About two months ago, when I picked up my daughter from school, she hopped in the car and started singing Bob Dylan’s “The Times They Are a Changin….”
She’s in 3rd grade, so it struck me as a bit odd that she knew that song. I love that song, especially the Tracy Chapman version, but I’d never played it for her. I sat there listening to her singing and humming, I thought…well, isn’t this ironic.
You see, because that very same day, my daughter didn’t know it was going to happen, and my husband and I didn’t know it was going to happen, but just an hour earlier before I picked her up, and she starting humming that famous Bob Dylan song, Brandon and I had to make a decision that would change our life.
Over the last two months, Brandon and I have launched our new cattle operation: B.R. Cutrer, Inc., which was created out of generational ranching change. For my whole life, my grandparents so graciously allowed me, and then eventually my husband and then eventually my two daughters to operate under the umbrella of their ranch name. There are no amount of words, or enough “thank you’s” that I could ever say to thank my grandparents for the kindness, generosity, and love they have shown me. My grandparents are my role models, my heroes, and two of the greatest people in the world in my book.
These last 2 months have been busy, thus the reason I’ve been lagging behind on the typical weekly and monthly marketing emails I sent to our email subscribers. Because Brandon, me and our girls have been kicking it into overdrive and quite honestly busting it day in and day out. Here are just a few things we’ve done in the last few months:
- Coming up with a new name for our business
- Making a new logo
- Making a new website
- Starting from scratch on social media with 0 Facebook and 0 Instagram followers and growing our Facebook page from 0 to nearly 30,000 in just 2 months.
- Holding our first online sale under our new brand
- Starting from scratch with all our equipment
- Building a new show barn (under construction)
- Showing at our first open Brahman show under our new brand.
- And much more – those are mostly just the marketing related things we’ve done, it doesn’t even mention the cattle management things lol. (That’s Brandon’s forte.)
I jokingly said that at our next workshop I will host a session on “how to start a brand from scratch and hold your first online sale in 30 days or less.” If anyone needs a speaker for that topic, I’m your girl. š
But, truthfully, I think a lot of people would have been overwhelmed with everything we’ve done in the last few months, but for me, it only reinforced my belief and sentiment that I share in most of these emails:
“A GREAT TEAM, GREAT CATTLE, AND GREAT MARKETING ARE THE FOUNDATION FOR ANY RANCHING OPERATION’S SUCCESS.”
Brandon and I had the great cattle. We personally owned about 350 head, cattle we had been buying and assembling over the last 10 years of our marriage. If you know Brahmans, these are the ones with the “R” brand on their shoulder. Our personal herd included one of the most popular Brahman bulls in the world (Noble), and theĀ 2019 Houston Grand Champion Brahman Female. So that part was done.
And we had a great team. A team of friends, community members, andĀ co-workers at RHDĀ who helped us make things happen. In less than 12 hours, we had a new business name. I went to sleep, and woke up the next morning to find Brandon had hand-drawn out our new brand. I gave that sketch to Kristen and Sarah, our two amazing designers here at RHD, and within a day, we had our new logo.
Next, we needed aĀ websiteĀ and Facebook. Once again, the RHD team sprung into action. Multiple people were working on content, photos, proofreading, and strategy. Within a day, we had a new Facebook page up and running. (Which I will totally ask for a shameless plug to go like ourĀ BRC Facebook PageĀ and to follow us on InstagramĀ @brcutrerĀ . By the end of the week, our new website up, and in less than a month we held our first online sale.
This exercise, just showed me how amazing our RHD team is. I’ve given the talk 50 times of “The Marketing Foundation for Your Brand…”. I’ve written 3 books on cattle marketing. I KNEW what we needed to do.
We’ve worked with hundreds of clients before on brand launches, and new business branding and logo design – but never before had we done it where I PERSONALLY was the client. The team was amazing. They understood the need for urgency, professionalism, and they exceeded my every dream. They proved to me once again why RHD is known as the best in the business.
As a result, it actually prompted us to create our “Brand Marketing Pack” because basically this package includes everything I needed to build my new brand, and do it with a very high level of expectations. Ha. Because I’m a pretty picky customer if you can’t guess.
During the holidays, it always seems that we see a spike in new projects being booked. I think it’s because families get together during these times and start making plans for the upcoming year. And, everyone wants to have a better year than the one before. A good place to start in boosting your image and sales is to elevate your marketing.
If you’ve been thinking of needing a “brand refresh,” or if you decide that 2020 is the year you really want to take things to the next level, my team and I would love to help be part of your marketing team. Trust me, RHD knows and understands how important each project is to that customers business model, profit, and their ability to make a living.
If we can help you with your marketing, a new logo, or a new website, just let me know. I’d be happy to send you pricing on any of our logo design services, web design services, or a package like what I did for my own new operation. We have some specials going from now through December 15th too if that might interest you.
I close this email by saying Happy Thanksgiving to everyone who reads this. We all have a lot to be thankful for, even when it seems the times may be a changin’. I send this with lots of love, and well wishes to you and your loved ones during the holidays and always!