This morning I received a comment that I believe needs addressing. The person who wrote the comment decided to remain anonymous (rather fill in obscenities instead of his name). He wrote:
“Nice wordpress template, what kind of a webdesigner are you?
You do this for a living and you cant even build your own site? http://www.takteekmedia.com/wp-themes/3col-rdmban-lr”
I addressed this specific question here: http://jesserfriedman.com/about
“P.S. Some of you might be asking “If you’re a web designer why didn’t you design your own blog?”. Well, I can NEVER decide on a design for myself. I usually come up with something decent and then scratch it because it’s never good enough in my eyes. I decided with this site I’m going to utilize WordPress themes (for now) and give a special thanks to the designer that I choose. So with out further ado, Thank you Takteekmedia.”
I am not going to defend myself further then just saying I am fully capable of creating my own wordpress site and have done several already.
I can’t stand seeing companies pigeon hole themselves with a company name that is too specific. It forces them to work to reverse brand their own names. They’re paying to convince customers they offer more than their name suggests.
A good example is Burlington Coat Factory. They do carry a lot of coats but it’s less than 50% of what they sell. Obviously they started off as a coat factory but their company name doesn’t allow for company growth. Infact they have spent countless dollars marketing themselves with “We’re more than just coats”. The idea being to change the consumers mind and inform them that they don’t just sell coats.
At this point you are ensuring yourself more work and money spent to make sure consumers know what you do and sell. Be ready to change your business plan around what your consumers demand.
So many companies are forced to adapt to what their consumers need even if it isn’t what they planned on doing. You could start by selling only office chairs and years later be selling everything from staples to laptops.
When brainstorming your new company name make sure you are flexible and able to adapt to where ever your consumers take you.
