Business Challenge:

Eleni Gage is an author, writing instructor, and journalist who has written for many well-known publications – including Travel & Leisure, People, Elle, and Real Simple. But she did not have a strong, cohesive brand presence; she couldn’t see how her creative writing, teaching, and magazine work intersected, nor could she define what made her different from other writers.

Her website was outdated, a major liability in the fields of journalism and publishing, both of which are increasingly moving online. And because her work was entirely for print publications, Eleni had never considered blogging as a way of consolidating her brand message, gaining visibility, and building her brand as a writer. Now it was crunch time: Eleni’s first novel, Other Waters, was due to hit the stands in early 2012, and she wanted to publicize its launch as much as possible.

Our challenge was to create a cohesive message in terms of her brand, then spread that message, building awareness of Eleni’s work in advance of the publication of her novel.

Our Solution:

We delved into a thorough 12-week personal branding program to uncover Eleni’s strengths and differentiators as a writer and identified the qualities that made her work unique–among them humor, accessibility, and a fascination with how we live today. Then we created a blog – TheLiminalStage.com – that allowed her to start building an online community.

Next came a new branded website and logo that reflected Eleni’s Greek heritage, and her interest in what she calls “urban anthropology” (her B.A. is in Folklore and Mythology). On her site, the blue tones represent the Mediterranean and Aegean seas that surround Greece, and the red reflects Eleni’s passion and warmth. The mosaic, a common medium in Greek art, iconography, and architecture, speaks to Eleni’s strong interest in spirituality, and the pomegranate, a strong symbol in many faiths represents fertility, everlasting life and resurrection. In fact, the pomegranate is a recurring image in both of Eleni’s books, North of Ithaka and Other Waters.

Once all of these elements were in place, Eleni was ready to use the power of social media marketing to grow and engage a community of readers that can also translate to sales for her upcoming book release.

Results:

Eleni now has a strong online brand, communicating a consistent and clear image, as well as a central headquarters: her website is a branded location to showcase all of her writing, from academic to journalistic to creative.

It is now very easy for editors, and publishers to see the scope of her work and contact her. In addition, readers—both existing fans and potential new ones–can get information about her books and see where to buy or pre-order them, see a list of her upcoming events and readings, and even invite her to “attend” their book club meetings via Skype. Her strong brand, attractive online presence, and use of social media have given her a new perspective and a cohesive brand, as well as the ability to reach more editors, colleagues and readers than she ever could have before.

Creating the First Multi-Media Online Personal Branding Destination

Client:	PersonalBranding.TV, William Arruda
Profession:	Personal Branding
Years Practicing:	10+

Business Challenge:

Personal Branding Guru, William Arruda approached brandiD to create a cutting edge, multi-media website. He had three goals in mind:

• Continue to stay ahead of the innovation curve. His company, Reach Personal Branding has always been “first to market” for many branding services.

• Create a new tool for the hundreds of people that have been certified in his personal branding certification program.

• To create some buzz around his company as well as create a new space where some passive advertising revenue can be generated.

William essentially came to us with a few design requirements – logo, needs to showcase multi-media copy (audio and video) and the details of the navigation bar. One other requirement – adding new content had to be simple. We had a blank slate and we were given carte blanche creatively – a dream client!

After

Our Solution:

We were able to breathe life into an unused domain name PersonalBranding.TV, that William owned for several years. After researching several great video sites like Vimeo.com, YouTube.com, etc., we developed a design that would showcase several great videos at once while making it intuitive for the end user to find and navigate a variety of categories. Built entirely in WordPress, it is also remarkably simple for William’s team to update the site.

The audio archive for the popular “Reach Personal Branding Interview Series” is entirely housed on the site. Reach-Certified Personal Brand Strategists are also highlighted on the site with their own branded sub-category on a navigation drop down.

