I’m in a quandary about re-branding. I started The Confident Marketer in 2005, while I still owned another business (which I eventually sold). At that time there were not that many women marketing coaches and almost none knew how to teach Internet marketing. I started with a wide variety of clients (mostly women). The big issues I saw at the time were these:
- Many solo professionals and small business owners were not marketing their businesses because they didn’t know how to organize their marketing.
- Because they weren’t organized, they lacked confidence to get out and market, so they avoided it.
- They either tried halfheartedly to make a go of it for a year or two and then quit, or they were trying to support themselves but just barely scraping by.
- They didn’t have a big vision for what they could create – in fact most of them had no vision at all, they were just trying to survive.
It’s a different world now! Saying I’m a business coach for women is pretty blah – that’s not really a stake in the sand anymore. There are hundreds of thousands of business coaches who work with women and a good portion of them understand how to effectively market on the Internet and off-line. I’m thinking I need to re-brand or at least shift my brand a good quarter-turn.
While there is still a group of prospects who are just trying to make it in their business, there is also now a group of business owners who have been moderately successful. They want and need these things:
- Continued support to take their business to a higher level
- Learn how to create multiple streams of income in their business
- Continue their own personal development
So, I’ve spent the past few months thinking about re-branding. That’s a big decision for someone who has spent almost 9 years establishing a business. If you research re-branding you’ll find helpful articles that lay out the pros and cons. One article, from DBD International’s blog, gives 19 questions to ask before you start on a re-branding project. Click here to go to their useful article. A second article from UK’s The Marketing Donut asks 4 key questions “do you need to re-brand?” For the full article click here.
As I considered these questions and talked about my decision with my own coaches and in a few mastermind groups I changed my mind back and forth more than once. So I decided to lay out some of the parameters here and ask you, my readers, what YOU think about whether I should re-brand. After all, you are the ones my brand serves.
Here’s the down-low for you. Over the years of coaching, I’ve learned that I work best with clients who are serious about building their business, conscious about how their actions play out in life and business, and are not part-time or hobbyists business owners. In every case, the presenting question a client has for me is never what we end up working on – there’s always a back story that got them to where they are and that needs to be addressed. Often this back story is more about life than about business.
I work best with clients who will make decisions and implement. I’m particularly good at using my intuitive skills and experiences as a business owner, blended together, to work with my clients. I pay attention to the energy of things. I’m an extremely creative marketing strategist. I can look at a business model and tell immediately if it’s going to work for that particular client. I can tell where someone is stuck in less than an hour. This is why I do best with people who are decisive and ready to move ahead – I see their path forward very quickly, and when they see it, they are on fire to make it happen. I don’t work well with clients who are so fearful and doubtful that they refuse to decide things and move ahead.
I’m hesitant to put a stake in the sand that says “I work with healing practitioners” or “I work with CPAs in private practice” because what I teach works across industries. But remaining a “generalist” doesn’t work well – it isn’t easy to market and I am far more than a general business coach now.
Here are some of the questions I’ve pondered:
- Should I change the name of my business to better reflect what I’m doing now, or keep it because it is so well known? Does The Confident Marketer still sound compelling?
- Should I keep The Confident Marketer but use a tag line to call to the more specific ideal client I serve?
- If “marketing” is so broad now that it doesn’t make sense to still offer that as my core service, what do I say I do (because it truly is much more than marketing).
I know that staying the way I am feels like I am limping along. But how to change seems hard to parse apart. So I’m asking YOU, my readers, to chime in with your comments and opinions below. I’ll keep you posted in the coming weeks about what I decide to do. Please take a stab at the 3 questions above – or anything else you’d like to say. Thanks!
Great questions and conversation Sue – I would potentially ask 5-10 clients how they found you, why it resonated and what they say when they are referring others to you for key words and themes.
Having rebranded this year myself I have found it really brought new energy and focus to the business – however this was after receiving feedback that the previous brand – “Leading Value” was confusing and not memorable (or was confused with other brands such as Leading Edge).
Rebranding to UQ Power has been very powerful however this has also been about the marketing and communication around the brand, the colour, the imagery and the language we use.
Your name may suggest that you are a confident marketer that will work as a marketing consultant or perhaps for people who want to build their personal confidence so they can market themselves in a job market. Let your market tell you if you need to change and then decide if you are like a plumber with a leaky tap and could improve in your brand communication.
It’s good to have a memorable name but it is more important to take time to build the brand around the name – otherwise “apple” would have remained in our mind as only a delicious piece of fruit!
You have a lot of brand equity in “Confident Marketer” that would be hard to give up, in my opinion. That’s how people know you. I would agree to add a tagline that speaks to specific results, but keep Confident Marketer. You can always build out other segments of your business keeping the “Confident” aspect of your brand.
