Almost exactly two years ago, I started a hobby blog to document my e-business startup. I named it eMoms at Home. Three months later, the blog got popular enough to become my startup. I thought at the time that other work-at-home moms might be interested in what I was doing. What I found was that there were a heck of a lot more people interested in e-business startups than just moms.
Hindsight being 20/20, I wish I had known back then that it was a brand disaster in the making. A personal site, a limiting name, a popular subject… today evolved into a business blog network. A network being held back by the brand that created it, that is.
This is my challenge: I created a brand–accidentally. I knew enough about business and branding to build it well. What I could never have forseen was that building an “eMoms” brand would automatically eliminate more than half of our potential audience. Not only does it exclude dads and nonparents, I found that even moms were turned off by it. They didn’t want another parenting site–they wanted a site that helped them pursue their entrepreneurial dreams.
I never could have known how this business would evolve. Remember, it started as my hobby. But the lessons I have learned could fill a book on small-business branding:
If it can become a business, treat it like one from Day One
I have to admit that my biggest mistake was that even though I started this as my hobby, I knew full well it could evolve into a business. I did give it a lot of planning and preparation, but not nearly as much research as I did for my “real” startup. If I had, I might have been able to forsee that targeting my site just to moms was too limiting.
Of course, much has changed even in the last few years, and the “work-at-home mom” has evolved into the “non-9-to-5er.” Had I done more market research, I might have known that.
Even a one-woman show needs a strong brand
I gave thought to brand building from Day One, but I didn’t realize the magnitude of how important a brand is until I found that mine didn’t work anymore. Going through a rebrand after two years (and nearly 9,000 inbound links… sigh) is going to be a challenge, to say the least. It has delayed site improvements and content expansion, and has frustrated nearly everyone involved.
Worst of all, if you have tried buying a good domain lately, you’ll know well that it’s next to impossible–which is why there are so many sites popping up with names like Flickr, Twitter, and Oovoo. There’s not much else left.
A niche isn’t just a niche
I do believe I was on the right track by picking a niche when I started out. What I didn’t understand at the time was that my content was appealing to a much bigger audience. Some might disagree with me, but if you’re going to pick a niche, be sure that what you deliver is truly targeted to that niche. I targeted moms in my name, yet targeted a variety of experienced work-at-home business owners with my content. And today, there are hundreds of experienced work-at-home business owners who ignored our site because they didn’t like the name.
Listen to early-warning signs that your brand is off track
This is the part I can really kick myself over. Five months into my “hobby,” I knew it was going to be my full-time endeavor and I already knew that there was a discrepancy between my name and my audience. Had I acted back then, it would have been a lot less work to rebrand.
I really thought I could somehow continue with the limiting name. That’s one of the harder lessons I have learned as an entrepreneur. All I can say now is that I hope my mistake prevents someone else from making the same one.
Correct your course
It’s been amazing to hear from other businesspeople who have shared their stories and reached out to help me with my rebranding process. Kango recently relaunched as UpTake, and it has been very helpful as I navigate waters that are a little over my head at times. But the thing I have heard from nearly everyone is that as soon as you know your brand is not representing your company or your customers/audience, change it immedately. The longer you wait, the more painful the change will be. I guess you could always resign yourself to the limits of your brand, but I’m not a fan of limiting my growth.
Ultimately, I know that by rebranding and repositioning my business, we will grow far beyond where we could have gone under the old name. It may be painful, but I am excited about the doors this will open for us. That’s bringing on a whole other set of challenges and rewards… so stay tuned.
