Creating The Lip-Sticking Society: How and why we did it

A few months ago - really, many months ago - Donna DeClemente (a guest blogger on this blog and  Marketing Director of the new site) and I were talking about Lip-sticking and the power of having a presence online that served women business owners.

I say 'power' in the sense that so many women ( and some men, also) have been regular readers for such a long time, and some have kindly emailed me compliments or questions, and many of you have left comments. That's invigorating and powerful - to be in such fantastic company.

But, it didn't seem to be enough. It seemed that there was more we could do with Lip-sticking. Donna has been instrumental in working with me to create The Lip-sticking Society, with a lot of brand positioning, discussions on what to call ourselves, back and forth with ideas, and just all around great support- as a friend and as a colleague. A Smart Colleague. 

So, here's how it all happened. I hope our story helps you create the new, proactive business you've been dreaming of, starting right now.

First - we created the personality of what we were trying to create. I owe Donna a lot of thanks for this. Before writing down the 32 terms describing our beliefs and thoughts about Lip-sticking, as it used to be, I never really gave much thought to this. To me, Lip-sticking was the title of Chapter Two in my book, Dick*less Marketing...and it represented a way to help other small business owners use the web more effectively. Lip-sticking their message, so to speak.

Over the last five years, Lip-sticking has become much more. Here are some of the things we wrote down as we thought about the personality of the Lip-sticking blog: "single words, in the voice of the customer, to describe their experience..."

• Wisdom.
• Feminine.
• Respectful.
• Collaborative.
• Authentic.
• Inspirational.
• Educational.
• Discovery.
• Fun.
• Powerful.
• Confident.
• Resourceful.
• Extraordinary.
• Approachable.
• Determined.
• Community-focused.
• Smart.

From those terms (and these are not all of them, but I hope you see yourself in them - they're terms that Donna and I both were strongly attracted to when thinking about the bigger, better Lip-sticking), we began to create our tagline. The tagline went through many morphs... and I ended up having to give up the tagline I wanted. Why? Because I tapped into my guest bloggers and my BBFFs from the early days of my becoming a blogger, and even you, readers- and the tagline I wanted got voted down. <sigh>

All of our work to develop a tagline consisted of knowing we wanted to make everyone feel welcome and empowered. We wanted to support the Lip-sticking purpose of helping business women understand Web 2.0 and even Web 3.0. After much back and forth, our tagline "Smart Talk. Smart Learning. Smart Friends." was born.

Here's how we see that working: We offer Smart Talk here on the blog, but also on the inner pages of TLS (The Lip-sticking Society). We will be working with dozens of experts to fill our Learning Center with Smart Learning, all the better to help you to grow your business this year. And, we definitely want to continue making Smart Friends to add to our Smart Connections page. (there are many more logos to go on the Smart Connections page... that will be an on-going process). There will also be Smart Friends in the form of recommended orgs in the Smart Neighbors section. Watch that space! (suggest great orgs in your area - let's share good places with everyone!)

At this time, I am committed to keeping TLS as a free service, other than some of the expert content in the Learning Center where we will offer both free content and paid content. Truth is, I am a bit worn out from creating usernames and passwords! I do not want you to need one for TLS - and I don't need you to create a profile. Let's get to know each other the old-fashioned way - Smart Talk and sharing our Smart Learning. The goal has always been to serve you, the reader. So, I will be listening to your responses. I will be watching your comments.

This isn't MY site. It's YOUR site. Nothing works without your help. If you have time, visit the homepage and become a friend - so we can get to know you better. We promise to protect your privacy.

A society is a culture - The Lip-sticking Society is a culture of women and men offering business advice, personal and family advice, in a safe place online where we gather for conversation, camaraderie, and knowledge sharing. Bring your best ideas, your best questions, and your best friends.

Comments

[Coree Silvera]

With all the power behind these great female brains I know you have a super success on your horizon!

Looking forward to getting involved and pitching in wherever possible to help other women entrepreneurs. Way to go ladies!

[Mary]

Very exciting things you ladies have going on, Yvonne! You certainly HAVE been busy, haven't you? :)I love the concept of TLS and can't wait to go check it out and get involved.