5 Ways to Revamp your Brand in the New Year
Happy New Year, friend!
I hope you're kicking off this next season with fresh dreams and goals for another year around the sun. This time of year is always one where I feel especially inspired to reflect on what went well (or didn't) for Chez Núñez in the last 12 months and set a new vision for strengthening our business + brand moving forward!
I'm a pretty obsessive list-maker and someone who gets way too excited about planning ahead, so I thought I'd lend you some of this wild energy by putting together a set of 5 simple ideas for how you can revise and revamp your brand this New Year!
1. Give your website + portfolio some good ole' fashion spring cleaning.
This means dusting off that portfolio and uploading fresh examples of work or products from 2020 to your site!
Do you have a set color palette or brand fonts? Make sure to define what they are, and then go through your site to ensure that your colors are consistent and your fonts all match up.
You could even write yourself a new bio while you're at it - making sure to add where you're located and a way for new clients to contact you.
If you don't have a website/portfolio and are still relying on social media to be the place for your work to exist online, let me encourage you to make this the year that you begin building a site!
It doesn't have to be anything fancy at first - try a simple template, spend some time on Youtube, and have fun with it! At Chez Núñez, we've always used Squarespace because we've found it to be super clean and easy to use. The critical piece is that you possess this home base for your work to live online - a space that you own and that potential clients can always refer to.
2. Organize your Instagram + start creating content in batches!
I've been able to put out so much thoughtful content and curate a cohesive feed while saving countless hours in the last couple of years from creating and planning out my content in batches!
I do this using an app called Snug - but there are so many different services that you could use. It typically takes an hour or so for me to brainstorm and plan out about nine posts. Then I can sit back and focus on other business areas without a daily struggle to keep up with IG.
Need some inspiration on how to curate a more cohesive feed? See this blog post: 5 Tips for a Cohesive Instagram Feed
3. Revise your process and refine your client experience.
This involves some reflection on what you felt went right in your business last year and how you think you could improve your systems in this new year to give you better results!
When you consider improvements to business processes, evaluate your client experience by looking for areas that you could be more thoughtful or efficient moving forward.
Because I know that a good reputation is worth its weight in gold, I'm always striving for new ideas to give my clients the best experience working with me possible.
4. Learn to love email marketing!
I know it's not sexy, but email marketing has done magical things for our business in the last couple of years. Such magical things that I'm determined to convince you to cultivate this side of your business if you haven't already.
Don't have an email list yet? 2021 is the year to start one! Have one collecting dust in the wings of your business? It's time to pull that baby back out and treat her right.
I've made a whole blog post on why you need an email list, in which I make a case for using Flodesk to do so! They're easy to use and make designing beautiful emails a breeze. I even have an affiliate link for a discount in the post because I believe in them so hardcore. Click to read “Email Marketing Made *Really* Easy”.
Once it's up and running, you can set goals to cultivate your list by putting out regular content. For us, that's a monthly newsletter - but you could roll with whatever works best for your brand. Consistency is key to building an email community.
With algorithms constantly changing, knowing that I have a way to directly reach our brand's core community has brought me so much peace of mind. Not to be too extreme about it, but Instagram could die tomorrow, and we'd just keep our business rollin' with emails. I want that peace for you too this year, friend.
5. Reflect on last year's accomplishments and set new goals for 2021.
Ask yourself questions like:
How much money did I make last year?
How much do I want to bring in this year?
How many inquiries did I receive, + how many clients did I work with?
Where did my clients come from/ how did they find me?
What kind of work brought me the most joy?
How do I want to pivot my brand to bring in more of those joyful projects this year?
Write these all down in a journal, and feel free to come up with even more if you'd like - but hopefully, those will be a helpful place to start reflecting and begin setting fresh goals.
Wishing you a blessed and fulfilled new year ahead, my friend!
Thanks for reading,
Anna
