Donate to Remove ads

Got a credit card? use our Credit Card & Finance Calculators

Thanks to johnstevens77,Bhoddhisatva,scotia,Anonymous,Cornytiv34, for Donating to support the site

Branding

Startups, marketing and more
katkaland
Posts: 12
Joined: April 24th, 2017, 11:02 am
Has thanked: 9 times
Been thanked: 2 times

Branding

#48278

Postby katkaland » April 24th, 2017, 4:52 pm

Business Branding - What do you think?
I am looking to sell 3-4 totally different products. To test out which has
more potential naturally, I will put them up on the same website at start.
When I see one picking up, I can then open a separate website for that. The
initial website will be advertising me, as an artist and organizer with my
name to be the logo.

Product 1: a regular event for artists
Product 2: mime tuition leading to shows for the most suitable students
Product 3: a niche art product (Like "couture" in fashion, i.e only one per
design, designed to client specification, and upon commissioning)
Product 4: same type of product as number 3, but it is a mass produce to go
into shops (i.e many of the same design at a lower price)

I already planned the typography and the color scheme to be the same across
the four different products. But the logos will have to be different
thought. As all 4 products are different I am worried if one starts to pick
up and given a new website, it may cause a pitfall. I know that one website
per product range is the best nowadays but currently I do not want to start
with this due to my own limitations.

What are your thoughts on my branding challenge?
What would you do if you were in my shoes?
Thanks

midnightcatprowl
Lemon Slice
Posts: 419
Joined: November 4th, 2016, 1:07 pm
Has thanked: 338 times
Been thanked: 197 times

Re: Branding

#48310

Postby midnightcatprowl » April 24th, 2017, 5:58 pm

I think you are making a big mistake mainly because the 'products' have so little in common with each other. People are likely to look at your website (if you can get them there in the first place), feel very confused and click away. It will also be difficult to get potential buyers to the website in the first place as its theme will be so unfocused, or rather it won't have a theme in terms of product. However well you do your colour scheme etc that doesn't get people to a website in the first place they only see your nice design once they are there. Design & ease of use are important in getting people to stay and to buy once they are there of course.

You could have the third and fourth 'products' on one website as they seem to have something in common. One is more upmarket than the other but I think that is something people often see on websites - the everyday version and the specially commissioned version of the same or similar thing.

How closely are the first and second 'products' related? As stated they don't seem to have much to do with each other but they have very short descriptions so it is difficult to tell.

Jumbling this lot together on one website and then moving the most successful product to another website as it starts to take off sounds like a recipe for disaster to me. If anything if you did start with the jumble and one bit of it worked it ought to be the bit that works which stays with the rest sent elsewhere.

You mention your limitations but I wonder if you aren't missing the real difficulty of what you are proposing to do which is the difficulty of pursuing, marketing, organising, contacting the right people for these very different products. If you've already got all this established and operating then is it actually so difficult to create two or more different websites? Websites can in fact be purchased pretty much off the peg and then modified to your own requirements. Purists will tell you that only websites designed and built from scratch are worth having for commercial ventures, but there are lots of folk out there running perfectly successful websites acquired on an off the peg basis.

Maybe I am misunderstanding your plans or what you've already achieved or the issue about your 'limitations'?

Just to give an example of my thinking. An ex customer of mine is an artist in mosaic. She sells her own pre-made designs in mosaic, she takes commissions, she runs courses for adults in making mosaics and she runs courses for children in mosaic work. All this is indeed offered on one site but it is all held together by the one strong concept of 'mosaic' and the different elements have been built up over time. She started making and selling her own designs, as her reputation grew she then started to accept commissions, by this time quite a lot of people were aware of her work and were asking about how the works were created so she took that as an opportunity to start to run courses for adults and when all that was going well she tried out the idea of offering mosaic sessions for children in the school holidays. She's doing very well but each bit of her business edifice has been built up gradually and is supported by the bit before it and the earlier bits are also re-supported in turn by the later bits e.g. people do a course, enjoy it, but actually prefer to have one of their tutor's highly skilled work on their wall rather than their own.

katkaland
Posts: 12
Joined: April 24th, 2017, 11:02 am
Has thanked: 9 times
Been thanked: 2 times

Re: Branding

#48343

Postby katkaland » April 24th, 2017, 7:39 pm

Dear midnightcatprowl,

Thank you very much for your advice.
I try to clarify a few things here.

Product 1 is only being set up so I can meet local people in person, in search of my collaborators and possible business partners. But of course it will also offer the same opportunity to others. This can either go somewhere else, or become the part of Product 3 and 4 and turn into a different type of get-together but still art focused.

What is totally and ultimately different is Product 2. As this is leading towards shows. Of course Product 4 could be used on the show of Product 2. But it has a different audience for sure. But the people who buy Product 3 or 4 may be interested in seeing a show Product 2 will produce. And again people of Product 2 could be the subject of a large work of Product 4 too. So I can see connection in between back and forth despite it being different. Think Laszlo Moholy Nagy for example. He designed theater sets, wrote books, made other types of artwork, painting, film media etc... so he did not specialize in one area only yet he was a successful creative.

Ultimately I am hoping to start a company for Product 3 and 4. Once it becomes successful, get someone to run it for me and I would then only work in there heavily when I get commissioned, freeing up a lots of time for me at other times to start a second business, I.e Product 2. And if Product 2. But Product 3 and 4 is also something I love and could be a backbone earning, in case Product 2 may have a dryer period or isn't performing as expected.

Then again there are is also Product 5 and 6. These could also be set up one after the other, and let it to be run by somebody else.
Ultimately my goal is to set up companies and then dive in and out as I wish while somebody is doing the running and management of it. This way I can concentrate on the bigger picture and still get satisfaction as well as harvest out of all these companies. Like an entrepreneur.

The reason for putting up Product 2 on my website is to have some presence and test it out if I can get any interest whatsoever or not.
At this point I am not planning to spend money on marketing. Instead I am completing my studies and testing the water and allow myself to go in the direction that picks up first 3 & 4 or 2, and then attend to that more.
But I agree with you this is a bit unclear representation.


Return to “Running a Business”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests