One of the most challenging HoneyMAPs was of course my own. It is always easier to think objectively and creatively for someone else. A big challenge I ran into was that I had originally created HoneyMAP to be a marketing agency. As time as progressed, I realized I hated being an agency. I no longer had the vision to serve clients as a traditional agency, nor did I have the original vision of hiring employees.
The other piece of the puzzle, was that HoneyMAP had become a product. Time had taught me that clients were not understanding their brand well enough to simply talk about it and start implementing services. They needed an actual MAP that clearly articulated their brand and their strategy, so that they could reference it regularly. They also needed a clear roadmap to be able to work with their many brand partners (web developers, graphic designers, copywriters, brand photographers, digital marketers, etc).
I decided to officially transition HoneyMAP from a business name to a product. This led to another challenge. Because I was the one working directly with clients, there was confusion as to whether the value was in HoneyMAP, or Sarah Michelle. I was leading workshops, speaking, traveling, writing, podcasting, and I was growing beyond the HoneyMAP brand. There was also limitation, since I am only one human and can only work with so many clients at a time.
I positioned Sarah Michelle as the CEO/creator of HoneyMAP (a product), and created my own personal brand to be complementary to the company I created, but also unique to my personality and flexible to grow however big I decide to grow. I started with the business services that could no longer fit within the HoneyMAP framework, and then transferred my mission and vision to my personal brand. My mission had always been to sweeten the world by ending identity crisis, so I borrowed this from HoneyMAP, and adjusted HoneyMAP so that the product was the new star of the show.
When it came to choosing colors, I knew I didn’t want to be locked into yellow. Which thanks to successful HoneyMAP branding, I was very strongly associated with. I looked through my branding photos and looked for common themes and colors. I decided to base my brand around one particular image- a back alley brick wall. For whatever reason, I am constantly drawn to the grittier settings. And like my life, this brick wall was solid. Sturdy. It had been around, it had seen some shit, and it wasn’t going anywhere. But there were also splashes of color- oranges, teals, purples. The wall was continually evolving into an even more beautiful landscape. I resonated with this in my own life. I’ve been around a while. I’ve seen some shit. I’m not going anywhere. But I am also still finding pops of fun and new life and new adventure.
From here, I built my color palette, chose my fonts, and created a visual identity that represented who I was in a way that allows me to keep evolving. I thought about my core values and how I wanted to be positioned in the brand space. While HoneyMAP was created with small businesses in mind, small businesses often need more help than their current financial resources allow for. When I first started HoneyMAP, my income was taken care of by my ex-husband, so I was thrilled to offer help at low costs. As I became unexpectedly independent and began to understand the amount of work it actually takes to make a business profitable, I knew I would not be able to provide that level of help to the small business community in any way that was scalable, or truly beneficial to my clients. I decided to position myself more in the original space I came from- in the space of thought leadership and consultation- and to be diligent in putting funds into scholarships and back into HoneyMAP so that I could create templates and courses to serve business owners at every level.
I personally know what it looks like to grow a business, and a personal brand, with zero resources. That remains a core element of my story, and I am committed to serving heart-led business leaders in whatever capacity I am able to.
Once my brand had been established, it was time to think about my marketing strategy. Since I was working to create a business (HoneyMAP) a member platform (C-Sweet), and a podcast (Successful(ish)), I decided to limit my client facing hours and focus my marketing primarily in PR. I developed a personal brand strategy that is authentic to my story, my mission, and my skillset. I began to research the types of outlets that were serving similar clientele, and focused efforts on writing and speaking. I grabbed the tag ‘just Sarah Michelle’, which echoes my story of becoming quite literally ‘just Sarah Michelle.’
You can check out the condensed version of my HoneyMAP below and see how that translates across my website and social media channels. Website: justsarahmichelle.com Social (Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn): @justsarahmichelle
