Treating My Brand Like a Client

Over the past 6 weeks, I have become my own client. This has been a welcome experiment as I declared earlier this year that this was my aspiration. Spending enough time on my business, weekly, to feel as though I was achieving the goals I set out to reach. Further, my goal is to ensure that I make progress on a consistent basis.

Aside from weekly social media and blogging, the big project for my business has been to rename my brand. As I move into a more collaborative model, working with other talented solopreneurs to achieve great results for our clients, the time is right for an identity upgrade.

My business name began as my own initials – TheLT.co for The Lisa Taylor Company. Since then, many things have changed. Last year, I married my love and changed my name to Lisa Taylor Powers. Yes, it?s a mouthful, I know, however I feel strongly about both names and like to include both in my new identity.

Secondly, I felt the need to give my business it?s own persona. I want this company to stand on its own, for SEO purposes and beyond!

The final element is my company visual identity. This is one area that will remain the same – the honey bees are a critical element and really, they are the starting point of this naming project.

These vital creatures are creative, a strong, and pollinate the flowers, plants, vegetables that make our lives better. Further, they create a strategic device to grow their hive. So many parallels to entrepreneurial life and building a business with strategic marketing. Most importantly, my customers resonate with this and they find it memorable. More on how used my customer feedback later.

Here are the elements of the naming project:

Deadline: the most important strategy that I?ve employed for myself. Decided the date on which I would debut my new name, then work backwards. I find if I give myself a deadline, then I will ensure things will happen.
Target Market identification – knowing who you are hoping to reach is important. You want to ensure that the people that you want to reach will accept your name. If you?re targeting women, you want to ensure your business name won?t offend women, for example. I have documented my target market and know many things about this group. Secondly, I have documented my positioning, messaging and interests of this group. Need help with this? Check out my Branding Package here.
Brainstorm: I brainstormed on my own and with people whose opinions I respected in the initial phases. This helped me to identify the themes, what?s important in naming and positioning of my new name so that it feels like a brand. I even brainstormed with URLs, colors and shapes. Knowing that I respond well to color and shape as well as how things look when printed or handwritten really helped me to narrow my focus.
Research: understand the implications of the new name, current players in the local market and what is possible.
1. Copyright knowledge
2. URL availability
3. Local businesses
Survey: create a survey with less than 5 questions. Distribute to at least 30 people, 50 is better. Review and analyze results. Dig deep into feedback that was left in open-ended questions. This is gold! I used Survey Monkey for this part, you can send to up to 1000 people for free.
Visual elements:?Decide who will create your logo, or will you update the current logo? This is the time to have the conversation with that graphic designer.
Debut new business! This is the final step, however does require some strategy – will there be a physical, printed aspect of the debut?