and how it can save yours, too!

We all start our businesses with the best intentions and generally for two main reasons:

1. To work for ourselves
2. To do what we love

However, if you’re anything like me, you hit that gas pedal so fast, you go from 0-60 faster than a Ferrari and before you know it, you’ve lost sight of what you were doing when you started in the first place. For me, that was my vision. I was so excited that I rushed through every step because I wanted the final product – and I was convinced I could do it perfectly, quickly, and by myself.

What ultimately happened?

I found myself constantly tweaking my logo, colors, fonts – I was never really happy with what I had and I must have changed my whole brand identity 17 times before finally scrapping the entire thing and starting with a clean slate.

PRO TIP: You get this opportunity maybe twice in your whole brand lifetime. Don’t WASTE it.

Another reason I felt so compelled to change absolutely everything about my brand was that when I started my business I didn’t fully comprehend the “sweet spot” of what I did. I knew what I wanted to do but I didn’t quite gain focus of what I was truly bringing to the table for my clients until I really delved deep into it. The more clients I helped realize their own visions and the more brands I brought to life for others the more I started to see my own brand coming to life and it just wasn’t what I had originally created. This is why we often feel the need to change a month or even a year into our businesses – and I learned that this is completely okay!

Rebranding can be a great transformation for your business or blog brand. When finally come to terms with what fires up and understand what your clients are asking you for you can start creating killer brands that offer steady streams of ideal opportunities, collaborations, clients, and customers.

Today I want to share a little about what I found wrong with my brand and why transforming iDesign Creative into New Love Design, Co. was the best thing I did.

How a Rebrand Gave my Business New Life

“You never get a second chance to make a great first impression.”

Before I completely gutted my branding, my website, and everything right down to my name I had a few problems that I couldn’t fix even if I tried. You know what they say about first impressions?  If you make a bad one, it will be veeeeery difficult for you to redeem yourself. Sometimes it’s just impossible. This is how the brain works – we make snap judgments based on someone’s appearance, behavior, and facial expression.

When it comes to the online world?

People go onto your website or follow you on social media and their judgment of you is based on that. That’s why it’s so important that your online presence is exactly the way you want it to be: showing off your personality, sending the right message, setting the right expectations and building trust.

TRUST IS PARAMOUNT.

The Problems I’ve had with my Brand

So many times I’ve felt stuck and as if I couldn’t reach the right people with the services I offer. I knew there were people out there who needed what I did but I couldn’t reach them, I didn’t know where to find them, and I definitely wasn’t attracting them. I was beyond frustrated!

1. I attracted people that couldn’t afford me.
This was SUPER disappointing and also a learning experience.  I’ve had many messages from people who loved what I did, but as soon as I sent them my quote they said they just couldn’t afford my services. My personality couldn’t handle this so what did I do? I lowered my quote to accommodate their needs but word would get out and suddenly I was lowering my own worth.

2. I wanted something else.
Shortly into starting my business, I realized the type of clientele I really wanted to serve were boutiques, entrepreneurs, bloggers, beauty brands, and aspiring women. Who I had been serving was everyone. I didn’t have an exact niche.

3. My brand wasn’t showing my personality.
When I first started, I thought my brand should show what I did- web design. In no way did it represent me. I was new in the entrepreneurial world and not sure of my skills as a #Girlboss. It was cliché and boring and looked like everybody else’s. When people contacted me, they were often pleasantly surprised about how open and talkative I am. Though my website at the time came across professional, it didn’t highlight my personality – people were seeing a standard robot and not a talkative, smiley human.

So, How did I fix it?

1. The groundwork.

I realized I was attracting the wrong type of people because I, myself, wasn’t clear on who my ideal client was. This is PARAMOUNT to success. Imagine having a blog without a niche topic – you’d simply have a journal people subscribe to. You may gain somewhat of a following, but if you specify your content to your readers you’ll find your sweet spot, skyrocket to the top of your game and see in an increase in your following.

This in no way happened overnight for me. Not even in a week or month. It took me some time to figure out where I wanted to be, who my ideal client was; where she was, what she was doing, her goals, her struggles; why she needed me and how she’d find me. It took me some serious time. I’m not saying it has to be like this for you. We are all different and all think at different speeds. I’m also a little OCD/anal-retentive and need to take things to a different level of perfection (my own definition of) that others find highly annoying.

PRO TIP: Don’t process thought like this girl right here.

Ask yourself these questions when focusing on your ideal client:

1. Are they actively seeking your services?
2. Can you solve their problems?
3. Where do they live?
4. How big is their business?
5. How long have they been in business?
6. What are their plans for the next two years?
7. What are their biggest obstacles?
8. If they don’t identify and rid themselves of those obstacles, how much will it cost their business?
9. Will it cost them opportunities, revenue, collaborations?
10. If I helped them get past what they are stuck on, how could it change their business for the better?

You can see why this sort of change doesn’t happen overnight but I promise you, the transformation produces the highest result. These questions are powerful and aid you in your quest to getting inside the head of your future clientele. Understanding your ideal client is what will make you able to attract them – able to create the right content and to speak to them directly in a way that makes them feel understood.

Get my Help for FREE!

2. My personality is there.

My site is literally LOADED with my personality. Whether you (or I) like it, you’re going to see my face. It’s full of my social media and my own copywriting. Before? It was generic stock imagery and basic content that highlighted my services. I wanted people to know exactly who they are contacting when they reach out. Some photos are a bit professional, some a bit silly – they show me for me and that’s who I want you to see.  

3. My packages are gone.
I completely removed my packages from my services page. Everything is customized to YOU. I learned in the early stages that package prices really don’t work anyways and add-ons always occurred – tailoring a design is unique and more approachable to a client’s needs. After all, one package can’t serve all.

4. Completely Redesigned the Site.

Along with the rebranding of the logo, I changed my entire color palette, content, imagery, and entire website. Result? The way I show what I offer has completely changed for the better. It’s more interesting and the flow is easier to comprehend and looks stellar.

My bounce rate SERIOUSLY decreased; I went from a super high (embarrassing) bounce rate of 74.4% to an awesome 0.7%.  People are spending more time on my site, engaging and converting and I have custom contact forms that let them message me with ease (and ask the right questions).

So, the result of all this?

I’m incredibly happy that it all LOOKS BETTER for one, but what’s really important is that:

• I doubled my prices (and nobody’s questioning them),
• I’m attracting my ideal clients
• My email opt-ins have tripled,
• My Instagram is growing and receives constant engagement
• My bounce rate is nearly non-existent and my traffic is at an all-time high!

Feeling stuck in your own brand?

I know how you feel because I was there! But you can fix it like I did by getting clear on your goals and identifying your ideal clients.

Get my Brand Awareness Workbook for free and start the groundwork – it all starts from here! You’ll know if rebranding is for you as well.

Ready to talk about a rebrand? I’m here if you need me.