2ND EDITION | ISSUE #172

Hey Reader. Long time, no see.

I couldn't just send this email without acknowledging the fact that I haven't been in your inbox in a minute (after over 170 consecutive-ish newsletters).

Since we last hung out in your inbox, I've unpacked what I deemed a creative hangover and a content recalibration (especially when it comes to my newsletter format) in this Substack article and, one step at a time, in my Friday Hike Club series on Instagram.

And honestly, I think I’ve been quiet because I feel like I need an answer before I can come back.

But the answer I’ve found is that once you are done “building” your brand, you enter a new kind of brand pivot, and that’s where I am now, for the first time. I’ve spent so much time talking about my own brand-building experience - but I don’t really know how to talk about what I am navigating in this moment, yet - it’s too new.

And with it comes a new way of thinking, and creating content - and per usual, a lot of work has been going on behind the brand. My stack of drafts is being polished as we speak. And with it, I think this newsletter will change a little. How much I don’t know yet.

So instead of staying silent - I’m just gonna take a stab at it.

And in this week's newsletter, I wanna talk about a different kind of brand pivot than the one I am in right now - a brand pivot I spent circling for the last year.

So maybe right now - I'm at the end of a rebrand and recalibrating what that means for my brand next.

But I'm not ready to talk about all that.

So let's rewind a bit - all the way back to the beginning.

We’ve all experienced those moments. Suddenly, you know something has to change behind the scenes of your brand.

Call it clarity. a download.

A new idea taking shape.

Its the high we entrepreneurs live for.

The creative energy we wish we could tap into all the time.

These moments are transformative. Exciting. And a little scary all at once.

I can pinpoint the moment that I pivoted Cedar June into what it is today.

I had just turned 30 (my golden birthday) & I had been “out of office” for the better part of 6 weeks while we took the summer off to travel

Feeling really uninspired by my business and what I was doing - and I decided that something needed to change. I spent the better part of three hours in my backyard - journal in hand, writing, my vision for the future, and for my business and what I wanted to change - I grabbed my laptop and started brainstorming. That was the beginning of Cedar Junes latest evolution - and now almost two years later I’ve reached the end.

But maybe - You just had that moment

And now you know there is so much you want to change, make better, deepen and evolve..

It’s one thing to have the clarity and idea.

It’s another to take action on it.

And then there’s getting out into the world and figuring out how to explain how it fits into the brand you already have….

And that’s what this week's newsletter is all about

Exactly how to reframe your new offer as a brand pivot and get the word out to your audience

So you have a secret you’ve been keeping from your audience, a new offer, a new idea, a pivot behind the scenes of your brand.

Maybe it's even published. On a sales page - that isn't linked in your nav.... or anywhere on your website - so no one has ever really seen it.

Because you don’t really know how to talk about it in a way that is going to make sense to the people who already follow, subscribe, and work with you.

So now the offer is just hidden on your website while you figure out what to do with it.

And you haven’t really signed anyone up - because you haven’t marketed it at all.

It’s like you have one foot in what your brand was last year - and another out the door, but you still haven’t left the house because you aren’t entirely sure where you are going once you get out that door.

The success of your brand's pivot relies on communication - and creating a narrative with your audience that makes your most engaged followers part of the process.

If you disappear from your content or talking about your offers entirely for months. Then you come back with a new offer, or a totally new brand —and you expect everyone to just get it and understand what you do and who you do it for.

Then when you start marketing your pivot, you’ll have no active listeners who even know what this pivot is about.

If you don't acknowledge the transition at all and go from offering, for example, only 1:1 services to a membership that had no lead in narrative or explanation, you’ll leave your past leads confused about whether or not 1:1 is still an option.

On the flip side, I'm a big believer in building in public—sharing the messy process, showing them the connection between where you've been and where you're going.

You don’t have to have all the answers mid-pivot; your audience just needs to understand what it means for them.

