We drill down into analytics, re-read service agreements, tailor and tweak our goals, but many companies and entrepreneurs only spend time on their branding once and then never think about it again. Are you guilty of this, too?
From personal to company branding, it’s important to evaluate your public image once a year to ensure you’re on track. Your branding can get just as off-track as anything else if you’re not checking up on it. If you let it slip, it could really impact your business. Having a strong brand is the heartbeat behind your marketing, sales, PR, and digital efforts. Let’s look at how you can keep that heart beating nice and healthy! Listen to your voice
Way back when you first thought up your branding, fonts, and colours, you likely also set the tone and voice of your brand. As you come out with new products and services, change focus through the year as you find new passions to discuss, or gain new partnerships, it’s not common for a natural change in voice. As your company or your personal brand grows, it’s natural for your voice to shift a bit. Maybe at the start of your journey, you were playful and funny but as you gained clients, you changed your voice to be an educator and expert. Brainstorm a new list of adjectives to describe your tone of voice, compare it to your old one, and write a new and improved one. Is your design dated?
When you were getting started, it’s probably fair to guess you dreamt up your logo, website, and colour palette pretty quickly or before you had truly gotten your feet wet. Now that you have established your business, even if it’s just a little bit, check back in and see if your design really speaks to what you do. Especially if you’re still a smaller scale company, it’s best to make these changes now before you become a more firmly established business. Now that you’ve got a bit of a rhythm with your company, have a discussion with your team, mentors, and even clients to see if what you’ve got going on is working and conveying the message you had hoped. TIP: Ask them to take a survey. Ask them what are the first things that come to mind when they see your logo, website, and online presence. Ask if they would buy from you. Ask who they think your audience is. Also make sure to ask your target audience what they think. Convey the right content
As you evolve and change, you’re likely talking about different things. Content strategies are a huge part of branding, and the content you push out reflects on who you are as a person or business. Look back on all the things you’ve been talking about over the year and see if it lines up with your current content strategy. It may be time to rewrite your strategy or go back to your roots if you’ve gotten off track. It’s important to have an alignment in your branding and content strategy as you want to ensure your image reflects what you’re really about. If you’ve strayed from your original path, it’s good to check-in and correct your tracks before you’ve lost your way all together. Branding is definitely not a “set it and forget it” aspect of your business, even if it may seem that way. It’s okay to make changes to who you or your company once were, but alignment will lead to much more success than simply marching forward without a plan.
