Today on the podcast, I’m tackling two key questions every entrepreneur will come across: How do you decide what to name your business? Should you build a brand around your name (e.g. Chase Jarvis Photography), or something else (e.g. CreativeLive)? and How do you stay connected with past clients?
How to Name Your Business
This is a common question small business owners, freelancers, and artists grapple with, but it applies to anyone building a brand from the ground up. There are pros and cons to both; your end goals will determine the best plan.and how to keep in touch with customers.
The decision boils down to one factor – what are your goals for the brand? Do you have aspirations to become a global brand or sell the company one day? A personal brand can be limiting if you have grand goals. For example, CreativeLive – our mission is to champion creators all over the world. Would it benefit the brand to have a person’s name in it? Certainly not. We also have a team of employees, each influencing CreativeLive’s overall direction. On the other hand, if you intend to build a sustainable business on your own or with a smaller team, using your name might make more sense. A brand is a barrier between humans.
Building Client Relationships
In the era of instant messaging and flooded mailboxes, what is a breathable way to communicate your work and cherish meaningful customer relationships? After all, the constant pursuit of new clients and maintaining existing ones is what takes your business forward.
There are a number of tools and strategies to use here, but the solution is systemize the process. Simply using an Excel or Google Sheets file to keep a record of birthdates and family members’ names to remind you to send a birthday or holiday card goes a long ways. Mailchimp is one option for sending periodic email newsletters. If you’re looking for something more robust, a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) software is the next step up. Building relationships with clients doesn’t have to be difficult or time consuming.
Enjoy!
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This podcast is brought to you by CreativeLive. CreativeLive is the world’s largest hub for online creative education in photo/video, art/design, music/audio, craft/maker, money/life and the ability to make a living in any of those disciplines. They are high quality, highly curated classes taught by the world’s top experts — Pulitzer, Oscar, Grammy Award winners, New York Times best selling authors and the best entrepreneurs of our times.