When you bring them into the process—when you share the thinking behind your evolution—If you share the behind-the-scenes as it's happening. You post about the client questions that keep coming up. The patterns you're noticing. The direction you're moving.

Your audience witnesses you figure it out.

This is the kind of research money can't buy. Getting your audience's feedback in real time and using your content to test messaging and ideas helps validate your pivot.

• You explain the connection clearly. "I used to help people with wedding photography, but clients kept asking about brand photos for their businesses.
• You make it about them. "This change means I can help you with X now" “So I'm officially adding brand photos—here's what that means if you need updated headshots.”
• You keep your personality recognizable. Your humor, your stories, your way of showing up—that doesn't disappear just because your offers changed.

A new offer doesn’t mean you need a whole new brand identity

In fact, I would be curious as to why you are picking out new fonts and colors for this page on your site vs. the rest of your brand?

Is it because you already don’t love the colors you have?

A really simple rule of thumb I like to follow when I am designing for my clients' brands and consulting within the studio sessions offer is to choose a sub palette within your brand's color scheme and assign it to your offer/the web page.

Let's say this is your brand's color scheme.

But for your new offer/ brand pivot - you only use these colors

Same brand - but just a slightly different vibe and a subconscious cue to your website viewer that this page is a little different than everything else they’ve clicked.

If you need help nailing your Brand Colors, don’t forget you can still grab my Brand Color Kit PWYW. You get two rounds of 1:1 feedback from yours truly on your brand's color scheme + I'll teach you how to curate a moodboard and pull your brand colors directly from it.

You could pay $45 for an AI-powered site to tell you what is wrong with your colors and suggest new ones - but they won't be connected whatsoever to your vibe and story.

Also, a second rule of thumb is to carry your fonts over from offer to offer - new offer and a little pivot should not = a whole new font that is going to stand out from the rest of your branding.

Remember, when someone is interacting in your digital world, whether that is on your social site etc. Your brand identity's job is to create that world for them and for that world to carry over from platform to platform and page to page so they have one online experience with you.

If your brand's pivot takes a major visual detour from everything else, it will create a disconnect.

Like a glitch in the matrix of someone experiencing your world.

They will feel like “something is off here” without being able to put their finger on just what it is.

Giving your new offer a theme can be a fun way to differentiate it, name it, and even build the creative identity around that offer.

For example: my Brand Brushstrokes offer, which is my illustration and brand identity design offer obvi. has a very artsy theme based on my own background as a classically trained fine artist - that’s right I went from drawing naked people to your brands illustrations. But I digress.

The brand photos that I shot to go with that offer - help to further differeniate it from my other offers - but still make sense for my personal brand.

Okay - so now everything is ready, your new offer - and brand pivot is ready to go out into the world. Which means you actually have to tell people about it.

Or else you run the risk of launching it and then wondering why you feel like S***T because no one bought. Meanwhile, no one knew.

You already know that the internet is SO loud.

Louder than ever.

And I can’t stop thinking about how fast it feels like only 3 people know what is working on Instagram, and the rest of us are out here still playing catch-up.

The implementation step is the blurry line between branding and marketing.

Because first you need to figure out how your new offer fits into the bigger picture, your brand as a whole, your offer ladder, or lineup, or whatever you want to call it.

Then you need to figure out who is in your audience now that needs it

And shift your messaging to talk to them

That means launching the damn thing

Putting together a content plan that explains what your offer is - who it is for, why they need it, and how they can get it.

If you feel completely out of sync with your own brand (hello, burnout). Your skills continue to grow while your positioning stays the same, and your brand as a whole is just another headache on your to-do list & certainly not something that inspires you - Book a Studio Session.

We'll spend 60 minutes figuring out what has kept you from getting to your brand's next destination & then the next week plotting the course in a custom Notion workspace packed with curated resources, notes, recommendations, and action steps to get you on the road again, documenting the process, all with the freedom to take the scenic route.

​Book Your Studio Session →​