Creativity Consultant - Reflection Blog #3 (COM 610)

In today’s culture, a dependency on continuous innovation and brand identity has made the precedent of consultants with their eye on those focuses a requirement for companies succeed. Although I work a normal 9 am to 5 pm position, I also own my own creative business that serves as a consulting firm for business and brands developing their own online presence. This involves meeting with the brands and businesses to understand their vision and advocate for that vision online.

To use one client specifically (we’ll call her Ashley), we are currently focused on building her brand from her speaking programs to college students around the country and focusing on her desire to open a wider conversation about mental health on college campuses. Her previous brand identity was focusing on her femininity and her experience as a collegiate woman. However, as her programs and experiences have grown, so has that brand and vision.

In the process of rebranding, I walk through my basic system processes with my clients. Through building my own business, I work as both a boundary spanner and an owner, interacting with other creative professionals and even referring out my own clients. In working with Ashley, I was able to connect with another client of mine to build her logo through watercolor to reflect her heart and passion for her work. Then, I built multiple proofs and a design game-plan with specifics that she has to have for her website. This concept of feedback as our text suggest is the best way to ensure the business thrives through continual improvement of the work and focus on our goal.

Outside of the technical game-plan, we also come up with short and long-term goals for her business. Our text references that goals are the most essential in that they motivate businesses and individuals towards their respective goals (Eisenberg et al. p. 105). One of her major goals is to create an online space and eventually a community of support. This has been a primary focus of ours in building her communications plan. Her openness and transparency has been a part of her brand since the beginning.

References

Eisenberg, E. M., Trethewey, A., LeGreco, M., & Goodall, H. L. (2014). Organizational communication: balancing creativity and constraint (8th ed.). Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martins.