Spring Cleaning: Refresh Your Brand in 6 Steps
Every now and then, you brand will need a bit of love. Images get stale, colors don’t resonate with you as much anymore, or graphics you’ve used don’t really apply. As you prepare for spring, it’s the perfect time to revisit the visual ways you interact with the world! Here’s how to brighten up your look and refresh your brand in 6 steps!
Review your current strategy
What is or isn't working about your brand? The best place to start is by reflecting on your current marketing strategy. Are you maximizing your presence online and/or in your local community?
If you discover that you're lacking in a specific area (we all are!), try zoning in on that particular area this spring and have fun experimenting with new marketing outlets. I always suggest picking just one or two areas at first—such as photography or web copy—don't try to do everything all at once!
Update your social media pages
Change up the profile imagery on your social media pages for a fresh new look. Hint: if you’re tired of looking at your current head shot or header image, your audience may be, too. While you’re at it, update your bio. I try to do this at least once a season so things don't get stale.
Revise your visual branding
Perhaps you DIYed your initial brand identity and are looking to take your visuals to the next level by investing in a professional photographer to ensure that you’re reaching the right kinds of customers and clients. Or maybe you already hired a brand designer and just need to tweak your color palette or logo a bit. Return to them for a little branding facelift!
Last year, I slightly expanded my color palette and hired a good friend and collaborator for a brand overhaul that allowed me to freshen it up while still staying true to the original palette and vibes.
Clean up your systems and documents
Onboarding is a pain if you're a service-based business. Tracking orders as a product-based business is exhausting. Guess what? These systems are tiring for your clients and customers, too... if you don’t have good systems in place. So behind-the-scenes operational stuff is a big part of your brand.
To make sure it’s seamless, you’ve got to have the proper tools at your disposal. If you’re struggling to stay organized and keep your business on track, it might be time to find a fresh resource and begin implementing it this spring. I'm a sucker for Asana, Trello and Dropbox to keep me organized.
I design onboarding documents such as contracts, welcome packets and the like to ensure that my process is streamlined for my clients and that those documents reflect my business and who I am (ahem: my brand).
Refresh your image archive
If it's been a little while since you scheduled your last branding photoshoot, this spring would be the perfect time for some fresh images! Ideally, it’s helpful to shoot every quarter or every 6 months so you have lots of images to choose from. But if you’re just taking your first step with brand photography, that’s great too! Bonus: Not only is brand photography a marketing necessity, it’s also a beautiful gift you give your business!
Outsource to reduce stress
Too much to do? If you’ve been doing everything, your brand is probably suffering. Right now is the perfect time to scope out the folks you're interested in hiring and gauge their availability for the spring. You could hire an assistant (or virtual assistant) to take things off your plate, a marketing specialist to handle the daily online communication tasks, or a copywriter to ensure you’re sending the right message to your audience and staying relevant.
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Ready to check these things off? Download my Brand Spring Cleaning Checklist and get started on refreshing your brand right now!
