Turning the mirror… internal rebranding (or walking the talk!)
We help our clients refine and define their brand all the time but, when we decided to update Arlington Strategy’s website and associated collateral, we realized how daunting the exercise can be for the people going through it!
We started the process in September. It had fits and starts but once we got rolling, we wanted to it done ASAP, much like our clients do. But, as the saying goes, good things come to those who wait (or are willing to keep working at it!) So we let things percolate and simmer. Some ideas bubble up to the top, others sunk and were discarded.
The whole process helped us to not only get in touch with who we are as a company, but to get whole new perspective on how our clients might feel when we go through this iterative process with them.
Here are some tips for defining your own brand:
- Take a step back. Really think about what you do and how you do it, and how this makes you different from your competitor. Express that in a way that gives a sample your business’s secret sauce without giving away the recipe.
- Be precise. Language is precise. It has precise meaning. Make sure you are saying what you mean and mean what you say.
- Try it on. We would fall in love with an idea but then we would try to use it on our website or in our materials and, well it just wouldn’t fit or it just didn’t flatter us, so we’d have to let it go and return to square one. Which leads us to the final tip…
- Take your time but set deadlines. It was very helpful to have the luxury of time to make sure we got it right, but we also built in milestone dates to keep us on track.
It’s harder to rebrand yourself, but often a necessity for small businesses. If you are struggling with your own rebranding, subscribe to our newsletter for some inspiration or give us shout. We know what you are going through!