By creating a distinct branded dock-bar, each of William’s other corporate entities are easily associated with him, found and one can quickly navigate to. It also adds a sense of cohesiveness to William’s personal branding empire.

Results:

brandiD helped William achieve and exceed his initial goals. PersonalBranding.TV is the first and largest web resource featuring personal branding advice and support. The contemporary design is on-brand and on-message, but equally as important it is incredibly user-friendly. The site acts as a showcase for William’s Reach-certified personal brand strategists, and the numerous unique monthly visitors can easily access the quick-to-load videos. In the short time since launching, the site has become extremely popular and now boasts hundreds of incoming links.

A Brand Makeover that Engages & Connects

Business Challenge:

A Manhattan-based communications coach, Ora wanted to expand her business, re-brand herself and enter into the speaking circuit. Part of her need to re-brand stemmed from the fact that she had recently beefed-up her credentials and had become a coach to several senior and C-level executives vs. focusing solely on communications coaching. Her previous business name, “Maxima Coaching,” did not reflect her growing desire to be positioned as Manhattan’s premier executive coach.

After working with world-renowned personal branding guru William Arruda on her business and her brand, William brought us in to help on the visual pieces of her project.

Our Solution:

We created a new logo for Ora, one that represented her brand attributes as a professional and as an individual. After a series of exercises, her new corporate name evolved simply into “ORA” with a tag line of “Executive Coach.” brandiD designed a unique font with a strong, clean, modern look.

After

Before

Because Ora likes to meet with all her clients in person, something that differentiates her business approach, we chose orange as her primary brand color to communicate her warmth.

Second, we built Ora a Vlog website. Ora has been bitten by the Video–Blogging (Vlogging) bug so the site we built is optimized for video. Ora’s new site also connects with her social media accounts. To allow her current and potential clients to measure their leadership presence, brandiD developed a built-in survey that is embedded on her website..

Lastly, we trained Ora on how to become self-sufficient and to Vlog on her own. Each month Ora uploads her video to YouTube, writes some intro copy for her latest entry and posts it to The O Vlog. We integrated FeedBurner into her site so her readers can subscribe and get her latest posts as soon as they’re sent.

Results:

Her regular website visitors watch Ora’s video blog entries on her site, and on YouTube. Her video channel has received 900 views in less than 5 months. The Leadership Presence survey has allowed Ora to build her mailing list and has helped convert prospects into clients. The crisp clean design of her website allows Ora’s personality, professional presence and brand promise to shine through. William has said that this is the best client site he has seen developed for one of his personal branding clients!

I chose to work with brandiD because of Rachel’s professionalism and savvy in the arena of the web and personal branding. She is smart and strategic, yet practical with her clients. I expected to have a more interactive website that was more Foogle friendly. One that I could easily update. A site that was blog compatible. I got all those things and more! I like an organization that is super at communicating. I’ve been told that I ask the questions that some people think about but would fear asking. Rachel and her team embraced all my questions and helped me understand each piece. Rachel gave me great encouragement along the way when I was stuck with the writing piece. Her advice was to hire a copy-writer. This was incredibly valuable. I was concerned about the investment and she coached me through it. It was a great choice for me.

Jen Bertsch

Entrepreneur Coach

www.MoxyCoaching.com

Thinking Globally, Acting Locally

Business Challenge:

Betsy turned to brandiD to help her increase visibility for her services, conceive a brand for a product line, develop a longer-term business strategy and create her own online space. A practicing homeopath for over 20 years, Betsy has been working out of the Pittsburgh Nuin Center – a premier holistic and integrative wellness center. Betsy had a page on the Nuin Center’s website when we began our engagement. While her business was doing well Betsy knew it could do better.

As a result from a Personal Branding 360 review we conducted it became clear that Betsy’s clients viewed her as Pittsburgh-centric, despite her extensive world travel, global homeopathic certifications and studies with internationally renowned practitioners Rajan Sankaran, Jayesh Shaw and Divya Chambra. She needed a fresh, and dynamic, platform to showcase her global, homeopathic expertise and her new product lines.

