On Monday evening, Rosemary Senjem performed her Joy in the Jungle program for my Entrepreneur Meetup Group and led the group through a fascinating journey of creative thinking and entrepreneurial energy channeling.  As someone who normally focuses on specific tactics and implementation strategies, her program was not only new to me but was also insightful and even challenging.

Today, we met for coffee before she had to catch a flight back to Minneapolis.  We spent about two hours together and she offered a variety of suggestions on how I might improve my business.  Central to her evaluation was a perceived lack of consistency between the name of my company and my approach in person.  She explained that the name Tactical Execution conjured up thoughts of military and murder for her, while my demeanor was much more friendly and helpful.

These issues with my company name are not new.  When I first launched my website, Google Adsense was populating my website with ads about army ringtones and Navy Seal training programs.  The problem stems from the double meanings of both words.  In my defence, the name was intended to describe my focus on getting things done, breaking strategies into a series of identifiable steps and delivering measurable results.  Unfortunately, the same words can be used to describe far less desirable ends.

Rosemary made a good point.  The most important ingredient in successful marketing is consistency in message.  If consistency is lost, people get confused – and confused people don’t buy.  In order for people to reach for their wallets, everything has to line up neatly in a clear and understandable format.  Although Tactical Execution does indeed represent my approach, the majority of people would attribute a different meaning to the words.

Of course, the problem is that everything has already been branded for Tactical Execution.  My CDs carry that name, as does my book and promotional material.  Countless people have already found my website and/or used my services and they would all have to be updated with a new name.  Even though I agree with Rosemary’s assessment, I’m reluctant to throw away the name entirely and start from scratch.

The decision remains before me and I have committed some time this weekend to think it through in more detail.  I also plan to search domains to see what else I can find.  You never know.  I might find something brilliant and glean enthusiasm as a result.  Time will tell.  But the message remains clear.  Congruence in business marketing is essential and inconsistencies only serve to confuse customers and reduce sales.

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