Let the Branding Begin
I've had a fortuitous breakthrough in the last week, which after the kick-start Divine received from the Fresh Ideas mentoring competition makes me feel like my luck must surely be running out soon... or the fates are truly smiling on me.
A word of advice to anyone starting a new business -particularly one operating in social spheres: accept every invitation and attend every function or event you can. This is networking 101 to those with a nose for business and it quickly becomes so to others (like me) who have learned it from experience. It's often the chance meetings and introductions through mutual friends that lead to the beginnings of business relationships than following the conventional channels, such as researching lists of companies and spending exhausting hours on the internet.
The More You Know, the More You Don't Know
One of the key areas that Krista and I agreed needed addressing was Divine's website. Since cementing which specific aspects required the most attention my partner and I had spent days reformulating the content with a much clearer idea of how it should best reflect our fantastic service. This proved a far more difficult task than I had expected! Ironically, with a much more focused vision of what I wanted the site to convey (not only information-wise but also in terms of projecting a certain overall feel and ethos) I found it much harder than when I first wrote the site's copy in the very early days of Divine. Needless to say, that original site didn't work as well as I'd hoped and anticipated... a fact which has been wincingly reiterated to me many times these past few weeks, but most recently by the branding company I now have helping me do the overhaul!
A Bolt from the Blue
Last week I happened to meet the head honcho of a branding company at a social event; I told him all about Divine, the mentoring competition, where I was with everything etc. and he was really interested. He loved the idea of Divine and liked the brand as it currently was but saw loads of room for growth and development. Anyway, to cut a longish story short, after a subsequent meeting I now have a fantastic company building a new website to reflect our reinvention! This couldn't have come at a better time since Krista had made it clear that what I heretofore had wasn't going to work in the PR stratosphere she was intending to introduce me to; the branding team are very much on the same page as me (and vicariously, Krista) and so hopefully I'm in for happy days.
So, I very much feel like I've had an early Christmas this year, but after the difficult last few months I can't help also quietly thinking I do deserve it. On the Christmas note, the festive season actually is a bit of an annoyance in a way, as it's going to be a couple of weeks hiatus from the momentum I'm steadily building up and very much enjoying. Still, I expect I'll be humming a different tune come the 25th, when I'm sitting before a traditional lavish Greek Christmas dinner with my family in Athens!
Friday, December 12, 2008
Friday, December 5, 2008
Chapter 2... The Heavens Part
The Heavens Part
It really has been a week of knuckling down at Divine HQ as we've exhaustively set about revamping our branding and our marketing angle. This has been liberating and exciting to say the least.
I certainly wouldn't change the last nine months, as the learning experience it's been for me, but lets just say... cries of pain, tears of joy. We're on track now and couldn't be happier. The existing website comes down tomorrow to be replaced by holding page with a brief but accurate sampling of the new Divine style and direction. I can't wait. At the same time I've opened my eyes and ears up to the stimulus all around me, which, as we instinctively cocoon our senses against the oncoming winter, feels like an unnatural thing to be doing. However I've been greedily devouring every magazine, television advert, tube station poster and overheard conversation for ideas and inspiration... and I've felt myself getting 'in the zone' as it were; and it's a wonderful feeling to experience such a renewed enthusiasm in one's own creation.
On this note, what's funny is that in just the last couple of weeks I seem to have met more people who are interested in Divine, asked for business cards, suggested avenues to explore and people to call etc. etc. etc. than usual.... it appears to be a karmic thing. Several times over the past few days I've caught myself telling someone or other about my company and thought it sounds like someone else speaking, such is the renewed passion! So, I guess there's not too much tangible to report this time but I have made leaps and bounds in my own confidence and passion for my little business.
Krista and I have a phone catch up scheduled for tomorrow so no doubt there'll be more exciting developments...
It really has been a week of knuckling down at Divine HQ as we've exhaustively set about revamping our branding and our marketing angle. This has been liberating and exciting to say the least.
I certainly wouldn't change the last nine months, as the learning experience it's been for me, but lets just say... cries of pain, tears of joy. We're on track now and couldn't be happier. The existing website comes down tomorrow to be replaced by holding page with a brief but accurate sampling of the new Divine style and direction. I can't wait. At the same time I've opened my eyes and ears up to the stimulus all around me, which, as we instinctively cocoon our senses against the oncoming winter, feels like an unnatural thing to be doing. However I've been greedily devouring every magazine, television advert, tube station poster and overheard conversation for ideas and inspiration... and I've felt myself getting 'in the zone' as it were; and it's a wonderful feeling to experience such a renewed enthusiasm in one's own creation.
