Welcome to the first blog posting coming from yours truly at Jamie Lynne Creative! My hope is you’ll find inspiration, resources, and become better educated on the various aspects of design as well as wedding stationery. Please be patient…I’m a designer, not a writer, so hopefully you can make sense of my rambling, then we can all laugh at the fact that I’m {slightly} OCD when it comes to consistency within brands and wedding stationery!
Thanks so much for stopping by and checking out what I have to say! I look forward to sharing more with you in the future!
I’m starting up a business, now what?
Great question! You have this unbelievably creative idea and you’re looking to kickstart your business. You’ve come to the right place! Jamie Lynne Creative can help brand yourself! No, I’m not going to pull the iron from the fire and mark you all up (ouch!)…when I say brand I mean this: Corporate branding is the practice of using a company’s name as a product brand name. It is an attempt to use corporate brand equity to create product brand recognition (Thanks Wikipedia!). This doesn’t mean I’ll just set you up with a unique logo (although that’s part of it), but I’ll also work with you on establishing advertising, stationery, and packaging. Customer service, employee interaction, and quality products and services also play into your branding (and if you need help with that, I can refer you to a talented consultant!). Really, any means by which the public will come into contact with a specific brand constitutes as a component that can ultimately affect the perception of your brand.
Now, as previously mentioned, I’m a designer, still not a writer, and definitely not a business major, so I’m not going to offer up and advice in that aspect, but I will share this with you: clear the name you would like to use as your company name BEFORE anything else. You want to make sure the chosen name is available in your community/state/region before hiring me to design your logo, print your business cards, etc. The best way to accomplish this first task is by starting here:
http://www.sba.gov/content/how-name-business
A few things to think about…How will your name look (on the web, within a logo, on a social media site)? Is your name too corporate or not corporate enough? Does it reflect your philosophy? Are you appealing to your target market? Is it unique (do a quick web search and domain name search to find those close calls).
Speaking from experience, you do want to consider all the above. When I threw out the name JAMIE LYNNE CREATIVE, I was thinking it was something that could stick with me for the long-term (being as I started this ‘hobby’ while I was still single). Had I done a quick search, I would have learned there was a Jamie Lynn Creative (no E on Lynn) based out of Chicago. Close call, but a simple typing error in a google search sends her my potential business!
The best piece of advice I can offer, if you’re just starting out, and confused as to where you should begin, reach out to someone who’s been in your shoes. Talk to a professional. Research online. The State of Michigan has resources available to help you out: http://www.michigan.gov/lara.
Once you’re in the clear with your company name, lets get to work on establishing that brand and building recognition!
(Information compiled from Wikipedia.com, SBA.gov)
