After years of being in business, you feel that you have outgrown your brand and website. Your content doesn’t reflect your present voice and ideas. Your online platform just no longer supports or translates your essence today.
You’re thinking about rebranding!
Yeah, I thought so! Well I must say, kudos to you for getting to this point. If you feel this way, then you must have grown so much as a business owner (and as a person) And might I even guess that you are now laser focused on making your business goals and mission happen!
I was on the exact same boat. Which is the reason I needed to rebrand. Because even branders need a brand too, right?
Rebranding is a very beneficial move to grow your business because in refining your message, offerings and business goals, you can streamline your process to run a more efficient business.
But remember that rebranding is an investment. Just as you’re willing to spend money on Facebook ads or spend time creating your content, rebranding requires tremendous effort, time, money, resources and energy. It’s also important to consider how much time will be taken away from catering to your clients.
That’s why it’s important to consider these key ideas when rebranding and relauncing your website so that you can optimize your platform the best you can to make your investment worth while.
So here are the 5 questions to ask yourself when rebranding and relaunching:
1. How can I take things to the next level?
There’s always room for improvement to be better, faster, more efficient and to give a one of a kind experience to your clients. Throughout your brand, offerings, personal brand and website, what areas can you improve to be the best service provider that you can be?
For my own brand, it took a whole year’s worth of experiences to help me realize what exactly I needed to improve. One of the most significant changes I made was adding my “Giving Back” section, which now gives me more motivation to grow my business because the more successful I become, the more I can give back.
2. How can I stand out?
In what ways can you stand out from your fellow competitors? This requires you to study your market and see who’s doing what, not for the purpose of comparing, but for the awareness so that you can see how you can leverage your strengths and special qualities to differentiate yourself even more.
When I launched my first website, it was the most exhilarating thing to just have a website up to showcase my work. I needed to get the business running, but with careful thought, I still wanted a one of a kind website, which I felt I’ve accomplished at that time. But as I grew, I also saw how I measured up to other branders. I started to see what was common. My brand audit made me see that I did not want to be the norm and so I relied on my gifts, strengths and unique attributes to leverage for my brand.
This is the reason why I designed my brand to be more fun, edgy, quirky and colorful! I also wanted to highlight the fact that I embrace all the feminine aspects of myself, from being a tom-boy to being chic.
3. How can I give more value to my audience?
How can you make your content more engaging? What other sub topics can you teach to educate your audience? There are many ways to add value using the marketing platforms we have today so it’s also easier for you to share content. But when creating, also consider how you can reach a bigger audience so that you can be of service to more people (while making it fun for yourself of course!)
I had to make a huge sacrifice of doing less Brand Essence TV episodes because it takes me up to 2 days to complete each one. As my business took off , I did less and less and thought to myself, “How can I keep giving value without losing so much time?” And so, I’ve created the Brand Essence Blog, which is now a home for my videos AND blog posts! This way, I can continue sharing my content on a consistent basis.
I also created a brand new page on my site called TOOLS, which is a list of my favorite brand empire building tools that’s helped me develop my brand and my clients’. This is now one of my favorite pages on my site!
4. How can I refine?
Sometimes adding more content or more offerings can hurt your business. And the idea of refining and simplifying can be a challenge. But trust me, it is worth your sanity! Refining your process, offerings and business goals will help you focus on what matters most.
A year ago, I had 6 packages that I was offering. It was so difficult to keep up with everything that I was spending more time preparing paper work for each service than performing the services itself. This is why I’ve simplified my offerings to 3 simple packages. I can now be more effective and can over-deliver comfortably to my clients.
5. How can I be more authentic?
Authenticity can be a very confusing thing and it’s hard to define you’re being authentic or not. I found that the simplest way to test yourself is to see if you feel comfortable telling your truth. If you’re telling your truth, but you feel uneasy about it, then maybe you are not being as authentic as you’d like to be. Or if you’re too afraid to be judged for who you truly are, then you might be afraid to fully express yourself.
Building a brand requires you to be more open to sharing about yourself that you are comfortable with. And this process is the reason why we grow, because we reach a level of resistance when sharing ourselves.
The good news is that there are different ways to show your authenticity. It can be in the way you write your copy, in the way you help your clients so passionately, or in the way you share your content.
For my relaunch, I was very mindful about how to apply more of my authentic self in my brand. I had to look within myself to have the courage to share what made me feel so vulnerable and raw. And so, I’ve decided to share my life’s story on my about page. I shared my most difficult moments in life that lead me to this point; why I started this business and why I’m so passionate about helping people launch their gifts to the world. By “putting my heart on the line”, I feel that I have nothing to lose. My truth is out there for all to see and it feels GOOD. I feel like I’m not faking the funk and that I have to prove my worth to anyone. And this is true FREEDOM!
Of course there are many other questions to ask, like what is your budget and what kind of promotion would you like to bring attention to during your launch? But these 5 questions cover the most heart tugging questions that will help you get up each morning and pour your heart and soul into your new brand and website!
Also keep in mind the WRONG reasons to rebrand:
– Having “Brand-Envy-Itis”
– Obsessing or nitpicking
– Chasing the new fads in technology or market trends
Rebranding requires some heavy consideration so create some space around the process so that you can have the best experience for your relaunch!
Now it’s your turn! Are you thinking about rebranding? What are your concerns? What ideas from this article did you like? Share your thoughts with me below!
To your captivating online presence,
Donna
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