Mermaid Business Branding: Mersona or Local?

[HamptonsMermaid]

Hi Mermaids! Do you use your mersona as your main business brand? Do you prefer to use branding specific to your local area? Do you have some other branding strategy? What influenced your branding direction?

I'm debating wether to continue using "Hamptons Mermaid" as my brand or to switch to my new Mersona name "Mermaid Soluna" for my business. I didn't have my mersona name "Soluna" until this fall (it was my "playa name" gifted to me by my boyfriend at this year's Burning Man!).

About the Business
-So far my business has been based around selling my handmade accessories through Etsy (if you were at Mermania you probably saw my vendor's booth!)
-I just became an importer for Magictails.
-This summer I will start offering mermaid performances at events and parties for children.
-I'm currently titled Miss Mermaid USA / Miss Mermaid International 2nd Runner Up

About the Hamptons...
When I found that Hamptons Mermaid was available I jumped on the name because there are obvious benefits to being THE local mermaid. There are no established pro local mermaids here. "The Hamptons" is known as a rich resort town for NYC's upper class from Memorial Day to Labor Day. People throw ELABORATE parties here, especially for children (a 2 year old's party will have caterers, bouncy castles, pony rides, petting zoo, clowns, facepainting...everything and anything to outdo the other parents haha), so there's a ton of potential to make money as a mermaid here and I'm starting to train a pro pod so the business can always accept bookings (I perform in a band in the summers so I'll likely have shows when people want mermaids too).

However there are some disadvantages to using local branding... Not everyone knows what/where "the Hamptons" are. Some people who do know of the Hamptons (from TV shows), assume you're all hoity toity and live in a mansion. And I spend a lot of my winters traveling abroad or in Hawaii with the band, where Hamptons branding wouldn't make as much sense (Master plan is to move to Hawaii during the winters and live bi-coastal). My work with Miss Mermaid also brings a more national and international aspect to what I do.

It seems the general trend in the pro Mermaid World is to use your mersona name as your brand, which tempts me to change the brand to Mermaid Soluna. But I do want my brand to be something other mermaids feel like they can be a part of. To me, naming it after myself is not as inspiring for a team...though Kariel's pod performs under "Team Kariel" so it can be done. Or should I just keep my mersona more like stage name?

If anyone has thoughts on pros/cons of the different branding strategies I'd love some insight/advice!

*I own hamptonsmermaid.com, @hamptonsmermaid on Insta & Twitter and mermaidsoluna.com (@mermaidsoluna Insta & twitter are also available). I still need to set up a facebook page (other than the Miss Mermaid USA page I run).

Attached is my current logo ;) I do logo design and web design if anyone needs help!

[Slim]

I personally like Mermaid Soluna because it gives you a personal identity. Keep in mind I don't have no business degrees or anything like that beyond taking Marketing 2 in high school. That said, I'm looking at this for the average population point of view. Soluna does raise a bit of curiosity and I personally want to learn more of that mermaid name. While I understand the reason for Hamptons Mermaid as it did served you well, I feel you reached the furthest you can go as that area is already aware of you. To get your mersona to a greater reach would probably benefit from slowly losing the hampton name but fully. Like on websites being Mermaid Soluna of Hamptons Mermaids. You are still keeping the local flare but shows you are branding your mersona. It also gives you the benifit you can eventually sell the Hamptons Mermaid name to an upcoming mermaid using your name recognition. I also want to point out that I never realize that part of long island was known as the Hamptons. The Hamptons I remember going up is Hampton Beach in NH. I was one of the few confused by the Hampton name. Hopefully more people reply as more input would be helpful for you.

[HamptonsMermaid]

Thanks for your reply. You make some good points.

The thing is I haven't fully established my Hamptons Mermaid brand locally. I only started the business about 12 months ago, and like I said it was mainly been for selling online through Etsy and through my @HamptonsMermaid Instagram account...so mostly in the digital sphere. I haven't sold my items through any local Hamptons shops yet. And I haven't don't any local performances using Hamptons Mermaid (still working on making my silicone tail, hope to finish in time to debut "Soluna" this summer). I feel like I need to really make a name in the community since this is where the majority of my summer work will be located. I need to be THE mermaid people here think of when they want to have a mermaid for hire.

