Finally, after the world's longest winter (in more ways than one), spring seems to have peeped out into the world. I don't know about you, but it's definitely given me a bounce in my step and put a smile on my face. Heck, it's even got me blogging again, after a bit of a hiatus during the chaos of all things Covid.
I almost feel like spring cleaning
With a renewed energy thanks to longer, brighter days, now is the perfect time to review your branding and consider whether there's some spring cleaning you could be doing. This week I've been having interesting discovery calls with some great businesses and everyone I've spoken to has had the essentially same feedback. "Well, I created that a while ago," or "I'm not quite sure how to get across what I want to say," or "I've put down everything that's relevant about my business but I feel like I've run out of things to say."
Things change
When we start out in business, we pull together the best information/logo/website we can at the time. Sometimes it's a great representation of who we were five years ago (sometime's it's the best a start-up budget could manage and that's OK), but things change. Our businesses can, and usually do evolve over time. Perhaps today your business offers a different service to the one it did when you started out, thanks to changing market trends or conditions? Perhaps your story has evolved thanks to the experience you now have and you want to tell a renewed and more confident tale? And design fashions change too. Maybe that vintage theme your business used back in the day is now no longer truly in step with the products you sell or the audience you want to reach?
Moving with the times is something we all do in many different aspects of our lives, and when it comes to the branding of your business, it's no exception. The great news is that refreshing your brand is completely do-able and is not a project you should be frightened of.
Be authentic
When I take on brand refresh projects, the first thing I do is spend time listening to you about your journey.
After building a picture of you and your business, I take the best headlines of your experiences and craft them into a new brand story that is truly representative of what your business stands for today. Whenever I am looking for the USPs that drive a great and authentic brand story, I always think of that Dr Seuss quote "There is no-one alive who is youer than you". You may not be the only person who sells or does what you do, but it's almost impossible for one of your competitors to have had an identical journey to this point, based on identical inspirations. It's tapping into your 'youness' that makes the magic happen from a brand perspective.
My job is to help you to embrace everything about your business that is unique. This is what will set you apart from competitors and drive that all-important emotional connection with your clients or customers by creating an interesting conversation that feels relevant to them and that they can be part of when they interact with your business.
If you think it's time your brand story had a refresh, get in touch for a chat and let's create something together that will re-invigorate your business and prepare you for the next phase of growth and success. If, after getting your story straight, you also need to give your visual brand a shake-up, let me introduce you to one of the talented and highly trusted brand designers I work in close collaboration with. The right brand designer will know exactly how to take the story we have created and bring it to life through your visual identity.
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