On this note, what's funny is that in just the last couple of weeks I seem to have met more people who are interested in Divine, asked for business cards, suggested avenues to explore and people to call etc. etc. etc. than usual.... it appears to be a karmic thing. Several times over the past few days I've caught myself telling someone or other about my company and thought it sounds like someone else speaking, such is the renewed passion! So, I guess there's not too much tangible to report this time but I have made leaps and bounds in my own confidence and passion for my little business.
Krista and I have a phone catch up scheduled for tomorrow so no doubt there'll be more exciting developments...
Chapter 1... A Divine Intervention
A Divine Intervention
I am over the moon to be part of this competition! To be in the company of such incredibly inspiring female entrepreneurs, both mentors and mentees alike, is surreal... I keep having to pinch myself.
Being matched with Krista Madden really couldn't be a better fit. Her years of experience working in the fields of beauty, fashion, luxury treatments, entertainment and online marketing/branding (all areas that I've been aiming to break into with Divine) means her guidance will be invaluable. She fully understands my ideal clientele and what they want.
Pairing Up
We treated the dinner at the BT Tower as our first meeting and got straight down to business, examining the key areas of Divine that needed attention; where I'm at right now and where I need to be... fast!
Homework
My homework for the week was to look very closely at Divine's competitors, examining their branding, marketing strategies and clients. Her observations about areas that needed improvement were spot on. She suggested I immediately embark on not a rebranding as such, but a thorough revamping of Divine's image. In essence, where I was faltering was that in trying to distinguish myself from my competition branding and ethos-wise I had neglected to give myself a strong enough image: I had up to this point unwittingly defined Divine simply by what it was not.
Knuckling Down
I am currently brainstorming and researching scores of other websites and publications in order to 'inject some oomph' into Divine's branding. Seeing my fledgling business through her experienced eye has been refreshing to say the least! It becomes so hard to stand back and get an objective view after a while. I completely understand and agree with Krista's suggestions and advice up to this point and she obviously understands what it is that I have created in Divine... and what it needs to be steered towards success. Something tells me this will be a very successful partnership.
A New Dawn
Overall and fundamentally I'm thrilled to feel a sense of validation in Divine through Krista's and Fresh Ideas' interest, after a lengthy period of really feeling like a rudderless ship. I now have the power (and all important confidence) back and a clear and exciting road ahead of me.
'Til next week....
I am over the moon to be part of this competition! To be in the company of such incredibly inspiring female entrepreneurs, both mentors and mentees alike, is surreal... I keep having to pinch myself.
Being matched with Krista Madden really couldn't be a better fit. Her years of experience working in the fields of beauty, fashion, luxury treatments, entertainment and online marketing/branding (all areas that I've been aiming to break into with Divine) means her guidance will be invaluable. She fully understands my ideal clientele and what they want.
Pairing Up
We treated the dinner at the BT Tower as our first meeting and got straight down to business, examining the key areas of Divine that needed attention; where I'm at right now and where I need to be... fast!
Homework
My homework for the week was to look very closely at Divine's competitors, examining their branding, marketing strategies and clients. Her observations about areas that needed improvement were spot on. She suggested I immediately embark on not a rebranding as such, but a thorough revamping of Divine's image. In essence, where I was faltering was that in trying to distinguish myself from my competition branding and ethos-wise I had neglected to give myself a strong enough image: I had up to this point unwittingly defined Divine simply by what it was not.
Knuckling Down
I am currently brainstorming and researching scores of other websites and publications in order to 'inject some oomph' into Divine's branding. Seeing my fledgling business through her experienced eye has been refreshing to say the least! It becomes so hard to stand back and get an objective view after a while. I completely understand and agree with Krista's suggestions and advice up to this point and she obviously understands what it is that I have created in Divine... and what it needs to be steered towards success. Something tells me this will be a very successful partnership.
A New Dawn
Overall and fundamentally I'm thrilled to feel a sense of validation in Divine through Krista's and Fresh Ideas' interest, after a lengthy period of really feeling like a rudderless ship. I now have the power (and all important confidence) back and a clear and exciting road ahead of me.
'Til next week....
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