Steps I took to pivot Flourish Online Management - Part 2
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 brand strategy. As there were quite a few steps involved there is another post that goes into the steps related to the brand foundation.
Now it’s time to get into part 2 of what it took to make this change.
Step 4 to pivot: Identity design
In the blog where I talk about the first steps I took, I mentioned I put in a lot of work to the foundation and finding this red thread that would be running through my business. Now that I had found that, it was time to have a visual representation of this. Because to be honest, (and it’s a bit embarrassing to admit, as someone who helps her clients with their brand design) but I never spend much time on my own. I put a couple of things together and just wanted to get it out there. But the longer I had it the less I was using it, or only a couple of the elements.
But this process thought me 2 things:
1. Strategy comes before design. When I just started I had no clue what I exactly wanted, who I was serving, what problems I was solving for that audience. I did what I wanted to do, not what my audience needed.
I have learned this over time. And only now, when I am having a clear direction in my business I could envision what the visual expression of that needed to look like to create a consistent brand. Not just in visuals, but to create something that matched with my brand's personality and messaging.⠀
2. And secondly, how *%^£ hard it is to look objectively at your own business. We are in our business 24/7 and it’s hard to have an objective opinion about it. And it was a hard decision, but I was so in my own way with creating this identity that another designer did it for me.
Does it feel a bit embarrassing, as a designer, to let someone else do the design for you? Oh yes, it does. But when it was done, it also felt like a huge relief. And in a way, as the CEO of a business, it also feels like the right decision. It's ok to ask for help.
Step 5 to pivot: Website copy
The next step of this pivot was to create a new website but before diving into the design (which is so tempting) I needed to make sure that the website did not only look good but I needed to flip my whole brand messaging around to attract the attention of my new ideal client. Because website copy that is centred around creating websites and brands was not going to draw potential clients from my homepage to my service page. And even when they would go there, they would find more services that were not geared towards brand and website design.
So this needed to change and I did this with the help of Ashlyn Carters Copywriting for Creatives. (nope, not an affiliate, but YUP, you should take it!). From research to creating a word bank, to setting up brand voice guidelines (so that you can stay consistent) and the use of templates, this program helps you craft your brand messaging as well as writing copy for your website from headlines, to call to actions and sales pages.
This step took a lot of time because while you try to write your copy you will uncover the holes in your knowledge about your clients, their struggles and what the transformation is that you offer them with your services. But in the end, being pushed to dive in deeper will only help you to build a stronger brand.
Step 6 to pivot: Website redesign
While I was working on the copy of the website I started collecting inspiration for my website. From call to actions to layouts and banner ideas; everything was saved on a board on Asana to come back to during the design phase. This is quite similar to what I do when working on a clients project where I ask them to create an inspiration board on Pinterest.
Before I started working in Squarespace I needed to have a clear overview of what pages need to be built and how each page will link with each other. You never want to have a dead-end on a page and need to make sure you lead the visitors to the page we want them to.
For this new website, I really want visitors to get to the services page because I have several services that are Brand Strategy related but they all target potential clients based on where they are in their journey. So on the service page, they will be lead through a couple of steps to decide which service would work best for them based on the number of brand strategy pillars that they are struggling with. Then there is a link for each of the services that all have their own page. And there is a specific call to action based on the service.
And there you have it, these were the main steps that I took to change my positioning.
But there have been many more things that I have working on; from updating the look and copy of my portfolio to new freebies and an updated funnel and welcome sequence for newsletter subscribers. Because I can’t say this enough, you need to be consistent in your brand from the first impression to the last email where you ask for feedback about the project.
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