22 Waters Rebrand Story

When I started Thayer Marketing, I couldn’t come up with a name that meant anything or spoke to me. But I needed something to get started so I used the most generic name out there: My last name and my industry. Thayer Marketing. It worked. I got a logo off fiver and called it a day. It was “good enough” and with a name and logo, and a website I threw together in an afternoon, I was able to get started doing the work I wanted to do, managing Google Ads. 

From the onset, I never intended to build a team or grow past what I could manage on my own. I enjoyed the actual job of building out Google Ads campaigns for my clients and planned on continuing that for the long term. I didn’t care about branding and year over year growth, it just sort of “happened” through word of mouth.

Fast-forward a few years to the end of 2021. Business was booming and I still was enjoying the job itself but my plate was really full. Not only was my plate full but I was a little lonely. I realized that although I love having independence in my job, I wanted to do more and I wanted to do it with a team.

In the beginning of 2022, I started building that team. I realized a new passion in my business. Instead of just an income, I wanted a business that would provide a place for other people to work and grow. I wanted to build a team of people that would challenge each other and challenge me. I wanted a team of people smarter than me, a team of Google Ads experts!

As the vision started to grow through 2022, the name Thayer Marketing felt less and less true to who we were. We were making the shift from “Nicole Thayer’s Business” to “Our Business.” We were starting to define ourselves; our core values, our mission statement, and what makes us unique. We were developing a personality and characteristics that would define us moving forward and we needed to make our brand true to who we were becoming.

So we decided to “rebrand.” The first step was a new business name. But the thing is, I had no idea what that would be. I knew it needed to be something lasting. I had already “settled” for a name and I wouldn’t do that again. But nothing was coming. Our team came up with at least a hundred different names. I searched online. I asked friends and family for ideas. And nothing resonated with me. And (in case you didn’t know), you can’t really do a whole lot until you know what you’re going to call the business.

I was frustrated and I’m pretty sure my team was as well.

I wanted a name with meaning and depth and not just something catchy.

I was going through some personal struggles at that time as well. My dad had been in the hospital several times in the last month. He already had a complicated portfolio of rare conditions but these recent hospitalizations were a lot more scary. What started with weakness in his hands progressed to an ER trip for what they thought were strokes. And then it was breathing issues and more signs of systemic muscle weakness. It was scary and the possible diagnoses were hard to think about.

My dad has always been a deeply important person in my life. We’re very alike and a lot of who I am as a business owner comes from him. I decided to give the business a name that would honor both my dad and my faith. My dad had a ministry called Revelations 22 Ministries that was based on a verse talking about streams of living water. The name “22 Waters” resonated with me and has become the name to define our future.

We’re glad to say goodbye to what doesn’t fit anymore and embrace what’s new. To me, the name 22 Waters encompasses a lot of what I get from my dad. Leadership, curiosity, character, and a hunger for knowledge. Those are a few of the things that set us apart and will define where we go in the future.