You invested in branding, you launched your website and you’re feeling excited… but now what?! The labor of love has officially hit the Internet and the feeds of your followers, so how can you be sure that you keep your brand alive AFTER you launch?
As a designer, this is a scenario I see happen quite often…
Clients come to me to invest in professional branding and they’re so excited about the projects for weeks. We work together to develop the perfect brand, create an eye catching website and even whip up some amazing social templates for them to use going forward.
But after the initial launch of all the goodness that we both spilled so much of our time and energy into, the excitement starts to fizzle and they lose sight of what the ultimate goal was in the first place.
Here’s the thing friend: there’s no such thing as a set-it-and-forget-it brand or website. Your brand is something that lives in the day-to-day interaction with your audience, so launching is JUST the beginning!
What you do after your launch on an ongoing basis is one of, if not THE, most important part of it all.
With that said, I also understand that as a business owner you’re busy and you’re juggling a lotttt of things every single day.
So, to help this part of the branding process feel a little less overwhelming, here are my top tips that you can implement to truly keep your brand alive after the initial launch!
1. Assign a Brand Manager
When you invest in professional branding, one of the main things you’ll walk away with is a list of brand guidelines.
Brand guidelines are exactly what they sound like - sort of like rules that your business follows to ensure that you maintain a consistent and cohesive look and feel across all platforms you use.
It includes your fonts, colors, taglines, mission, etc. that you frequently use so that your brand can be recognized everywhere you show up.
Your brand manager can be the person who reviews your brand touch points against your brand guidelines to make sure the heart, messaging and visuals align with your overall strategy.
2. Make a Plan with the Buyer's Journey in Mind
If you’re unfamiliar with a buyer’s journey, it’s essentially the path that someone takes to purchase from you. Because let’s be real - even though we would all love for someone to follow us on Instagram and immediately buy, that’s RARELY how it works.
Most people follow a very similar path and it looks like this:
Now, I could go into each step of this journey, but that’s a blog post for another day, so for this post specifically let’s focus on the first step:
awareness.
This is one of the most important steps in the process because this is where someone really gets to know you. They discover who you are and what you’re about and ultimately decide if you are someone they want to continue following and maybe eventually buy from.
Your branding plays a HUGE part in this step, so it’s important that you take the time to intentionally think about which platforms you want to focus on the most.
It can be Instagram, Pinterest, TikTok, etc. but the point is that you decide where you’re going to spend the most time and carefully create a plan to utilize this platform to bring awareness to your brand.
Too often, I see people trying to do it ALL at once and it becomes very overwhelming. You’ll be better off starting with one and mastering it before you move on to the next.
Oh, and whichever platform you choose, typically your website will flow into that.
For example, let’s say you decide Instagram is going to be the platform that you want to use for brand awareness. You create a plan to show up consistently, your feed is cohesive and value packed and you use stories to really display who you are and how you help people.
From stories, you might drive someone to your website to opt-in to your freebie or read a blog post.
How confusing would it be if your Instagram and website don’t match or convey the same message?
This is why you want to be consistent all across the board which is why having brand guidelines is so important!
3. Utilize a Brand Assets Library
This is something as simple as a Google Drive or Dropbox folder and it contains all of the assets that make up your brand.
Things like:
- Your brand colors with their color build codes (RGB, CMYK, HEX, Pantone Colors)
- All logo variations
- All font variations
- Slogans or taglines that you frequently use
- Repeated design elements (ex: patterns, graphical elements, and icons)
- Your Brand Guidelines PDF document (with instructions on how to use the assets)
You can bookmark it or even save it to your desktop so that the next time you’re in Canva creating a webinar slidedeck you can cross check your guidelines and make sure you’re keeping things consistent.
Or the next time you outsource a project, you can share the folder to ensure that your contractors follow your guidelines as well!
4. Use your Brand Assets Repetitively and Consistently
Did you know that it can take up to 3 points of contact before someone will pay attention to your brand?
Beyond that, it can take up to 7 points of contact before someone takes real action with you, which is why REPETITION IS EVERYTHING 👏🏼
If you’re bored of your brand, GOOD - that probably means that everyone else is just getting started. One of the biggest mistakes you can make is changing your branding because YOU are tired of it.
The truth is friend, your branding really isn't about you - it’s about connecting with your ideal audience so that they grow to know, like and trust you… which can ultimately lead to a business relationship!
If you change your branding too soon, you can actually confuse people which will create the opposite result of what you really want.
5. Celebrate Your Wins Publicly
Nothing makes someone feel more connected to you than letting them in on the real sides of your life and business.
Now, I’m not saying you have to share every single detail or part of your life on the Internet, but one way to easily draw people into your brand is by celebrating your wins publicly!
Share fun milestones that you’ve reached, talk about exciting projects you’ve completed and most importantly share testimonials and social proof. This helps people feel like they are a part of your success!
6. Keep Showing Up
I know, I know… you’ve heard this a million times, but it’s true: consistency is key.
Consistency beats perfection every single time, so even if things aren’t exactly how you want them to be, show up anyways and perfect as you go.
If showing up is a struggle for you, remember this: what’s obvious to you is amazing for others.
You live and breathe your business and brand, so it’s easy to think that what you have to say isn’t interesting, but no one else does what YOU do!
People need what you have and not showing up is doing them a massive disservice!
If you need extra help staying on top of all of these things so that your brand continues to thrive after the initial launch, here’s a list of my favorite resources you can snag.
And if you need extra support for the branding side of things, I’ve got you!
Click here
to connect and see what’s possible for you specifically.
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Cheers !! 🥂
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