The original revisited. When I made my first HoneyMAP before starting business five years ago, I had no idea that’s what I was doing. I was gifted a book called ‘Business Plans for Dummies’, and I literally just went through the book and filled out my own information into this business plan template.
I was kind of alarmed to learn how many business owners don’t do this. At least 90% of the business owners that I have met do not have any kind of written plan. Yet, they expect to be successful. More alarming, I ran a research survey a while back and again close to 90% of participants said they did not need or want a business plan. However, that same 90% expressed that their greatest problems in business were things like ‘not bringing in consistent revenue’, ‘not knowing who their target market is or how to reach them’, ‘not knowing their messaging’, ‘not knowing where to invest their marketing dollars’….
You know where you find the solutions to all of these problems? In a freaking business plan.
But beyond the tangibles of business planning, business leaders were also missing an understanding of what a brand even is, let alone how to use theirs. They were paying designers to create these beautiful logos and websites and colors, but they had no training or understanding of how to actually use these tools. They also didn’t have training to understand how their personal brand affected the business. ‘What does my Saturday night have to do with my website?’ A lot actually.
Every business is different, so every HoneyMAP is different. But the core principles remain the same. There are some key elements that every business owner needs, which is why we’ve been working so hard at creating a DIY template MAP that can make brand and business help available to business owners at any stage of business.
When I revisited my HoneyMAP, I needed to look back at where I started, and note the places that we had grown or changed. While the core mission and intention remained the same, the business and service model had changed substantially. Though I did have to revisit my MAP and put a lot of thought into the updated content, the core brand remained a solid compass. Because I created this company from a heart-brand, I was able to stick to that and simply shift the messaging and positioning.
Our visual identity remains the same colors, with slightly altered fonts. I worked with our designer, Kellie, to create some line illustrations to visually enforce the concept of a bee waggle- and that all pieces in business are connected like one big line. We played up the yellow and made the visuals more fun and small business friendly, since ‘Sarah Michelle’ now addressed the more corporate needs.
One of the biggest struggles for HoneyMAP remains the challenge of being a new way to think about branding. ‘Brand’ has many preconceived connotations, so we can’t just market ourselves as a branding tool. We also can’t market ourselves as a business plan, because per the research, this phrase falls flat with the audience who needs it. For this reason, the HoneyMAP website is very content heavy. Many brand lessons are spelled out explicitly, and we complement product with workshops, blogs, and trainings.
You can check out the latest sampling of our HoneyMAP, and then poke around the site and see for yourself how it’s come together. When you’re ready to create your own, schedule a complimentary call to get started.
