Creative branding expert, Sue Ella McDowall

After more than two decades in business, creative branding expert Sue Ella McDowall (pictured), is re-branding the company she founded in 1986.  Click through to the newly launched website McDowall.net and you are presented with a quick four step ink blot test designed not only to inform potential clients about the company, but to demonstrate the depth of creativity on offer at this well established Sydney firm.

Since starting McDowall in 1986, Sue Ella has established herself as an industry expert in communications for the professional services sector, and a highly respected figure in the design industry.

After two decades of being in business, Sue Ella McDowall decided it was time to re-brand the firm she established in 1986. Sue Ella told Australian Women Online, “Basically we had to do for ourselves what we do for our clients. This is our twenty-second year of business and we had to change with the market to avoid stagnation.”

“Twenty years ago when I was starting my own business, I really was hungry for work and the competition wasn’t as tough as it is today. When I first started I could pick up the phone and have no hesitation in trying to speak to the CEO of Colgate-Palmolive. But it’s a tougher market out there and you have to keep refining and honing, and trimming all the stuff which no longer has any value to the business.”

Sue Ella says re-branding a company involves scruitinising the brand, the company’s values and core business offerings, and the way the company communicates to the market.

“When you brand or re-brand your business, potential clients view you in a totally different light. Branding is how you communicate to your target audience. The way you brand your business creates a perception of what your business stands for in the market and this has the potential to attract more business,” Sue Ella said.

Sue Ella says branding or re-branding your business isn’t just about advertising for new business. You have to develop a branding strategy targeted to your existing clients and then target those people you have identified as potential clients.

“First of all we are doing a loyalty campaign which will communicate the launch of our re-branding back to our existing clients and our existing suppliers. We then follow that up with a direct mail activity which is what we call a recruitment campaign – so we go after new clients in the different markets which we have identified. We don’t use a scatter-gun approach, these are people we really want to work with. It’s not necessarily the top brands, but those people who we believe would work well with us and we would enjoy working with them.”

“After direct mail we would then do a PR campaign and then follow that up with more loyalty campaigns throughout the year. We also have to filter down our brand values to all our staff as well.”

After more than twenty years in business, Sue-Ella McDowall has no plans to slow down.  It is this energy that has allowed Sue-Ella to constantly learn and develop her approaches in what is a fast-paced and competitive industry. Sue-Ella’s energy and drive shows through her competitive rowing on Sydney Harbour on early mornings and weekends, in preparation for competing in the World Masters Games which will becoming to Sydney in 2009.

For more information about the services offered by McDowall visit the website www.mcdowall.net