This is my new tagline. In my last blog post (Knowing Your Value Proposition) I told you about using a virtual private server hosting and start of my rebranding process (asking clients questions about the value I deliver and the impact of that value.) As I go through my rebranding process, I’ll be blogging about what I’m learning and taking you on the journey with me. Hopefully you’ll learn from my mistakes.web

Some of it isn’t easy. Sometimes it feels like for every three steps forward, I take two steps back. But change never feels good. If it feels good, then it’s inside your comfort zone and it’s not real change. Most change involves some anxiety over new things to get used to, new habit formation and new neural pathways in the brain being generated. So there is bound to be distress until the new becomes routine.

So here I am with a new tag line born out of client feedback. But I still need a logo. So I thought I’d try out an online source of logo development. It’s easy to get started with one these online services, you can get sample designs from multiple designers. Plus you can give each one comments so they can refine their designs until you get to a place where one is just right.  Then the contest ends and the finalist gives you what he’s designed and he gets his fee which is being held for him by the website host.

You get to run surveys so your friends and colleagues can help you choose the best logo design. So I went along with the process. Little by little I narrowed the submitted logos to a couple designs, got feedback from colleagues. Then a marketing friend showed me how commonplace the logos were and in one case it was an exact reproduction of a copyrighted logo. So I decided not to use an online service for my new logo. I wanted something more unique and I didn’t want a future copyright infringement issue. A few wasted weeks down the drain.

But I did learn something much more fundamental. I had been using the name DrivingIR as my business name for the last six years. In the survey process people revealed that they still weren’t sure what the IR stood for. It really means ‘Improved Results’, but many thought it stood for ‘Investor Relations’ or ‘Investment Results’. Some people on Facebook even thought I might be running a driving school. Talk about confusion in the marketplace!! So I decided to get crystal clear about my name and about what I offer to the marketplace and worked with someone to come up with a marketing positioning statement.

So here’s what I developed. The name I’m going by from now on is Driving Improved Results. It’s a mouthful but it eliminates confusion. It’s bittersweet since I’m giving up 6 years of branding my company as Driving IR. But so be it. I’m moving forward.

Here’s the rest of my positioning statement that is now a filter for everything I write, speak about, and offer to clients.

Driving Improved Results is the professional development coaching and management consulting organization that, through strategic team building, executive leadership and increased clarity, delivers not only greater revenues but greater employee engagement and client satisfaction.

Driving Improved Results generates accelerated business growth by creating a sales-driven corporate culture:

• where the company staff is laser focused on revenue generation and each employee understands his or her role

• where the leadership and infrastructure support front line staff in this endeavor

• where the entire company is engaged and motivated by a strong company vision.

Driving Improved Results is led by Jeri Quinn.

• Jeri takes a comprehensive understanding of business and combines it with professional development skills honed in 18 years managing her own IT company.

• With training as a therapist and teacher, she has the ability to engage employees in ways that allow their best selves to emerge.

• Her clients rave about the positive changes she has brought to their businesses.

That explanation is summed up in my company name and tagline.  (Engaging Your Front Line to Boost Your Bottom Line). It’s all aligned and reflecting the same message. Hurrah! So far so good!

It is absolutely imperative that you be clear about the message you are delivering to the marketplace. If there is no clarity, the resulting confusion will lead to no business.

My next steps (and my next blog post) – getting a local designer to work on my logo and website.

Do you have a story of how you’ve cleared up marketplace confusion or upgraded your brand? Please share it below.