali used to choose a logo that spoke to them
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In this episode of What Works, we welcome Ali Shapiro, MSOD, certified holistic health counselor, and founder of Truce with Food® to talk about her recent rebranding and repositioning of her business.
We cover everything from what she’s learned as a health coach and her own experience with cancer as a teenager, to the importance of using customer feedback to inform branding decisions, to bringing politics into your business as a way to truly serve your customers.
Listen to this episode to learn more about Ali’s health journey and her experience working with women who are fed up with the status quo — and are looking for radical shifts toward true healing.
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How Ali knew it was time to reposition.
“I realized that as I got more resilient, I actually became healthier. I really started to see with my clients that if I could help them with a research-based but client-proven process to focus on that emotional piece, their healing was exponential.” — Ali Shapiro
For Ali and her clients, experiencing true healing isn’t just about what you eat. It’s about how food and emotions work together to cultivate and activate natural healing within the body.
Ali knew that positioning her work around both the body and the emotions would be more difficult than just talking about food. At the same time, she felt that it might be too much for people — would they resonate with it? Would they want to work with her? Ultimately, she knew that bringing together food and emotions was crucial for her clients to experience true healing.
Fortunately, her clients responded well and told her just how much of a relief it was, despite the hard work. Why? Because it gave them answers. They were finally understanding aspects of themselves that they never had.
This was the foundation of her rebranding and repositioning.
The importance of asking for customer feedback as you rebrand.
“I didn’t end up going with the logo because I didn’t want to turn people off before they really understood what it was about. Always ask your customers and clients — even your ideal clients are going to have a range of reactions.” — Ali Shapiro
As Ali worked with her clients, she realized that her work was founded on liberating women so they can get answers and feel their absolute best. As she rebranded, Ali wanted a logo that represented the work she did — and ended up with two that she loved.
One logo was a dynamic logo of a woman’s body behind bars — and the bars faded away — it was a literal representation of her work. Ali loved it, but when she asked her customers, it was a split: half of them liked it while others felt that it didn’t totally encompass her work — and in a way, it didn’t align with the experience they had with her. So… instead of using the logo that she liked the most, she decided against it based on customer insights.
Why Ali brings politics into her business (and her branding)
“When you start talking about who has power, and who doesn’t, and why you’ve generated so much self-doubt, it opens a lot of compassion and empathy for people. And that is really the path to healing.” — Ali Shapiro
If you take a quick look at Ali’s about page, there’s a beautiful illustration of a nesting doll. As you look closer at the connectedness of each layer, you see capitalism, white supremacy, patriarchy, and conventional health and beauty standards.
While so many avoid politics in daily life and in business, why did Ali consciously choose to make it a part of her brand story? “For those of us in the coaching space or the self-transformation space, if we don’t say that the systems and structures don’t have anything to do with their health, then we’re actually hurting them,” says Ali.
For Ali, health and capitalism is very much at the foundation of health — or the lack thereof. She brings up questions like: Who has access to healthy food? Who has the money to afford it? Who gets better treatment and who gets experimented on? “It will repel some people” she admits, “and it will make other people say, okay, someone sees all of this. It helps people see that it’s not all their fault — it’s not an excuse but it gives us another path forward.”
Listen to the full episode with Ali Shapiro to hear more about her perspective on true healing and how to reposition your brand in a way that’s authentic to you — and that still resonates with your ideal clients and customers.
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