When I was running my internet company in the 1990s, my role models were Martha Stewart and Madonna. Both had strong brands they leveraged across multiple media, and I loved the way Madonna kept reinventing herself.
Over the past year, I've had to reinvent myself to revive my professional career. In the '90s, I was known as "Cybergrrl," the pioneer for women on the web. Then I fell off the grid, moved from Manhattan to Wyoming and later to Alaska. Next I had a baby. That handful of years might as well have been decades in internet time.
Today I don't have a cutesy moniker or a cartoon logo. I've been working to re-establish myself as a cutting-edge woman on the web, helping companies and nonprofit organizations use social media in sensible ways. I'm struggling to find the right way to phrase what I do and determine how to market myself. In the process of reinvention, I've lost much of my previous brand power.
"The primary risk is losing your current market position and not regaining a stronghold with the new position," says Marlene J. Waldock, who founded Because
We Are Women, empowerment symposiums to help women reinvent themselves. Waldock emphasizes the importance of having focus when reinventing your brand.
"The obvious reasons (for reinvention) are a change in lifestyle or life-changing events [or] changes in the economy or the marketplace, which can be both positive and negative," says Waldock, adding that her own reinvention happened when she was downsized from corporate America.
Filling an Unmet Niche
For Mary Blackmon, 41, founder of Spa Addicts, transforming her business from an online searchable directory of spa listings to a lifestyle website with content and community for women interested in the spa lifestyle has meant a complete change in her product offerings.
"I am doing this with Spa Addicts not only to better serve our growing audience with a product that will be more useful and valuable, but also in order to stay ahead of the curve and serve what I see as an unmet niche in the marketplace," Blackmon says.
New features include Google mapping spa locations, spa reviews from users, monthly articles on bringing the spa lifestyle home, and spa "miles" redeemable for free spa products. She has also launched a second company,
SpaTube, to produce custom educational videos covering spa treatments, trends and products. She will eventually charge spas for enhanced listings; for now, though, listings in her directory are free.
"I'm so excited to take my company to this next level, and I am even more excited to continue to learn more from our audience as the site grows and evolves over the years to come," Blackmom says.
Why Do I Want to Change?
Before making a major brand change, Waldock suggests that women answer the following questions:
1. Why do I want or need to change?
2. What will be the outcome of the change or reinvention?
3. How will it affect the people involved and who are they--either employees, clients or family?
4. How does this fit in with my personal and business vision and my values?
When reinventing or transforming your company, Waldock recommends finding someone who has done it and asking a lot of questions. Hire a consultant or join a support group.
"Align yourself with another company just like yours," Waldock says. "There is always strength in numbers."
As I transform my personal brand, I am leaning toward focusing on my own name. Sure, I'll still write under a variety of monikers, but I think my most portable brand--with the most history--is the name: Aliza Sherman.
Over the next year, I hope my name will become synonymous with "social media pioneer" and "forward-thinking e-marketer." But I still have one major challenge to overcome.
Here's a hint: It's pronounced Uh-LEE-zuh.
Maybe that should be my tagline.
I'll take a more in-depth look at Marlene Waldock's four questions in an
upcoming column.