3 Easy Steps to Better Brand Planning
Spring cleaning is a great way to get rid of unwanted items, evaluate what you already own, and to plan future purchases. The same goes for your brand. Semi-annual brand wellness check-ins are key to finding ways to keep your brand current. Below are three essential activities to do while making your brand pop!
Step 1: Pause
Start by pausing all activity for as long as you can spare. The key to a brand refresh is clarity. It is nearly impossible to think, act, and focus all at the same time. I like to take the last month in the quarter to analyze content performance, systems, and financial goals for my business. Planning in quarterly batches is the easiest way for me to stay organized and create themes for my blog/social media posts.
Once I have analyzed and planned for the next quarter, it’s time to pause. (Side note: My husband, Steven G., helps me maintain my content calendar. I couldn’t do it without him.) Pausing looks different for everyone. You can be intentional about completing a course you completed, finishing a book you ordered, or batching designing content graphics while pausing.
Ways to Completely Pause:
Turn off all business email notifications
Log out of business social media accounts
Go to church
Get a massage
Go on a date
Get a mani/pedi
I took a few months off from consistent content creation when I got married to better understand my new schedule and evaluate if I wanted to continue being an influencer.
I decided that I was going to come back, but on my terms which meant getting back to the basics of taking outfit pictures and incorporating more of my faith. When you know who you are, you know who you aren’t. Authenticity is essential to a healthy brand.
For you, pausing could mean a few nights at a local hotel to brainstorm, shop the competition, or attend an out of town conference. Do it now!
Step 2: Evaluate
Evaluate what your brand is currently doing well and what you’d like for it to do. This is when you pull out analytics, conversions, sales, etc. Not sure what to do? Book a branding session with me!
Questions To Ask Yourself:
What is my brand doing amazing at?
What are the 3 pain points of my customers?
What gray areas is my brand missing with marketing?
What gray areas is my brand missing with communication?
What is driving my pageviews, sales, conversions, etc.?
While evaluating my brand, I looked at my page views, social media content engagement, and quantity of customers. Although I took a few months off from consistent content creation, God blessed me to have consistent branding/marketing clients. This let me know that my identity as a branding/social media expert wasn’t based upon my social media presence.
The majority of my clients come from word of mouth or my email list. You can sign up here. You will get monthly emails filled with encouragement, freebies, post updates, and more.
Step 3: Strategize
Now that you’ve thought about what you’d like to do, it’s time to put a plan together. An impactful strategy will only come after pausing to find inspiration and evaluating to gain clarity. The biggest piece of advice that I can give you when it comes to strategy is to set one goal then attack.
It’s easy to want to do everything at once, but it’s not logical. You cannot focus on growing your social media presence, opening up a physical location, and hosting an event all in the same week. You’re better off focusing 70% of your energy on the one thing that will bring in the most money than leaving the other 30% for secondary goals that ladder up to the primary goal.
Common Goals for Entrepreneurs:
Grow Instagram following
Book more clients
Attend more networking events
Find strong professional mentors
Build an email list
Pick 1 goal then outline the steps that you need to take to achieve them. If you need help, book your 45-minute branding session today!
I hope that this post inspired you to refresh your brand. It’s never too late! Drop any questions for me in the comment section. I'd love to chat more.
Ps. Don't forget to follow me on Instagram @thejasminediane.