Strap in for today's email Reader, it's a chonky one 🗣
I recently wrapped up one of my favourite projects to date - brand strategy & identity for an annual digital conference for Christian trans people. 🤸♀️
I’m not a religious person, but I am both part of and advocating for the trans community to have their place among those that are different from us. Faith is a huge part of many peoples lives, and exclusion from church due to ones identity is one of the most difficult challenges anyone under the 2SLGBTQIA+ umbrella faces.
Working with something so important, Transblessing approached me about helping them refresh their current logo, but also clinically define what they do, who they are for, and what the future looks like.
THE PROBLEM
Despite being around for 3 years and hosting some of the most influential speakers within their niche, they saw very low numbers in attendees. It was of importance to both streamline their promotion cycle, and semi-automate attendee onboarding, since everything was being done manually. They didn’t have an understanding of who their target audience was, beyond being trans, Christian and under 30.
Transblessing clearly had a mission that centered around community. Having the conference hosted on Discord provided a perfect platform to nurture a community, however it wasn’t being utilised to it’s full degree.
THE SOLUTION
Deep research on the target audience was key. After making my way into other active Discord communities for Christian trans people, I conducted some interviews to paint a fuller picture of who the people Transblessing tried to reach were.
Positioning Transblessing as an authority, being the only international digital conference for transgender & non-conforming Christians under 30, we aligned their values & visuals to reflect the same going-your-own-way quality that Gen Z inhabits.
We discovered that a large chunk of their target audience are activists, openly going against the grain, which aligned with the way Transblessing themselves told me they wanted to be perceived as.
BEFORE
The logo and the flyer design was the extent of their brand before we worked together. Their IG feed wasn't engaging or starting conversations. Each post had a QR-code attached to it (IYKYK).
The only thing they wanted to keep was the crucifix with the trans symbol + the colours, but include more from the non-binary flag. Here's the result:
AFTER
This is yet another example of the importance of understanding who you serve, beyond demographics, and having it represented throughout your communication.
Here's what Transblessing had to say after working with me:
“
I am ashamed to think about the standard of our social media before working with Kim. They have been so professional and have really taken time to dive into our very niche audience and shown an impressive understanding of it. I've felt very safe, knowing that they have a plan and I can just ride along. We are amazed by the result and are so excited to start using our new brand identity!"
— Oliver Jähnke, Project Manager at Transblessing & creator of Queers of the World
Quick plug moment, Oliver is also the creator of Queers of the World - a YouTube channel that focuses on telling stories from LGBTQIA+ people from all over the world.
I've been featured there a few years ago, as well as my partner, but there are plenty of stories of queers from all walks of life, I really recommend checking it out!
I've still got 4 1:1 slots open for my new service Microbrandism, starting next week, if you're longing for a transformation much like the one Transblessing went through.
Just tap the image to get taken to all the juicy deets!
You can respond to this email with whatever slot you want to yoink 🧬
2 x $499, longer payment plans are available if you need it!
THIS WEEK'S EXPERIMENT
This week I'm challenging you to join a mirrored community.
Recently, our Queer Entrepreneur Collective on Discord has been growing. It's a work & accountability space created with genderqueer entrepreneurs in mind, often finding themselves in female dominated spaces & never feeling like you fit in.
A mirrored community is one with people that are like you. Who understand the friction of not fitting in, despite being fully welcomed and embraced into spaces dominated by those different from you. We support each other, vent, brag, bounce ideas and post pics of our pets. There's places to promote your services & even request engagement on content. The point is, those in there understand your point of view in business, as queer, neurodivergent, or both.
Anyone under the 2SLGBTQIA+ umbrella is welcome + it's completely free!
We are currently at 26 members - as soon as we hit 30 I'll start applying pre-prepped monthly themes with weekly topics of discussion to keep the convos going.
Before the year is over, I'd like to host a couple of co-working sessions as well to help with accountability!
I hope to see ya in there ❣
