CASE STUDY:
Brand strategy & visual identity for an independent merchandising consultant
Anna’s ideal clients NEEDED HER EXPERTISE. They just didn’t know WHAT TO CALL IT.
Anna (Majury) Youngson had built a brilliant corporate career in merchandising. If you’re not sure quite what that means you’re not alone… and that was exactly the problem.
(HINT: Think spreadsheets, not styling. It’s different from visual merchandising, which is designing how shop-window and in-store displays look.)
Anna’s speciality was figuring out how much of which products a particular store needed to have on offer, and exactly when. She was great at this, having worked for high street and luxury brands from TopShop to Harvey Nichols.
But as she’d moved into increasingly senior corporate roles, her working days had become increasingly full of meetings about meetings. She was doing less of the hands-on work she loved. And she wanted a more flexible schedule to better suit her young family.
Anna’s dream was to build
her own consultancy,
offering her expertise
to independent retailers.
To do the work she loved,
on her own terms.
The problem was, while those independent retailers definitely needed her help, they didn’t know what it was called.
The vocabulary (jargon!) that made sense to colleagues at national and international retailers didn’t mean much to Anna’s ideal clients who were building their businesses from scratch.
Anna’s skillset still very much applied, but she needed to learn to talk about her work in a new way.
It’s frustrating when you meet someone you know you can help and would love to work with, and they’re just not getting what you’re saying about what you do.
But it’s not easy to figure this out when you’re so close to your work that you’ve forgotten what it’s like not to know all that you know. It’s a great thing to get some help with.
So when we met at a networking event shortly after Anna started her business, something sparked. My approach to finding the right words to attract the right clients was exactly what she needed.
We started with Anna’s Brand SourceBook.
I interviewed some of the clients that Anna had worked with already, as well as others that fit her ideal client profile but had solved their issues in other ways. The focus of these conversations was to uncover how they talked about their problems — their words and their perspective.
Of course, I also interviewed Anna to find out more about how she, in particular, approached her work.
It became very clear that whilst Anna has a sharp eye for numbers and keen business sense, she is also incredibly warm, friendly and caring.
It’s this duality that we leaned into to shape her brand personality, emphasising the way she empathises with a business owner who might find it difficult to share parts of their business that until then only they had known quite intimately.
Laurie gave me the confidence to start talking
about my 20 years experience in corporate in a new way as a solo founder.
How I talk about my business (2 years later)
still stems from the work we did together.
I'm particularly pleased with the branding Laurie did for me.
Laurie really understood me
as a person as well as a professional
which is why I got so much out of it. Highly recommend!
— ANNA YOUNGSON, MAJURY MERCHANDISING —
Highlights of Anna’s Brand SourceBook:
Insights on how Anna’s ideal clients talk about the problems that she can help with
Mini-moments and micro-stories that show where Anna’s support can make an impact
How Anna compares to other consultants and experts in merchandising
The specifics of how Anna should differentiate herself, including positioning, tone of voice and a custom hybrid archetype describing her brand personality
This powerful resource
gave Anna clear direction and guidance
on how she could show up more effectively
not only on social media,
but also at in-person networking events,
where she was connecting
with the majority of her potential clients.
“The SourceBook is definitely helping. I can’t tell you how useful it continues to be...
It’s been so lovely working with you, can’t thank you enough.”
— ANNA YOUNGSON, MAJURY MERCHANDISING —
After developing Anna’s Brand SourceBook, we moved on to developing her visual brand identity — an aligned logo suite, colour palette, typography palette, and visual mood board to shape the direction of her brand photo shoot.
We also created a proposal template, LinkedIn banner, social media templates and other assets to support Anna’s marketing and sales processes. With all of these tools in hand, Anna even had the confidence to build a website for her business.
