My creative tank is on E.
I've worked as a full-time creative for long enough to know that creativity ebbs and flows.
But there is a difference between a creative lull and a creative burnout.
And I can feel a bit of the latter right now.
I blame:
- The online world
- My period
- And unchecked doom scrolls for the last week or so.
All of which have resulted in an information overload.
Information overload kills creativity, clarity — and can be frustrating as hell.
Have you ever just wanted an answer to your question, and it seems like you can find so much content online that is related but no one that will just tell you the answer straight up?
I hate that.
There is so much online content that concepts and even words become fluffy, overused, and lose some of their meaning along the way.
And the branding/marketing industry is guilty as hell of that.
Even as a marketing professional, I find all the different terms, concepts, niches, and service providers confusing — especially when it comes to figuring out who does what.
I can't imagine what it is like to navigate building a brand when you aren't already marketing-minded.
That’s why part of my mission is to say it, spell it out, and make it make sense.
Part of what I know I am really good at, but have struggled to find the words to describe — is understanding and connecting the strategic dots between all the little corners of your brand.
It's the piece of the puzzle that has been the driving force behind my brand refresh turned brand rebrand.
But here I go again — throwing around more jargony terms that are soooo saturated.
So I'm dedicating this week's newsletter to clearing some things up (cuz honestly don't we all just need some more things to make sense right now?)
Starting with Rebranding.
We're rebranding days of the week, car companies, and ourselves. But what does the term "rebranding" really mean and how do you know if a rebrand is the right move to make for your business?
Is it just me, or is everyone and their business bestie talking about rebranding right now?
When I first started down the "rebrand" path myself, I swore it would just be a pivot — a refresh.
Lately, however, I've been casually throwing around terms in my content like "rebrand" and "reposition" without defining the difference.
So the question is, when it comes to developing your brand, how do you know whether you need a rebrand, a pivot, or a repositioning?
Let's dig in.
Understanding the difference between just a refresh and a total rebrand helps you know where to best invest in your brand.
So naturally, you start with a quick Google search, and well...
The definition doesn't exactly help to clear things up
Merriam's says:
And Google says:
So, if you ask me, rebranding is a pretty broad catchall term that means you are evolving and updating your brand in some way.
Your brand should grow with you, and if it isn’t, a deeper alignment issue is going on.
→ Doing a total brand overhaul every couple of years sounds like hell, if I am being honest — but it is also a sign of a deeper problem.
→ Rebranding visually does not solve strategic messaging problems. You won’t just magically get new clients overnight with a pretty new website if the strategy (aka. the plan for how you will implement that website in your business), positioning (the unique value your brand has), copy, and functionality aren’t all working together withhhh your marketing.
→ As our interests, the world, and lives evolve, our brands need to evolve along with it. Whether that means a little refresh — or a total rebrand — Understanding what kind of a “rebrand” your brand needs to grow can help you find better information, invest your time and energy, and outsource accordingly.
Chances are — you don’t need a “total” rebrand.
So, let’s define the spectrum of what it means to rebrand, aka. Develop or evolve your existing brand in some way, shape, or form.
Refresh: To update your brand’s visuals and identity, this could include voice, copy, brand photos, and website — but strategically, nothing really needs changing.
Redesign: This is a little more labor intensive than a refresh; you are changing more about your brand, including colors, fonts, and logos, and probably redesigning everything from your website to your opt-in forms and social.
Realignment: If you are realigning your brand, that typically means that back in the day, you had a decent brand strategy but messy action has created some confusion, and you could have visual and/or strategic "cleaning.
Repositioning: In this case, you are evolving your brand for more strategic reasons. Most of us will need to do this at some point, significantly if our offers, audience, and customers are changing or shifting in some way.
There could be some visual evolution, redesign, or refresh happening in combination with the rework in the background on the strategic side of things.
At this end — you are changing how people think about your brand, so there is much more work to do with offers, messaging, and content marketing.
A “Total” rebrand: If you are an individual who picks a new name, updates your offers, your identity, all the things — you are doing a total rebrand in my eyes.
Maybe — you aren’t in a season of “re” anything at all
And if so I’m honestly jealous.
I’ll be happy to be done with all the work I am doing on Cedar June and just get to sit back and enjoy it all.
Speaking of that rebrand (are we sick of that word yet in this newsletter or what), I will be rolling out some new offers in the coming months with my new website.
Offers I’ve been working on for almost a year now.
And you know what? Before these offers see the light of day, I want to ensure they're solving real problems for real people – not just adding to the online information overload.
That's why I've put together a short questionnaire to learn more about my audience - and yes, this is me practicing what I preached in last week's newsletter about audience research!
Your insights will help shape these new offerings into exactly what you need them to be.
Ready to help me cut through the information overload and create straightforward offers & resources this year? Take 5 minutes to share your thoughts here ↓
P.S. As a thank you for your time, there may or may not be a little gift waiting for you after you hit submit ✌🏼.
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