Know your audience [and love them hard]

Are you communicating directly with your dream clientele or just sending messages out into the universe and hoping for the best? If option B was your answer, then you need to keep reading. 

In 2021, we want you to be so clear on your target audience that when your dream customers (they are the ones that leave you feeling incredible) engage with your touchpoints, it feels like a note from a long-lost friend.

When working on your branding goals for the new year, ask yourself the following questions:

• What am I helping my client achieve?
• What feelings does my current brand evoke at first glance?
• What story do my current brand colours and fonts tell?
• Why do my existing clients choose my product or service over somebody else’s?
• What makes my branding different from the others in my industry?

Knowing exactly which rocks to look under to find that dream audience, understanding what lights them up and also what they love about your brand is incredibly valuable insight. Use these details to start deciphering ways that your brand can attract more of the right people and channel your valuable energy into touchpoints that deliver results. This may see you tweaking your tone of voice, updating your colour and font choice or reviewing your logo.

Whatever changes you make, ensure you update your branding style guidelines too.

Review and refresh your touchpoints 

This year, we have seen an *explosion* of consumer interest in shopping local and supporting small business, not too mention the bucket loads of online sales. Consumers, more than ever, want to know the story behind the brand and the unique points of difference just as much as the product or service offered. They want to connect with your business as though they were connecting with a new friend. They want to experience your brand for its unique point of view, difference and all that you make them feel.

Now is the perfect time to review and refresh your branding touchpoints to ensure that at every stage of your customer journey, you’re creating those meaningful connections that your dream audience craves. Tap into your brand values and look for ways that you can be interacting with your customer more, creating conversation, showcasing your brand’s why.

For our hair, beauty and wellness petals, this could be refreshing your in-person experience with client welcome gifts or a glow up of your printed treatment menu. Online, it could be injecting more of your brand’s style into your social media content or boosting your reviews and recommendations to provide social proof that aligns with your brand values and oozes authenticity.

For many, this isn’t a case of reinventing the wheel, rather adding some extra air into them, helping them move into 2021 at a much smoother pace. 

Clarity, consistency and commitment to your brand 

If defining your audience and touchpoints is leaving you unclear, the start of 2021 is a brilliant time to start making those power moves and set some serious branding goals for your business. 

Beginning with clarity, it’s time to get crystal clear on your brand’s values, mission and who your touchpoints are intentionally speaking to. Once you’re clear on what your brand is, you’re able to start crafting ideas and strategies around how to share it with the world. If what you’re visioning doesn’t align with what you’re working with, it’s time to do a branding audit to see what’s working, what’s missing and what’s not quite right.

Designed for the blooms who want to know how to fix the leaky holes in a ship, our branding audit is the best place to start for your road map to getting your Brow Brand Game Strong.

Branding in 2021 and beyond is SO much more than a logo and a colour but these elements are still some of the most important features of your visual strategy. If you’re not already working with a style guide, this is a fantastic starting point to help you bring more consistency into your branding.

Know the features that make your brand bloom and stick to them. Now is the time to stop using that colour that doesn’t align with your message, that font that’s hard difficult to read and the tone of voice that is the total opposite to your beautiful energy. We know we sound like we’ve got our bossy pants on but someone’s gotta say it right?!