Your website looks great. You’ve spent a lot of time, energy, and resources to develop a wonderful, purpose-driven business that is making a positive impact in the world. You have a track record of helping those that you serve. You’ve developed a beautiful product. You’re ready to go. But when it comes to reaching out to your network, you freeze. What’s happening here?
Actual physical networking is NOT happening right now due to the coronavirus pandemic that is keeping us all physically distant. We are all — regardless of where we are on the introvert/extrovert spectrum — adapting to how we are social. We recently refreshed a
The calendar in our office still marks our last day in the office, before the great pause. Since Friday, March 13th our hearts have been broken in so many different ways. A global pandemic and the struggle of so many in their final breaths. Loved ones being separated during that time. Parents trying to do their day job while educating and parenting and sharing their devices and “office space,” and maybe finding a moment of peace. Physical and social distancing. Divisiveness on social media and in our country. And then Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, dear Lord not again… struggling in their final breaths. Racism is also pandemic. We’ve made a mess of things. It’s difficult. It’s uncomfortable. We have gotten so much wrong.
Insight180 is celebrating 20 years in business this year. Wow! Twenty years of working with some truly great organizations to create great brands and have more impact in the world. Twenty years of curiosity, listening and discovery. Of beautiful design and smart strategy. Of amazing people, teamwork, resilience, generosity, and opportunity.
Okay, let’s think outside the box for a moment. It’s a no-brainer, right? At the end of the day, everyone understands that these jargony phrases, frequently used as convenient shortcuts, ultimately muddy the waters in communicating. You guessed it! This post is about communicating clearly, avoiding jargon (everyday and business), and simplifying stale catchphrases. Why? There are a few good reasons.
I’ve been wanting to write this blog for a long time. It’s been on my list for months… no years. It’s taken many forms and had a few false starts. Sometimes spurred by a client who wants to fill every inch of the page in their annual report, or use every millimeter in an ad or when their logo must contain specific, literal elements to help visually describe their business. Sigh.
Hard to believe the first month of the new year has come and gone. One-twelfth of the year is over. Have you set your big WOW goals for this year? Are you well on your way to meeting them or are you still working on setting up your vision?
On that Saturday night, I had been in downtown Ellicott City to show a guest from Slovenia, Karin, our quaint little town. My long-time friend Carol would be leading a Sierra Club trip in the fall to Slovenia, so I invited her along for an opportunity to talk to a native. It had been a beautiful summer day, with a slight chance of rain in the forecast. As we drove around Ellicott City, it started pouring; and as we looked for parking, it became torrential. Though we decided not to stay, I did swing by the office to put out the sandbags in front of the office door and that of our business neighbor — as I had done so many times for so many storms in the past 16 years. By the time I dragged out the sandbags and got back to the car, my feet were covered with water. As we tried to get to higher ground, many side roads were already closed.
One of our favorite tasks here at insight180 . . . . most of the time. Naming and rebranding in the wrong hands, however, can be detrimental, even disastrous. How can you be sure not to undermine the process and come up with a successful name for your advisory service business, nonprofit business or brand extension?
We’ve shared some naming guidelines with our readers in a previous post and we’ve given workshops on naming and rebranding. Last month we shared a post about a very important but tough-to-explain aspect of naming called Mouthfeel. This month we back up a bit to look at some of the whys and hows of the naming process.
What are the most important steps in creating a name? 1) Know yourself (and your organization), 2) know why you are renaming, 3) know how you are different and better, and finally and probably most important, 4) be open to some new thinking.
We are often approached by companies who are ready to rebrand, with a litany of stipulations about a potential new name.
“It must be memorable and it has to explain what we do, but we don’t want the name to be too long. . . “