After

Before

Our Solution:

After the eye-opening results of the 360 review, brandiD’s research identified Betsy as the ONLY certified homeopath in the Pittsburgh region and one of 10 people in the country who are schooled in Rajan Sankaran’s Vital Sensation Method and are faculty at the American Medical College of Homeopathy.

We created a long-term vision and strategy for Betsy and her product line by developing an appealing corporate name, Daffodil Labs. We designed a logo around her name Betsy, to continue to build Betsy’s personal brand as a homeopathic wellness leader. Additionally, brandiD created a WordPress website built to highlight her many accomplishments, showcase her business and to give her a space to start blogging.

Results:

Now that Betsy has a place on the web to share her vast knowledge she is one of Pittsburgh’s most recognized homeopathic wellness practitioners. Site sections like “Flu Care Guide” and her blog, help position her as an industry expert and educator. Her online visibility and reach has greatly increased, as her new site has first page Google rankings for both her name and her company name, expanding her visibility across the web and around the world.

Rachel’s process for personal branding produced amazing results for my business.
As an entrepreneur with many disparate interests, working with Rachel enabled me to bring all of my passions and goals into one cohesive, impactful brand. In fact, one single observation Rachel shared with me revolutionized my business and clarified my path.

Rachel’s coaching style is personal, warm, compassionate, yet direct and challenging. She’s an expert in the personal branding field and will gently push you to dig deeper, work a little harder and come up with better solutions. Because of Rachel, I have a strong personal brand and some great marketing strategies to go out and spread the word.

Ashley Acker

Entrepreneur

www.EntrepreneurJungle.com

Growing a Business and Helping it Glow

Client:	Perla Group, Rosemarie Perla
Profession:	Executive Coach
Years Practicing:	15+

Business Challenge:

Rosemarie Perla, a successful Executive and Life Coach, was on her second career. Her first was as a licensed psychologist working independently and as part of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Rosemarie was ready to take her website and her seasoned coaching business to the next level. While interested in social media as a way of getting her message out to her peers and prospective clients, Rosemarie was worried about the possibility of a time-drain. She was clear about where she wanted to take her business but wasn’t sure how to get there. That’s why she turned to brandiD for personal branding and a marketing plan to enable her business to expand and grow.

After

Before

Our Solution:

Given her profession as coach Rosemarie was extremely self-aware and was clear about her career and life goals. brandiD worked closely with Rosemarie during the marketing planning and development phase to marry her essence with her professional brand and persona. We developed a completely new logo and brand for Rosemarie and renamed her business Perla Group, a new company that would allow her to grow beyond a solopreneur enterprise.

We also built in a blog and provided blog training to help Rosemarie gain more traction in the coaching field and to create a destination for users to engage with her brand. Because brandiD has linked her website to her Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn accounts, Rosemarie can now communicate through an array of social media platforms to a broader audience, both effectively and efficiently.

Results:

Her new site and corporate name captures the best of her earlier brand and takes it one step further, clearly positioning her as the CEO of a company that can now travel down new roads. Subsequently, her business is growing in leaps and bounds, allowing Rosemarie to bring in other coaches, who complement her skill set. This approach gives her the ability to expand her services, her client roster and her bottom line.

The fully integrated, branded website and blog has vastly increased her online presence and audience reach. We continue to work with Rosemarie on how to market herself and her business online and off.

brandiD is my go-to company for all things digital marketing. They combine innovative ideas with a practical approach to internet marketing that has been helping us gain customers for the past few years. brandiD has helped us strategically grow our companies’ visibility on the web as well as identify the right target audience and market to them. They’ve even gone above and beyond the call of duty to offer inspired suggestions as to how we can improve our products. Who knew tech geeks could be so creative?

Harbinder Khera

CEO, MindMatrix