<aside> <img src="https://media2.giphy.com/media/VhR2wFJ5ER2oq376Ao/giphy.gif?cid=ecf05e47abtnbfbfi5h59zgif46e70v0tyghicidkbben08m&rid=giphy.gif&ct=s" alt="https://media2.giphy.com/media/VhR2wFJ5ER2oq376Ao/giphy.gif?cid=ecf05e47abtnbfbfi5h59zgif46e70v0tyghicidkbben08m&rid=giphy.gif&ct=s" width="40px" /> Hi there!
Thanks for stopping by! 👩🏼💻 I’m **Kira Klaas.** I have 10+ years of experience as a brand, marketing, and design leader in growing tech startups, including Notion, Brex, Gusto, Kiva, & Redbubble. At Notion, I led the brand team — and became an expert Notion template builder. 👩🏼🔬
For fun, I’ve been taking some time to curate years’ worth of bookmarks into my favorite resources for current or hopeful brand marketers in their early- or mid-career journey. I'm also sharing the tried-and-true Notion templates I use in real life.
It’s your top shelf treasure trove for building a career in branding. I’ll keep adding to this over time. Share this resource and enjoy!
— Kira, last updated April 12, 2024
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Feel free to connect on LinkedIn — if you do, please include a note!
<aside> <img src="https://media2.giphy.com/media/VhR2wFJ5ER2oq376Ao/giphy.gif?cid=ecf05e47abtnbfbfi5h59zgif46e70v0tyghicidkbben08m&rid=giphy.gif&ct=s" alt="https://media2.giphy.com/media/VhR2wFJ5ER2oq376Ao/giphy.gif?cid=ecf05e47abtnbfbfi5h59zgif46e70v0tyghicidkbben08m&rid=giphy.gif&ct=s" width="40px" />
Brand Marketing 101
In 2022, I worked with Reforge to develop the first-ever Brand Marketing Deep-Dive course with Josh Grau and Patrick Moran — two marketing leaders with killer resumes. It’s available on-demand, anytime.
Brand Marketing Program — Reforge
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<aside> <img src="https://media2.giphy.com/media/VhR2wFJ5ER2oq376Ao/giphy.gif?cid=ecf05e47abtnbfbfi5h59zgif46e70v0tyghicidkbben08m&rid=giphy.gif&ct=s" alt="https://media2.giphy.com/media/VhR2wFJ5ER2oq376Ao/giphy.gif?cid=ecf05e47abtnbfbfi5h59zgif46e70v0tyghicidkbben08m&rid=giphy.gif&ct=s" width="40px" /> Brand Marketing 201
In 2023, I worked with Maven to develop the deeply tactical **Branding Strategy for Growth-Stage Leaders cohort-based course.** Cohorts run every few months — join the waitlist to hear about the next one.
Branding Strategy for Growth-Stage Leaders by Kira Klaas on Maven
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If you decide to sign up for either course, I’d love to hear what you think. I’m open to 30-minute 📞 calls with any student of my courses to answer questions, talk about the challenges you’re facing, your career next step — anything on your mind.
Branding is a hard-to-pin-down intersection of critical thinking, visual design and UX design, copywriting, psychology, and cultural analysis. Throw in trend forecasting and advertising — and a whole bunch of growth marketing jargon — and it’s hard to know where to start.
I’ve learned that in business, the best leaders know a lot about a little, in addition to the one thing they go really deep on. Good marketers can understand what makes a good design (and the best designers know a bit about marketing and branding principles) — and so on, but taking a well-rounded approach to this craft gives you more confidence, a broader perspective, and more empathy for your cross-functional partners (and it’s fun)!
Give yourself credit — you don’t have to know everything. You just have to get curious.
I’m not biased or anything (ahem), but I love Notion. It’s a visual, totally customizable way to organize your mind, your resources, your knowledge — just look at how funky this doc is! I started sharing work templates to give others a kickstart in their brand marketing projects. Hope you find a helpful one!
Kira Klaas | Notion Template Creator
Got a request in mind? DM me on LinkedIn.
<aside> 📌 The Ultimate Campaign Brief Template: Here’s the campaign brief template I developed at Notion — we used this for every major launch!
How Notion launches brand campaigns (and a template you can use)
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I’m not deep in the podcast world, but these are my go-to listens on building and the role brand plays in culture and society.
https://open.spotify.com/embed/show/3vpeOkkbrt5qleOUqClgtE?utm_source=generator
https://open.spotify.com/show/6E709HRH7XaiZrMfgtNCun?si=04297754d82f4fe0
https://open.spotify.com/episode/4UeHTCsGfih0Hnkjl23TS0?si=29ae871964934803
https://open.spotify.com/show/0ACc3MNKtpKv2rF5f1xjw5?si=99484a4a96bc4f97
Sites I keep coming back to when I need a reference or inspiration.
Go-to for best-in-class advice from startup operators and founders—the PR & Marketing and Design topics are most relevant.
Opinions and analysis on the strategic and design intent behind rebrands, like logo changes and brand identity evolutions.
An archive of keynote-style talks given by operators on their brands’ strategy and evolution.
Brandingmag | Narrating the discussion
More high-brow publication on brand’s role in culture and society—lots of commentary outside the tech bubble.
Fun spot for brand and design-related inspiration.
The spaces that are relevant evolve as your career does, but these groups put a lot of care and attention into their communities.
Surprisingly tricky to find brand-centric conferences, but these are a few I keep bookmarked.