With that being said, it is definitely a crowded market place so you do have to differentiate yourself from the plethora of other business coaches out there who focus on marketing. Branding is so much more than your name, logo, and tagline. I say keep the current brand, but “punch it up” with your personality and everything that makes you unique because that’s what really sets people apart in this industry.
Sue,
Keep your current brand. If you feel the need to segment your marketing expertise to specific areas create workshops, teleseminars, info products, books and talks titled to that specific segment. Call me if you want to talk through this with me.
How timely, I’m just now pondering this very question for myself and my business. I appreciate your sharing your thought journey on this issue as well as the links which I plan to go through.
I like your title Confident Marketer and wonder if perhaps you want to consider changing your tag line (although I like that too)?
Sue,
I think you already know the answer to your own question. You were smart when you branded your business in the first place. You knew who you are meant to serve and what they most need. I think WAY too many people are on the reinvention and rebranding bandwagon. Your name is solid. You can repackage, re-position and re-engage in other ways besides a total rebrand. Sounds like a bunch of expensive busy work to me when your real work is serving those you are meant to serve. I blogged about this, too. 🙂
Write on!~
Lisa Manyon
I think “Confident Marketer” is a good name. And maybe you could pick a different tag line that would suggest what clients you want to serve. Good luck on your decision!
Thanks Art – yes I will have a new tag line for sure.
It’s all in the name… yes, you are in a market that is highly competitive. “The Confident Marketer” is a good name and has been established, though you can still point all queries to whatever you decide to change to should you decide to change. The name is what catches people, and if you are looking for clients who are serious about their businesses (not niched so small that you’re only attracting healers or tax preparers), the question is, are those clients very concerned about Marketing? Or are they already pretty versed in marketing and need a good business coach to help them break 7 figures, like David Naegle the Master Income Accelerator? That is a name with WOW factor that makes entrepreneurs want to work with him. Ali is the Entrepreneur Mentor, but that’s because she’s so established she can be that general. Your name should speak to “What’s in it for me?” with a WOW factor. If I want great marketing, I’m going to go with The Confident Marketer, so you really do have a niche there… being a great marketer and teaching others how to be great at marketing themselves. IF you want to stick with that, just do a revamping of your site and marketing materials so you can create “buzz” around your “new look.” IF you want to be known as more than just a confident marketer, it’s not about who you are it’s about what they want. David accelerates people’s income, I Greenlight people’s career, what do you do that will get people talking and spreading the word to their friends? What’s a contagious name? People see me on the street and say “Greenlight Coach” or “Greenlight Gal” they don’t know my name but they know I Greenlight people. Now I’m just babbling on. You’ve been going back and forth with coaches and MM groups and all you wanted was an answer from us, but really I think the only person who really knows the answer is you. Trust your intuition 🙂
Hi Sue, I’ve been rebranding for over a year now…it is a BIG job. For me, even though I am in the same business, I wanted to steer my focus towards a different type of customer and I wanted to start teaching/speaking more. It is working for me.
I love your name, Confident Marketer sounds good, feels good…implies to me you know everything there is to know about marketing. I am inclined to say add a tag line and keep your name. Branding can take on all kinds of things, from a logo change to a name change to a focus change, to different colors, etc.
Good luck and let us know what you decide!
Sue,
Yes, you do far more than help with marketer – and I think the CONFIDENT part of your brand addresses that. A tag line that specifically addresses your ideal client is one way to do it. Focus in on that ideal client – and let the rest fall away.
Terry
It sounds to me like “confident marketer” doesn’t fit the scope anymore. For me personally, I don’t resonate with the name – maybe that’s me being “proud” of being confident with my message but, when I read your post it sounds like you could certainly help me! So, I’ve sorta missed out on understanding what it is you do. I went through a name change & rebranding in my business too for the same reason. I was changing with the times & I also better-understood what I do best for my clients. Its not an easy process, but it feels good to evolve & keep things fresh & timely. IF you want some help with a new name, Google “canon wing”. She is a professional namer. She Used to work wih large corporations but now helps small businesses with identifying what they should call themselves or their product. She’s really awesome. HOpe this helps!
Sue
I see you as way more than the Confident Marketer, although I do like that name – words that come to mind …master strategist, big time solutions for implementers who have big picture ideas. You seem to have the answer for every question [except maybe this one!]
I do agree that you do need a bigger hook/niche – I like Jessica’s comments – we need a WOW! Sue is the ….Implementation Whisperer or whatever you come up with
On a side note…I always saw confident marketer as your title, but I think some people may think you’re saying you can help us become confident marketers – which is pretty cool!
Trudy
Sue, it sounds like you’ve answered your own question. You address much more than marketing. I know this first hand. You well know there is riches in niches so my recommendation is you narrow your focus to 1 specific thing you do for any business owner or generalize your scope of service but to a specific industry or niche.
Thanks for your insight, Shayna. Appreciate it!
Sue