The local people I've tested the name with do find it easy to remember, but non-local people can get confused with other Hampton locations.

As far as business planning goes, I do want to design my business to be sellable, even if I plan on keeping it. This tips the scales in favor of Hamptons Mermaid vs my personal brand.

I don't have a business degree either but I really enjoy brand building and identity! It's easier to help other people than to commit to decisions for my own brands haha.

At the moment it seems I may work out something similar to Raina and Halifax Mermaids... her mermaid name is probably more known in the internet/publishing world while her local business name is more of her physical presence.

[MermaidCelesteFL]

Hey there! Mermaid with a marketing degree here!! Here are some of my thoughts on segmenting your market by geographical location:

If you do go by your location, how big is your segmented area? Is it a section of a city, or a specific city, or an entire state? The bigger the area, the more diverse your gigs might be, and the further you might have to travel. Are there other mers in your location? What type of gigs are you looking to do?

If you do decide to go with just your name, make sure that your customers can easily find you. It wouldn't hurt to use both your name and your location, that way it's easier for kids to connect a face to a name, and easier for parents to connect a name with a location. Keep in mind, kids have A LOT of buying power. There is a good chance that they will find you before their parents do. Make sure that you make a point of where you are and how far you are willing to travel.

For example, I started my business as "The Orlando Mermaid", but I never really bothered to connect my mermaid name to it. Not to mention, there are a handful of other mers (both professional and recreational) that live in my area that might resent me for labeling myself as "THE Orlando Mermaid". What I did instead was add my mermaid name and my location- "Mermaid Celeste, the Orlando Mermaid"

[HamptonsMermaid]

Hi Celeste, thanks for your input!

"The Hamptons" is a unique place. Not that big geographically, just a collection of "hamlets" and farms on the easternmost tip of Long Island. But the area's buying power is huge. For 3 months of the year it is the most in demand beach town, fashion scene, party place and family destination for the wealthy of NYC. "Local" gigs would be an hours drive and it's only 2-3 hours to NYC, where the Hamptons name still has cred. But in the summer pretty much all the $ is made in the Hamptons it would be similar to gigs with my band...yes we can travel out of town but for weekends in the summer we can charge much more locally. (The issue is what to do and how to brand myself in the off season...when I usually travel since all the local work dries up)

I do want to establish myself as the main local mermaid company, and I think my Miss Mermaid title will help with that. So far there is no competition. My friend Mermaid Estelle was doing a few mermaid kids parties a few years ago but she lives and works in Anguila and only visits here occasionally. My girlfriend Samantha has a couple fabric tails and has done a gig here and there, but she's mainly a fire dancer, hula hooper and snake charmer. I've already talked to her about hiring her for mermaid gigs under my company.

Part of what I want with Hamptons Mermaid is to create a company where I can hire other girls (mostly my surfer friends) as mermaids, and I would provide booking, training and costumes. My gigs with the band could potentially conflict with mermaid gigs so I need to have backup ready. We can all be a Hamptons Mermaid (is that weird grammatically? I prefer singular because "Hamptons Mermaids" has too many "s"s, but I have both hamptonsmermaid.com and hamptonsmermaids.com)

I'm still learning about the whole process. My next event is Envision Festival in Costa Rica, where I'll probably use my Soluna name more (esp since it has Spanish roots). But after that I'm doing a Mermaiding Panel at a big Long Island Sci-Fi/Fantasty Convention, and there I'll probably push the Hamptons name. So just taking things one step at a time but trying to foresee the best business strategies! Mer-boss hat on!

[Sonnet]

What is your main platform for marketing? Instagram? Facebook?

[HamptonsMermaid]

My shop is on Etsy. Currently using Instagram which forwards to twitter and my personal Facebook page (haven't made a mermaid Facebook page yet, but I manage content for the Miss Mermaid USA Facebook page). I guess I'm on the fence on whether to make it a Soluna page or a Hamptons Mermaid page.

For local events this summer I plan on using a lot of the network I've established through the band I sing in. We mostly play waterfront venues or places with pools which would be good potentials for mermaiding so that people can start seeing what I do and booking me for private parties.