Time and time again we as business owners are told by the marketing experts we are never going to have a successful business unless we have slick and sexy branding.
And whilst I agree we need to have a professional look and feel to our business to instill trust in others, being ‘too professional’ and ‘too branded’ can be a massive turn off for a lot of people.
As you will see from my newly made over website, my business has gone through an upgrade, and it took a lot of soul searching for me to do this.
Why?
Because when we go ‘slick and sexy’ it gives many people the impression we are too expensive for them to be able to work with us.
As someone who works with women starting over, as well as working with women who are already well established, I needed to find a middle ground; and in today’s world of online marketing finding that middle ground can be incredibly difficult.
The number of people who contact me wanting to work on my branding is interesting to say the least. To many I am just another name on a list, and I feel they are only looking at the surface level stuff.
And I don’t do surface level stuff, far from it.
I am deep person, and a deep thinker.
A deep diver into my own soul, as well the souls of my clients to enable them to create the breakthroughs and the resutls they want in their lives.
I’m also spontaneous. I never used to be, although I did plan to be spontaneous, if that is even a thing.
Can you plan to be spontaneous? Hmmm… I wonder.
Anyway, I digresss…
Back to branding….
Do we have to?
Do we have to put out an image of ourselves which is so slick and sexy, polished and perfect when we as humans are all a perfect unperfect mix of emotions, order and mess?
Is it truthful?
Is it real?
And is it really a good thing to have the ‘same meat, different gravy’ solution to branding?
Looking at the website makeovers I have had in the past 3 years, the first one was very white, very ‘Google-esq’ but really quite masculine.
The second was more colourful and ocean inspired but it wasn’t positioning me where I wanted to be; it wasn’t going to win me the clients and exposure I wanted to take my business to the next level.
So it was time for another makeover; colours of the ocean, feminine, clean and clear, not so busy and easy to read, as well as being the shop window I wanted it to be; and this time I am really truly happy with it.
Branding a product or a service is one thing, but branding yourself, something completely different.
It takes a lot of soul searching. You have to see yourself for a start, and that can be a challenge for even the most successful and aware individuals amongst us.
As coaches and authors, many of us have a fast evolutionary pace. With each client call, each call with our own coaches, and with each book we write, we evolve fast.
We have to; and if we don’t, are we even present to the work we do?
I don’t do fake, or vanity metrics, and I don’t work with shallow people who can’t see beyond the obvious.
Wanting to work with more incredible women, sell more books and have more clients on my courses, I knew I needed to up my game when it came to branding and marketing myself.
I kept thinking of the quote “You can sell a bad product in great packaging, but you can’t sell a great product in bad packaging” and I knew I had to change the way I did things.
As someone in the PR and Marketing arena has recently described me ‘a very talented lady…. with soooo much to offer but … not represented well on line”
Hiding my talents with poor branding wasn’t doing me, my family or my business any good.
Being an online entrepreneur, having to have photos taken is something I had to get used to; and fast.
Up until 4 years ago you would not have found a photo of me anywhere.
Creating audio and video content is my next branding challenge, and yes, for me, it is a challenge.
Surely sharing all this may be detrimental to my professional image, but at the end of the day, I may be a business woman, I may be a brand, but I am also human.
Having feelings, a family, and a private life which I love, is something I am very protective of these days.
Remembering to grab my photo and take photos and videos all the time is not me, has never been me. I love being in the moment and enjoying it.
In the world of fast paced consumerism, instant gratificaton and “now, now, now” video is essential for those wishing to get their message out to the masses, to get the sponsorship deals and all the sparkly ‘things’.
But is life really all about the sparkly things?
Hitting 42 a couple of weeks ago, I sat on the boat in the middle of the Southern Atlantic Ocean looking out at the horizon and realised, I don’t want the fast paced life.
I don’t want the ‘things’, I want real human connections, experiences and I am done with the shallowness of life that is becoming all to common place in today’s society.
Slowly down gives us perspective, and it’s good to be reminded that when it comes to branding and marketing, we can actually ‘over brand’ ourselves.
We can get lost in the world of ego, of being perfect and what others want us to be for them.
We can lose ourselves and our perspective on life, and there is nothing worse than losing yourself and all that you stand for simply for the sake of the online vanity metrics.
What are your thoughts? Let me know.
And if you like what you see, just know it is real, carefully considered and from the heart.
With love and gratitude to you, and for you,
Dawn x
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