Creating a persona for cross niche marketing

Question

Not strictly a writing question but this touches on some issues that some writers may face, and I thought maybe someone here may be able to help.

I used to be a freelance web designer, moved away from it for a while and I'm wanting to get back into it again, with the addition of writing ( freelance and creative ), graphic design and photography.

The issue I'm facing is how to brand myself ( in a social networking / portfolio sense ) when I do work for both commercial and adult related industries.

After doing a bit of research I found that there are a few different ways to go about it:

NameSynonym / NameSynonymNSFW

SynonymOne / SynonymTwo

RealName / RealNameNSFW

NameSynonym or RealName / UniqueSynonym

A quick example for an alternative photographer would be:

Lynne ( Alternative ) Mathews = LynneAlternative / AlternativeKink

I'd prefer not to use my RealName at all, but of course the spanner in the works really comes when using something like Facebook, or your emails, where you have to really introduce yourself in more of a professional manner.

Any ideas on a good way to go about giving yourself an identity that you can use for branding and communication purposes.

Answer 1

Why not just give yourself an alternate identity altogether? You can go register a DBA (Doing Business As, also called an "Assumed Name"), it becomes a legal name you can use, you can have separate email, web page, FB page, whatever. Google "filing a DBA in [state]".

It would probably cost you less than $50, if you go directly to your Secretary of State office.

You can open a bank account in that name, cash checks in that name, etc.

If any clients need BOTH services, just tell them the truth, some clients search for your real name and might be put off by your adults-only gigs.

If you want liability protection, instead of a DBA make it an LLC (Limited Liability Company).