The Rebrand Boogie

I concluded that it is time to have my brand reflect the service I’ve somehow been shifted into by clients, both those that pay me for consulting and those that book me to speak.

The shift

About 2 years ago I noticed that most of the questions in Q & A sessions at speeches were about establishing Brand. I was asked for advice on Personal as well as product/business brand. Prospects were coming to me having seen what I’d done for other independent professionals. They wanted their own brand and were willing to retain me to handle the development and assure that it was incorporated in all elements of their persona.

The first of many blogs, “Brand Ain’t Digital” was published in January 2016. Since then Brand has become the subject of 90% of the blogs I publish at JerrryFletcher.net.

Confirmation was unexpected

Over coffee with an economist friend who also speaks professionally I learned that Google has a free tool that allows you to compare subjects/topics/search terms to see the trends over time. My friend Bill told me how he had changed some speech titles to get more bookings. I immediately went back to my office and ran a trend analysis.

In simple terms Brand beats the hell out of networking and has done so since 2004. First I looked at just Brand and Networking. Then, I added the two other subjects on which I’ve become an expert and spoken on. Here’s what the score card looked like at key points on the graph

                     January 2004      June 2013      December 2018      Overall

Brand            55                          64                     71                             Ascending

Networking  32                          8                       5                                Declining

Trust              93                         54                     46                              Declining

CRM              17                          11                     11                              Declining

With that data it became obvious I should look at shifting my brand to better approximate how I’m perceived by both clients and meeting planners looking for the useful marketing advice their attendees need.

When is it time to rebrand?

As I said in my regular Saturday blog, there are 5 reasons to rebrand based on the viewpoint of your prospects, customers and clients:

• If people can’t remember the name of your business it may be time to rebrand.

• If people can’t spell the URL for your website, it may be time to rebrand.

• If people recall your name and not the name of your business, it may be time to rebrand.

• If people start to think of you in connection with one product more than the one you started with, then it may be time to rebrand.

• If the market is disrupted and your business becomes passe, it may be time to rebrand.

It starts now.

It is not a small task. Here’s my first pass at a checklist for this task in the digital age:

1. Develop new verbal, visual and video logo (In process)

2. Review Vision, Mission, Position and update Value proposition

3. Incorporate Mission, Position and Value proposition in all on-line profiles

• · Linked In

• · BeBee

• · Face Book

• · Twitter,

• · YouTube

• · Vimeo

• · Ingomu

• · Multiple Speaker sites

• · And some I can’t bring to mind immediately

4. Revamp websites to include new data and link blogs to all

• · Z-axisMarketing.com

• · JerryFletcher.com

• · Jerry Fletcher.net

• · Networking Ninja.com

• · BrandBrainTrust.com

• · Landing pages

• · Automated marketing strings

• · A couple new possibilities being considered

5. Update all speaker materials (print and video)

• · Individual one-sheets

• · Recap one-sheet

• · Individual videos by current subject

• · Individual subject videos shifting to new titles

What have I overlooked? Any suggestions?

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His consulting practice, founded in 1990, is known for Trust-based Brand development, Positioning and business development for independent professionals on and off-line.

Consulting: www.JerryFletcher.com
Speaking: www.NetworkingNinja.com
DIY Training: www.ingomu.com