Business Education

Smartest Ways to Refresh Your Business Brand for the New Year

The start of a new year brings a sense of renewal and opportunity—a perfect time to breathe fresh life into your business brand. Whether you’re looking to attract new customers, better connect with your audience, or outshine competitors, a brand refresh can be the key to staying relevant and impactful in an ever-changing market.

But refreshing your brand doesn’t necessarily mean starting from scratch. With thoughtful strategy and creative tweaks, you can elevate your business identity while preserving its unique essence. To do this successfully, you’ll obviously need to proceed in the smartest, most effective ways to give your brand a fresh edge for the year ahead. Plus, ensuring it remains memorable, modern, and perfectly aligned with your business goals.

Best Strategies for Refreshing Your Small Business Brand for the New Year

As the New Year approaches, it’s a perfect opportunity to evaluate and refresh your business brand. A well-executed brand refresh can reinvigorate your business, attract new customers, and re-engage existing ones. Here are some of the smartest ways to give your brand a fresh look and feel for the upcoming year:

Reevaluate your brand identity. Start by assessing your current brand identity. This includes your logo, color palette, typography, and overall visual style. Determine if these elements still represent your business’s values and resonate with your target audience. If not, it might be time for an update. A modern, cohesive brand identity can significantly enhance your brand’s appeal.
Update your website and digital presence. Your website is often the first point of contact for potential customers, so it should reflect your refreshed brand identity. Consider a website redesign that includes updated visuals, improved navigation, and a mobile-friendly layout. Additionally, ensure your social media profiles are consistent with your new branding and actively engage with your audience.
Refine your brand messaging. Clear and compelling brand messaging is crucial for connecting with your audience. Review your mission statement, value proposition, and key messaging points. Make sure they are concise, relevant, and aligned with your brand’s goals. Consistent messaging across all platforms helps to build trust and recognition.
Engage with your audience. Building a strong relationship with your audience is essential for brand loyalty. Use social media, email marketing, and other communication channels to interact with your customers. Share behind-the-scenes content, customer testimonials, and user-generated content to create a more personal and relatable brand.
Invest in quality content. High-quality content can set your brand apart from the competition. Develop a content strategy that includes blog posts, videos, infographics, and other media that provide value to your audience. Consistent, informative, and engaging content can help establish your brand as an authority in your industry.
Leverage customer feedback. Your customers’ opinions are invaluable when it comes to improving your brand. Gather feedback through surveys, reviews, and direct interactions. Use this feedback to make informed decisions about changes to your products, services, and overall brand experience.
Explore new marketing channels. The New Year is a great time to experiment with new marketing channels and strategies. Consider influencer partnerships, social media advertising, or even launching a podcast. Diversifying your marketing efforts can help you reach new audiences and increase brand awareness.
Enhance customer experience. A positive customer experience is crucial for building a strong brand. Evaluate every touchpoint in your customer journey, from the initial contact to post-purchase support. Make improvements where necessary to ensure a seamless and enjoyable experience for your customers.
Plan a launch event or campaign. Celebrate your brand refresh with a launch event or campaign. This can be an online event, a special promotion, or a social media campaign to showcase your new branding. An engaging launch can generate excitement and attract attention to your refreshed brand.

Refreshing your business brand for the New Year can provide a significant boost in visibility, engagement, and customer loyalty. By implementing these smart strategies, you can create a brand that resonates with your audience and stands out in the competitive market. Embrace the opportunity to revitalize your brand and set the stage for a successful year ahead.

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How Successful Entrepreneurs Stay Calm Under Pressure

May 16, 2017 No Comments

There’s one thing that’s certain about starting and running a business, there will be challenges. Some are mere annoyances, while others are minor and easily dealt with, then, there are times when it seems the earth moves. It can happen in the blink of an eye, a simple error demonstrating much to your chagrin the butterfly effect. One tiny mistake or misstep makes a larger-than-life impact, and, your team looks to you to deal with the situation. We are told our whole lives that when faced with a challenge to remain calm. While it’s easy to do so as an exercise, things get a lot more complicated in real time. It starts with a stark realization, your heart drops into yours stomach, and, you begin to look desperately for answers. For most of us, that’s a normal reaction, however, for successful entrepreneurs, there’s a different approach. How Successful Entrepreneurs Stay Calm You’re not alone if you believe that stressful situations wreak havoc on lives and cause physical damage, particularly because it’s backed by science. Dr. Travis Bradberry helped to conduct a research study on more than one million people. As the nearby quote states, the analysis revealed that a whopping 90 percent of those categorized as top performers were able to stay calm, manage their emotions, and remain in control. The ability to manage your emotions and remain calm under pressure has a direct link to your performance. TalentSmart has conducted research with more than a million people, and we’ve found that 90% of top performers are skilled at managing their emotions in times of stress in order to remain calm and in control. —Forbes What this teaches us is that people learn to deal with stress, and other neuroscience research has found this to be true. One of the secrets revealed is that staying calm and under control is not an inborn trait. In fact, we also know this because of our instinctive fight-or-flight response–both can make a bad situation a whole lot worse. So, how is it that successful entrepreneurs stay calm under pressure? Well, they do these things: They take a breath and step back. Okay, we all know to do this, but, how many of us actually practice it? Too often, we let our gut instinct fly, which in most instances, isn’t a path to solve the problem but exacerbate the situation. Taking a deep breath allows you to breathe, in other words, calm your nerves, and your brain. They solicit and seriously entertain ideas. Look to some of the most successful people in business, and, you’ll definitely find a common trait: trust. We’re not talking about self-confidence, but trusting in others, or, put another way, giving serious consideration to the ideas and suggestions of other people. Behind every successful business person, there’s a team of people they trust and rely on for advice. They think carefully but don’t fret the outcome. Rather than focus on the moment and allowing it to become an exercise in fear and doubt, look to the future. While what you face might be heart pounding at the moment, it’s quite helpful to see the good that will come from it. Fear produces poor decisions but hope gives you options and a sense of peace. They stand by their beliefs and principles. When confronted with a problem, rather than give into the pressure, successful people choose to stand by their beliefs and not compromise their principles. While this might cause a setback, it serves a higher purpose and makes a statement. They relabel their emotions. Though not easy, this is very helpful. Instead of giving into fear, reroute the feeling into anticipation. You can turn frustration into desire, and transform dread into wise caution. It takes practice to do these things, but becomes more natural over time. That’s a good thing, because you’ll learn a lot on your journey and different constructive coping mechanisms that produce real results. [shareaholic app=”follow_buttons” id=”26833294″]

