We champion getting the personality of your organization — its brand — just right. Brand overhauls or simple tuneups come about in a variety of ways, but when done right, they speak volumes and set the tone for what you want to say to your audience. It’s a game of show and tell you play with the world, but to win the game, some strategies need to be in place.

Once you finalize the brand message and get the logo, tagline, color palette, etc., all reinforcing that message, where do you go from there? Next up: It’s time to build.

Tell a story.

At the conclusion of a branding project, we see clients charge full speed ahead to show off their new look, sometimes sans plan. Though we applaud the enthusiasm, getting a strategy in place with a deliberate method of communicating your revised story makes the process much smoother and more successful.

Most of your audience could think, “Why the change?” Though (we hope) most of them will also think, “We love the new design!” Finding a creative way to share the story behind any change will make the transition smoother and leave others taking notice. Successful brand development is as much in the message as in the delivery.

Out with the old, in with the new

Time to break up with the past. With logo files at hand (your designer should have equipped you with both print and web-friendly versions), make the initial updates wherever the old logo or colors appear, such as:

• Digital collateral: This includes enews/eblast templates and email signatures.
• Social media cover and profile photos: For extra punch, we always recommend creating graphical elements such as icons or patterns to correspond with a new logo. This is a great way to add more variety to your brand, especially on social media.
• Website: This might be a bigger project, but you can do some initial things to bring it within brand after an initial logo is developed. At the very least, update the logo in your header.

With initial updates in these most frequently seen spots, think of additional places for overhaul moving forward:

• Annual and quarterly reports
• All collateral — pens, cups, hats and T-shirts … the sky’s the limit (apparently). Need some creative ideas? This is one of our specialties, and we’re glad to assist.
• Business systems, including letterhead, envelopes, thank-you notes and PowerPoint templates
• Printed marketing pieces, such as brochures

Announce it big

You have some exciting news to share! Although most people will organically see your new look, you also want to take this time to shout it from the rooftops in a big way. How about an eblast with social media cross promotion or a mailed printed piece?

A new approach

With all this attention on your brand, now’s the perfect time to put some custom solutions into place. Quarterly eblasts or custom social media posts are a couple successful tactics we’ve developed with clients. Whatever you do, get creative — your audience is smart and can see through obvious ploys to get them to look your way.

Take a personality test

When you put your brand out into the world, others will put it to a test. Want it liked? Then think of your brand as a person — what are their personality characteristics (likes/dislikes) or goals and aspirations? Once you have those answers, infuse them into everything you do, big and small.

Be too legit — use your guide

You have plenty of options when it comes to building out your brand, but your brand standards guide will always be your guiding star, a tried and true friend in all the decisions you make. No matter the scale of the marketing activity or what creative strategies you put in place, stick to these guidelines at all costs.