I’m Rebranding My Business - Here’s how.
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I know this sounds bad, but…. I honestly can't stand looking at my business and website right now!
I legitimately cringe at it.
The look and feel of my business just feels so off and so not me.
It's felt this way for a WHILE! So today, I want to show you the behind-the-scenes of what I'm changing and why.
Plus, what's not changing, because while a lot is being burned to the ground and rebuilt, much will also stay the same.
My First Brand Board
Okay, so this was the first-ever brand board I put together. 👉
Featuring the logo I DIY'ed when I was 25 years old…
And now, I'm 33.
Soooo, this was feeling wayyy too young, too light and airy, and springtimey.
While beautiful, it feels outdated and completely unaligned with who I am, my style, and the depth of experience and knowledge I've built up over eight years in this industry.
It feels like a young girl's brand, and this lady over here has both a couple of grey hairs now and a heck of a lot more experience than she did when she created this.
I also speak quite a bit differently than before. My copy and tone of voice were very young before, and I haven't spoken like that in my real life for some time now.
I wanted my brand, website, and business to take a step in a more mature direction while still keeping a feminine flare to it.
I don't want some corporate, professional brand, but I do want a brand, site, and tone that fits me more at this age and stage of my life.
BUT let me clarify: the branding is the problem. A big problem.
☝️ MY offerings, courses, etc., are staying put.
I LOVE those to this day, and they feel fully aligned. But the way this entire business makes an impression has been painful for me to witness over the last year or two.
This need for a rebrand is not something new….
Even a couple of years ago, I felt this and knew a rebrand was necessary. But I knew a major aspect of rebranding wasn't just the visuals.
Yes, the visuals needed to change, but a true rebrand also involves setting a direction and future plans for the company, and having a clear vision.
Up until last year, I was hazy on exactly where I wanted myself and my business to be in five years.
Last year, I took a good chunk of time for thinking and experimenting.
The emergence of AI lit a fire under me to get serious about what I wanted my business to be.
When ChatGPT came out, I thought,
"Wow, this thing is cool…. I wonder what it will do in the web designer space…”
I spent a legitimate month learning all I could about AI and its potential impacts on my industry. It made me think about questions I hadn't considered before.
If the web design industry was no longer a thing, what would I want to do?
What sparks joy in my life now?
What are my new interests and hobbies developed over the past eight years?
What would I do if I didn't want to or couldn't do what I do now?"
In the end, I concluded the web design industry would be just fine.
Psst…Here’s a video I made all about this in case you’re curious!
I was so blessed with the time and space to ask myself questions I had never considered before:
Who am I?
What am I exceptionally talented at?
What do I love and enjoy in life and work?
What do I want to bring into the world?
Doing this was extremely helpful in getting really clear on what I wanted from my rebrand.
So What’s Changing and What’s Not?
Things I Want to Change:
Branding & site design
Copy tone
Things I Want to Keep:
Current offerings & courses
Things I Want to Add:
New product lines owned by their own business brands.
☝️Think of it as a parent and child.
My personal brand will be the parent, and the business brands will be the children, owned by the parent (That is…if you can say that parent’s own their children. 😅)
So that would mean that the personal brand is where I produce content and show up myself, but I'm also building sellable assets: business brands.
I love the idea of building a sellable business because it operates better and keeps options open.
Here’s My Step- to -Step guide on Rebranding.
Step 1: Visualize your business’ future.
I dreamt up where I wanted the business to go, what I wanted it to be, and got really clear on who I was.
I also made a Pinterest board to show the visual representation of that.
Here's a peek at the Pinterest board to give you the brand vibe…
Step 2: Find the Right Brand Designer.
I hired Drop Cap Design because I’ve known the owner, Kadie, since eight years. We formed a mastermind together when we took B-School, and I've always loved her branding work!
She's talented with visuals and goes deep with her clients.
A good brand designer should dig out who you or your business are, your vision, ideal client, competitors, and visual style direction.
Step 3: Client Homework
Kadie sent over adocument that took me an entire 8-hour workday to complete. I wanted to be thorough to ensure they knew everything, so the branding would be really aligned.
From there, Kadie turned that into a brand strategy document summarizing her understanding of everything I had shared.
It covered:
Who my ideal client was.
Tag line ideas.
Details on my offer suite.
My main brand stories.
My market positioning.
Step 4: The Exciting Bit - Visuals!
We started with a few logo variations. I wanted the main logo with my name to be very readable and simplistic with a touch of creativity. ✨
The crest was more detailed and creative, featuring a sketch of our home in Switzerland, my name, the business's tag line, and "de suisse" meaning "from Switzerland."
For the color palette, I couldn't stand my brand's blue anymore! 👉
Soooo in the end we ended up replacing all of the blue on my website with black as a placeholder.
It definitely makes me website look a bit generic with all this black and beige but it will do for now until the rebrand is complete.
The Color Palette
So I really felt called to a natural green color, it just felt like a calming and fitting choice. It definitely gives off a summertime on the countryside vibe which I feel definitely fits this period of my life.
We also included a muted poppy red to stand out and draw attention to smaller details on the side (for example, CTA buttons).
Step 5: Implement the New Branding
In this step we’ll work on implementing this branding into blog post designs, slide designs, etc., to ensure our marketing elements were cohesive.
I love website design and have the vision and skills for it, so I'll handle the copy and design myself over the summer (maybe into the fall, depending on my workload.😅)
Step 6: Brand Photoshoot
Here are some tips if you're organizing a shoot for yourself:
1. The Location should fit the brand vibe.
I have an English style with patterns, tassels, and fringe but keep a simplified elegance. So this was definitely something I kept in mind when looking for a location for the shoot.
2. Practicality is key.
When it comes to my brand vibe, my house in Switzerland would actually be a fabulous fit - after all, what could fit a personal brand more than your own home?
But there was just one problem: My home is not fully decorated yet, so I found a hotel in Paris with the perfect mix of Parisian elegance and British style.
3. The Photographer is everything.
Find a photographer with creativity and an artistic touch. This was particularly important for me in Paris so that I did not end up with your typical tourist shots in front of the Eiffel tower.
that’s a wrap on my tips for rebranding but now i’m guessing your curious about how my paris shoot went…
here’s a little sneak peek for ya!
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