Brand Strategy and Inspiration

Rebranding your business can be exciting, especially if you love creating. But, if you want your new brand to excite your potential customers, strategy must always lead. That’s why I want to share the strategy and inspiration behind Prosper for Purpose’s rebrand, which is currently in progress. Hopefully, you’ll get ideas you can apply to your own business.

Every three years, I take time to “vision cast” the next three years of my business. My vision is rooted in how I want both my life and my business to feel, and the kind of business owner I aspire to be. (I know it might sound a little woo-woo, but trust me, it works.) From there, I also outline what I want to achieve. This vision drives a revised business strategy, which often leads to some form of rebranding — and each of those steps has its own strategy. It’s my process of form following function.

I thought about what I’d do if I were starting my business over, but knowing everything I’ve learned over the past 12 years. The first thing I thought about is that I’ve always been a creator. Much business advice focuses on how to teach others to do what you do, so you can step back and manage the business. I’ve never felt completely comfortable in that role. So I’ve been thinking about what I want to focus on and what I want to let go of.
Here are the decisions that are driving my brand strategy and inspiration:

1. I want to do more narrative copywriting. My approach to writing is a blend of journalism and creative writing, two tracks I studied in college and have found to give me an advantage over many traditional copywriters. 
2. I decided to eliminate media pitching as a stand-alone service. Media relations is only one area of public relations. And let’s just say, media relations has changed — a lot. With our current PR clients, we’re working on thought leadership articles, public speaking opportunities and website copywriting in addition to media relations. I’ve worked with several businesses that thought they were ready for press, but they actually weren’t. Their message wasn’t clear, or they didn’t know how to deliver it. In a race to get what we want, we sometimes overlook what we need. 
3. I want to double down on who I serve. The changemakers, the firebrands, the visionaries, the forces for nature, the leaders who have an idea that will make their school, neighborhood, community, city, state, country or the world BETTER than it is. 
4. I want to simplify my business. Susie Moore has a podcast called “Let it Be Easy,” and each episode is a golden lesson delivered in five minutes. That’s it! And the focus is on thoughts and actions that can simplify your life. Tim Ferris is famous for many reasons, one of which is his challenge, “What would it look like if it were easy?” I love this. 

If you’re refreshing your brand along with me, take stock of what you offer and what you actually do in your business. Is what you created serving who you are now?

In thinking about how I could make my business “easier” for me, I eliminated the service that is the most challenging unless it is packaged in a way that makes it easier. I also separated the first phase of work I do with my clients into a standalone service called The Prosper Playbook. Clients receive an intensive with me, followed by strategic recommendations for their brand and marketing. They can then either hire my team to implement those recommendations, use their team or do it on their own. It’s a lower barrier to entry, and I get to help more people, even if they can’t work with me long term. I’ve already implemented this and have completed Prosper Playbooks for six clients in the past few months.

Some people analyze their revenue streams and decide which services to eliminate based on the numbers. Others ask their current clients what they enjoy most or which services they value most. When I do branding for clients, I conduct both client and staff interviews. It’s crucial to gather insights from both internal and external sources.

When you’re re-evaluating your position in the market, be sure to take a look at your peers. How are you similar? How are you different?

Let’s look at copywriters, for example. There are typically two camps: They either write for coaches and creatives or they write for more corporate-leaning businesses. Their brands are different depending on which camp they’re in. My clients actually fall into BOTH camps, but with one difference: They have a purpose beyond profit. A change they seek. That’s who I love most to work with, and that’s who I can best help. From there, it doesn’t matter what their vehicle for impact is. I work with them to create compelling stories that get people to listen, care and act.

Think of this in terms of YOUR unique position in the market. What unique quality, focus, experience or trait makes your brand the best choice for your customers? This is your unique value proposition (UVP).
As you think about what you want the next phase of your business to look like, think about strategy and inspiration simultaneously. Most agencies begin with strategy before moving to inspiration, while many creatives jump straight to inspiration. I filter my inspiration through a strategic lens because I never lack ideas, but if they don’t align with the strategy of where I want my business to go, they aren’t worth pursuing.

That brings me to values. Prosper for Purpose has 10! They were and still are pretty darn near perfect, but as we move towards ease, I’m prioritizing guiding principles. The four I keep returning to are excellence, impact, freedom and love. Excellence in our work, a focus on making a positive impact, freedom to live the lives we want, and love for ourselves and one another.

My next step in this process is to take a good, hard look at my website. I see that while everything’s working, it seems like an old familiar dress I keep throwing on because I haven’t taken time to rethink how I want to feel beyond comfortable in my clothes. I’ve suddenly realized that my style has changed to some extent. I take inventory.

I decided to simplify my messaging and be more creative with it. I also want a fresh new look to my website. I spent over a week reviewing other agency websites, browsing templates for sale, and analyzing styles in use. After all that, I realized that while my overall style remains editorial, it’s shifting from organic to something more elevated, yet still tactile. I’m not exactly sure how I’ll bring it all together, but I’ve discussed it with my go-to designer, and now she’s considering it too.

I’m also going to dive back into fonts, a crazy passion of mine. I’ve ALWAYS loved color and fonts. I grew up with old fairy tale books, so my love for design may have started there. In college, I took a typeface class and a magazine layout course. Later, I worked closely with graphic designers and even married a portrait and landscape artist who paints in oil. While I may not have a shred of artistic talent myself, I’ve developed an eye for design. I choose every detail of my brand with intent, and it always works in the end. If this is not you, work with a designer so you’re sure to get this part right.

But don’t get too far because while strategy leads everything, COPY leads design. Stay tuned for next month’s blog, where we’ll take a step sideways and look at some of the roots of a brand.