Steps I took to pivot Flourish Online Management - Part 1
In this blog, I talked about my reasons for pivoting Flourish Online Management. And I wanted to follow that up with going into more detail about what it is that I actually did to go from a business that was focused, on Brand and Website design to having a focus on helping my clients build a brand that makes them stand out from the crowd, claim their position in the market and use this clear direction as their brand’s compass mainly through brand strategy, brand audits, clarity call and mentoring but also web design.
If you have not read the previous post, I would recommend that first. And if you’re already thinking about pivoting, I would, advise to also read the post I wrote about the 3 signs that it’s time for a rebrand.
So let’s get into part 1 (here’s part 2) of what it took to pivot Flourish Online Management.
Step 1 to pivot: Where am I now? What is working? What is not working?
Just like I do with my clients, the first step to pivot was looking at where I was at with my business. This might sound easy, but it required a hard look at everything that you do. I looked at which services were working and which were not.
Not just which ones sell the most and which ones the least because you know that part. Because I track all my time, I was able to review the prices I was asking for my services vs how many hours, on average, it took me to complete these services. And this part is really important because it’s not always the service that you sell most or has the highest price that is the most profitable.
But it’s not just about your services, other things you can think about are what you are doing in terms of marketing or pushing website traffic and making sure you’re spending your time on the right things.
For example, if you’re spending most of your time on Instagram but this is only giving you 10 clicks a month to your website while with Facebook you’re getting 100 clicks, it’s time evaluate if you want/need to change your strategy to make it worth your time, or if you just need to stop with this channel.
To come back to the website traffic, something that I see happening a lot is the focus on driving more traffic. But what if you're just driving more and more traffic to a website that is not converting? Are all these visitors actually taking the actions on your website that you need them to take? Are they signing up to your newsletter? Are they downloading your freebies? Are they booking consultation calls? Are they buying your passive products?
More traffic to a website that is not converting, is not going to make your website convert all of a sudden.
So it’s important to take stock now on what is working and what isn’t working before you take any further action. So that you can create an action plan that includes every aspect of your business.
Because, just like I mentioned above about the website traffic, the same principle applied to a pivot. If you’re not attracting the right clients, you need more than just a change of your visual brand (which is something that a lot of business owners see as the 1 thing that is a pivot).
A new visual brand can absolutely help you with looking more professional, for example, but when you’re not attracting the right clients there generally is a deeper reason like you’re not being seen as an expert, to change this perception and start connecting with the right type of clients.
Step 2 to pivot: Where do I want to go
Now I knew where I was at the moment and what needed work, now it was time for the next step of this pivot: to decide where I wanted to go. What was clear to me from the start was that I wanted to make that switch in focus from design to strategy and that I wanted to expand my mentoring services.
But what I did not know exactly was what that needed to look like. I was already offering Brand Clarity Calls and Brand audits but I did not have a ‘big’ package that could replace my brand or website design services. And just like with design services, the mentoring program that I was offering was all based on 1-on-1 services where you are trading time for money. And there is a limited number of clients you can take at the same time the only way to make more money is by raising your prices. So I needed to come up with a way to impact more clients at the same time.
This is where a bit of luck came in. Just after I had decided to go this way I came across a challenge on Facebook done by Lisa Johnson which was leading up the promotion for the passive income program One to Many. With the focus being on memberships, courses and group programs, this was perfect timing for me to get help with turning my mentor program in a one-to-many offer.
But about a week after I had enrolled in this program Ashlyn Carter opened the doors to Copywriting for Creatives again. I had looked at this program from the first time I was binge-watching as many webinars as I could when I just started. I never felt ready to invest this much in a program before. But writing content for social media and blog posts was something I did not feel confident about, and with this new direction of the business coming up I knew I also had to re-write the copy for my website. So after skipping 3 launches of Copywriting for Creatives, this felt the right time to invest in this course.
In the CfC program, there is a section where you are advised to do market research to understand your ideal client better. So I had a call with one of the other participants and was explaining where I wanted to go with the business. She suggested having a look at the YouTube channel of Chris Do where he is coaching Melinda Livesy to go from identity designer to brand strategist. After seeing a couple of the video’s from the coaching sessions and then Melinda talking about brand strategy, I knew I had found where I wanted to go.
Finally, I had this clear vision of what this new strategic direction needed to look like, now I just need to take the steps to get there.
Step 3 to pivot: Brand Foundation
The next step in this pivoting process was to create the foundation for the brand. I wanted to be really clear about how I wanted to be seen by my audience and be able to articulate clearly what I do, who I help and what the transformation is that I offer. And I wanted to have this clear vision and direction running through the whole business as a red thread.
When you are trying to create a brand that is aligned across the board and has this red thread, it will take some time for you to get to this point. It is not something that you come up within a day. So take your time for a pivot, you don’t want to rush through this as you’ll be doing it again soon.
I personally love travel, and this is a big part of my life, so from the beginning, I included this into my brand by using storytelling and images from my travels. But when I was introduced to brand archetypes, I found out that my brand archetype is the explorer. So ever since I found that out, it made it even more clear this is something that needed to be included in my brand. But up until my pivot, I just did not know how to include this in a way that would make sense.
But now I had this new opportunity to build my brand up from the ground, I knew this needed to be at the base of the brand. So to continue with this base, the angle I choose in my messaging is not how to build a brand, but how to stand out from the crowd, claim your position in the market and use this as your brand’s compass. This is, of course, referencing to my love for travel and the brand archetype, but it matches perfectly with the new services aimed at brand strategy. As you could see, this is helping my clients find a clear direction for their business.
So it all ties together and is aligned with each other. And to complement this brand message, my visual brand includes a compass, my tagline is ‘find your brand’s true north’ and my packages are called the brand journey, brand expedition etc.
And there you have it, the first 3 steps that I took in this pivoting process.
In the follow-up blog, I will go into more detail about a couple of other steps like creating the website copy, website redesign, identity design.
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