There's no one quite like me, I'm told. (Could that be an insult?) Here's why I switched my corporate name of Your Marketing Managed to Elaine Keep.
When I set up my business, I had to make a decision about what to call it. Should it be my personal name or a brand name? The world was my oyster (although in reality, mostly loose shells - many decent names were scooped up long ago - put the words marketing, copy or content behind any random word, be it as obscure as an animal, plant or food and the chances are, the domain is taken - Marketing Pigeon. Content Salmon. Donut Copy. )
Still, I pressed on, delving into the brain box to pick what I felt was a 'Ronseal' business name, and I loved Your Marketing Managed. Having come straight from a marketing management role for a big PLC, I was very much in the thick of managing marketing for other people. I was determined to replicate the agency I had a vision of being, and requested a strong red colour palette logo with a sharp red tick logo and all caps to denote the job being 'ticked off' a to do list. I wanted something masculine, corporate and quite serious- and it met it's brief.
The only problem was, it wasn't very 'me'.
My blogs, social posts or chats with clients couldn't help but include references to my pick and mix addiction or the last TikTok I saw. Meet me on a conference call and instead of a red blazer I wore in my headshots you were more likely to see me looking quite approachable in a floral top.
I decided to start working under my own name - with a colour palette I actually enjoy looking at, and a strapline that's far more in tune with what I offer clients and what I wish to do going forward.
In the scale of global happenings, your marketing managed going to domain heaven is about as important as an ant sneezing - but making the decision to rebrand was a big one for me.
So, let's jump into why I changed in a bit more depth.
My circumstances have changed
Years ago I had no idea where this business would go or what I could achieve. I have impressed myself with what I have done, despite having no vision board, no business plan and only a hope to bridge the gaping gap in funds from statutory maternity leave while keeping my hand in marketing.
Side note - I would also be raising a small child.
Yikes.
But as parents always say, having a child was the best move in the world for me - and it did wonders for how I could approach business decisions that would otherwise be too risky.
It gave me an out.
I was 'just' taking on a client.
I was 'just' dabbling. No big deal.
Despite working 3 days solid, evenings and weekends as needed (not to mention lockdown pains) - I still had the 'well if it doesn't work out, I've only been dabbling' mentality.
It was a comfort blanket.
September was rolling around - my child was about to start education -gulp- and I realised I had done it - ('raised a human to school age? Completed it mate') and also had a business that was better in every regard than the full time work I did before. Not to humble brag too much. But I wanted to keep doing it.
In the season of new pencil cases and shiny shoes - I naturally started to assess what I was doing, when, and how I was presenting myself and what that could and should look like.
It was time to get a bit more honest with myself...
It was time to be truthful about my future
If I did in the preceding years ever have a vision for my work, it would have been maybe turning my business into a little agency. Not a whopper. Just y'know - 5 - 10 people? So, I hired a business coach to see how realistic it was for me to do this. The money sounded phenomenal. He laid out a perfectly feasible plan - and that was a wake up to the reality that it sounded....Awful.
I would handle employment, health and safety, hiring, mentoring, all while seeking clients for other people to serve? That's my favourite part of the job!
It was a startling realisation that anyone writing copy for my clients would never do what I wanted, that with staff I would never relax, and that I would have the feeling of responsibility that I have for my clients now - but multiplied by 1000.
It was time to be truthful about my skill set
There's also the case of what I offered. When I started I was thinking I was 'the marketing lady' - after all, I'd done that for over a decade - but in about 90% of cases, I'm known for copy or content.
I'm tagged in content jobs on LinkedIn, people ask for writing samples, I get asked for 'a few words on this'.
No one is out here talking about the other marketing bits I do, and while I have a creative hand that is very much an advantage to thinking of whole campaigns and how to elevate content, it was time to get realistic - that the name your marketing managed implied a full marketing managed service, which offers so many threads.
In truth only an agency is ever going to really do that to a brilliant standard. If I knew that I wanted to shut that door - there was no reason not to just present myself as a writer.
It was time to face it that my brand name had the 'forget me effect'
I would hear clients call my brand a strange array of names such as:
My marketing managed
Your marketing manager
Your marketing matters
Or simply they would say 'Elaine Keep' is doing this thing for us.
While I knew it and loved it, it wasn't sticky enough as a brand name.
There's only one me (and that's a 'thing')
It's hard to have a USP but one thing is for sure, there is only one me. That sounds like I have an inflated sense of self, but it is factual. I can't be the only b2b content writer. Even my strapline, creative - content - marketing is a niche that is very much full to the brim. But I can be me!
Rebranding was the best decision for my business (I think!)
So there you have it! These are the reasons why I rebranded my business to my personal name. I believe it will allow me to attract clients that I really enjoy working with, all with a sense of ease and honesty and even at this early point, I have a new confidence in my brand- which is very un-British, but I am rolling with it.
A quick shout out to the many other amazing freelancers who helped me with my website, logo design, domain and hosting / security, my templates and accounting systems, my photography and also just being a sounding board. As with so much in this sector, it feels like a community effort!
If you have any questions or comments about my rebranding journey (kind ones please, I can't get tears on this new MacBook!) or if you'd like to work with me, I'd love to chat.