fandomhigh | Business Sense [Friday]

"Hello, darlings." Yes, their teacher today was a bit different from their usual -- for starters, she was not wearing any kind of a hat. For another, Hatter would absolutely not be able to pull off her shade of lipstick. (Though Irene would pay good money to see him try.) And for a third, this teacher was still a little wary of the Danger Shop after some things she had been told last week (be as reassuring as you want, Kitty, she was still scared) and thus class was meeting in a regular classroom today, replete with a whiteboard and just oodles and oodles of art supplies on a table at the front. "Don't worry, you're still in the right place -- Hatter was kind enough to lend me his class today."

Or they had swapped and she'd spent Tuesday lying on her couch and thinking about how much she wanted to buy her old cellie back from Mr. Gaunt. Either way.

"For those of you who I don't know already -- and hi, Ezra, he didn't say I'd get to keep you this week -- " if he was here omg not modding " -- my name's Irene Adler, and ordinarily, I teach the personal style class on Tuesdays. But I also own and manage Dite's Decadent Delights in town, and prior to that, I ran my own private business out of my home. And while Dite's is rather -- self-explanatory, and perhaps doesn't need any advertising, my former business did. And so I'm here to talk to you all about branding today."

"So, branding," Irene explained, taking a seat on an empty desk and demurely crossing her legs, "simply means to create a brand -- something recognizable that people will associate with your business. Many businesses have trademark colors, or wording, and often logos," she gestured to a handout she was circulating, "that people will naturally associate with the business without a word ever need be scrawled upon it or uttered. In my case, I had a website, an app, and a name I worked under that were all fairly synonymous -- my clients knew what they were getting when they stumbled across any of my products."

"So today, darling friends, your assignment is to create your brand. I understand that you've named your businesses, and delineated what sort of product you're selling -- create yourself a logo with what I've got here," she gestured grandly to the ~~highly moddable~~ art supplies, "and think about how people will recognize your brand. Will you create a website? An app? A call-in number? Or will you stick with print media -- flyers, adverts, the like? How will you make your presence known?"