Why My Own Positioning Needed to Catch Up

“I just need to update my title under my logo.”

That was the plan anyway.

My personal logo still said “Visionary Brand Strategist” and that title no longer reflected how I wanted to be known.

I’ve been using Small Business Brand Positioning Strategist for a while now, and last week, I finally got around to making the official change to my logo.

Except “Small Business Brand Positioning Strategist” is considerably longer than “Visionary Brand Strategist.”

It was not going to fit at all. So much for the quick swap.

Then it occurred to me: What about my tagline? Does that still fit what I want to be known for?

And then the domino effect began.

If the tagline changes, does my positioning statement still work?

If my positioning has evolved, does my website reflect it?

What about my consulting offers? My freebies? My speaking topics?

How does the book I’m writing fit into all of this?

And what belongs under the Susan Friesen brand and what belongs under eVision Media?

What about the old bios, PDFs, lead magnets, social media descriptions, and other brand pieces that are out there representing an earlier version of me and my business?

Then it hit me like a ton of bricks.

I wasn’t updating my logo anymore. I was reviewing my whole Susan Friesen brand.

I’ll admit there was a moment when I almost regretted starting this particular journey down the proverbial rabbit hole.

I was already deep into writing my book, Position Strong, and the last thing I needed was another project on my ever-growing to-do list.

Except I couldn’t really ignore it either.

I needed the logo finalized for some of the book materials I was creating. I couldn’t finalize the logo until I made some of these other decisions. And I couldn’t make those decisions without looking more closely at how my positioning had evolved.

And to think, this was all because I wanted to change a few words under my name.

The more I looked at everything together, the more I realized just how much had changed.

Or perhaps, more accurately, I had become much more certain about the role I wanted to have within the business.

For years, much of my professional identity was tied to the broad world of digital marketing and everything we do at eVision Media.

I’m still very much involved in the agency and its day-to-day operations, but my own work has become much more centred around brand positioning and the strategic thinking that needs to happen before any of the marketing begins.

That realization made me look at a lot of other things differently, too.

How I described what I do.

The consulting work I wanted to focus on.

Where Position Strong fit into the bigger picture.

How my personal brand and eVision Media related to each other.

Even my speaking topics needed another look because many of them had become heavily focused on AI.

I still talk about AI as I find it fascinating, and it is obviously affecting how we market and run our businesses.

I just don’t want to be known as an AI expert.

That was another clue that some of my older messaging no longer reflected where I was heading.

And I think that is one of the tricky things about having a business for many years.

Just like when you live in the same home for many years, you accumulate things.

A variety of different bios, old blog articles, PDFs, lead magnets, speaker materials, social media profiles, even email signatures.

Most of them made perfect sense when they were created. But even when the business keeps moving forward, many of those pieces stay right where you left them.

Sure, one outdated bio probably doesn’t matter much on its own. But when enough older pieces are out there circulating, they have the potential to cause a lot of confusion.

Turns out, my logo wasn’t really the issue.

It was simply the thing that exposed how much had changed in the brand it was supposed to represent.

And none of this was a sudden change, either.

My business had been evolving for quite some time, and so had I. I just hadn’t stopped to look at all the pieces together until I decided to change that logo.

And then came the part that made me shake my head in amusement.

Somewhere in the middle of all this, I thought, “This would make a good topic to write about in my next Susan’s Musings.”

In that moment, it dawned on me.

I had spent months writing Position Strong, and here I was, actually doing the work from the book!

I was reviewing my positioning.

Questioning whether my messaging still fit.

Looking at older brand materials.

Rethinking how my offers, speaking, website, and personal brand all connected.

I literally said out loud, “This is exactly what I write about in the book!”

Apparently, after spending all that time writing about this stuff, I needed to become my own case study.

And maybe that is simply part of running a business for a long time.

What fit five years ago, or even two years ago, doesn’t automatically fit forever.

The business grows. You grow. You get more specific about what you want to do, whom you want to work with, and what you want to be known for.

At some point, the way you position the business needs to catch up.

For me, that realization happened because I wanted to change a few words under my name.

Looking back, I may think twice the next time I assume something will be a “quick update”.

Until next time, I’m Susan Friesen, your Small Business Brand Positioning Strategist, inviting you to stay clear, stay focused, and stand out.

P.S. Have you ever started what you thought would be a quick business update and discovered it was connected to much more than you expected?

About the Author, Susan Friesen

Located in the lower mainland of B.C., Susan Friesen is a visionary brand strategist, entrepreneur, and founder of British Columbia’s premiere boutique web development and digital marketing agency, eVision Media.

With over 20 years of experience in the industry, she is an expert in helping businesses establish their online presence and create a strong brand identity.

Her passion for empowering entrepreneurs and small business owners to succeed in the digital world has earned her a reputation as a leading authority in the branding and marketing industry.

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