Edit Column To stand out in today’s crowded market, brands often need more than traditional advertising. Guerrilla marketing—a creative, surprise-driven approach—offers companies a unique edge by using imaginative tactics to make a lasting impression.

3 Ways Business Owners and Entrepreneurs can Find more Free Time

March 8, 2021 No Comments

A substantial percentage of established business owners and fledgling entrepreneurs have experienced significant change over the course of the past year. Some had to make very difficult decisions and enact hard changes in order to survive. Conversely, some have been in the fortuitous position to thrive. Regardless of their circumstances, too many entrepreneurs and business owners struggle to find free time. Fortunately, there are some effective strategies to find more free time and enjoy it. The Dreaded Free Time Paradox The most common problems business owners have when it comes to free time is either not recognizing it, or failing to indulge it. In other words, when there’s free time available, business owners and entrepreneurs most often either prefer to spend it working, simply defaulting to a workaholic mindset. So, it’s often the case that they don’t have any free time, as much as it is they won’t take time to actually enjoy it. Time freedom is about spending your time doing what you really love doing with the clients and people who mean the most to you. Having more freedom of time is about having the ability to live a full life and have the time to pursue other interests outside of work. But finding time freedom for entrepreneurs can be tough. — Thrive Global This creates a cyclical scenario where any ostensible free time is put either toward their work or, is spent on distractions. That’s often more advice given about business owners seeking free time. That is to say, to identify and eliminate distractions, because they divert away from the task or relaxation at hand. Because entrepreneurs are action-minded people, they mistake any type of work as being valuable. Of course, that’s just not true. 3 Ways Business Owners and Entrepreneurs can Find more Free Time The advice usually given to free up time is to rely on technology, innovative tools of the trade, and eliminate redundancies. Those are all great ways to help streamline your operation, but these mostly work around the margins, and don’t address the core problems. Here are three ways business owners and entrepreneurs can find more free time: Stick to a schedule. It’s very difficult, if not impossible, to find free time in an unstructured environment. The old Friedrich Nietzsche philosophy of “out of chaos comes order” simply doesn’t apply to this situation. So, get yourself on a schedule and follow a routine. It can be flexible and should not be rigid, but should provide you with structure. This will greatly cut down on distractions, and force you to focus on the highest priorities, and work your way down to the lowest. Put your business on a budget. Before you scoff, remember this — a budget doesn’t always mean spending less, it means always spending smartly. Too many business owners either spend their time worrying about their finances. Others know their general financial situation, but dwell on every possible contingency. In either case, they waste a great deal of time worrying, because they really don’t have a plan for their company finances. Money just comes in and goes out, but with very little accountability. Creating a realistic budget allows you to operate your business with a lot more certainty, and that in turn, will create more free time. Hire (back) help. You might have responded to the pandemic and ensuing chaos in a number of ways. Perhaps, it was necessary to reduce your payroll and take on more responsibilities yourself. Or, you’ve been taking on more work personally, because you haven’t found the time to hire people to help. The longer this unnecessary stress goes on, the more you risk burning out. It not only steals away valuable downtime, it is also counterproductive. So, get yourself on a schedule, lay out a budget, and hire on some help when and where needed. What other suggestions do you have for creating more free time? Please take a moment to share your thoughts and experiences so others can benefit from your unique perspective! Interested in learning more about business? Then just visit Waters Business Consulting Group.

How to Choose the Right Business Bank Account

May 17, 2021 No Comments

The right business bank account can do wonders for any entrepreneur. Whether you’re starting a new venture, are an independent contractor, or just have a side gig, a commercial bank account is generally a very good idea. Not only does it help you separate business transactions from your personal purchases, it can also serve as legal protection. So, read on to learn more about how to choose the right business bank account. Top Business Bank Account Benefits A commercial bank account makes it a cinch to tracking business expenses. You can monitor spending with ease. Plus, it can also be a big help in preventing overspending. What’s more, having a dedicated business account will be a huge time-saver come tax time (which can be every quarter, by the way). Business checking accounts can make it easier to separate business spending from personal spending. If you run a small business, are self-employed or earn money as an independent contractor or gig worker, a business checking account is something you may need. But which one is best for you? Just as with personal checking accounts, choosing a business bank account comes down to finding one that offers the right combination of features, benefits and cost. —Forbes.com Additionally, a business bank account makes your organization look more professional. This, not to mention you can also usually enjoy some personalized and professional services of your own. For instance, having documents notarized for free or a minimal fee. Or, helping you to choose the right business credit card and/or debit card. How to Choose the Right Business Bank Account Unfortunately, choosing the right business bank account can also be a bit intimidating. After all, you want to get the most out of it while paying the least (since practically all commercial accounts charge fees). So, here are a few helpful tips to find the best business bank account: Ask about fees and requirements. There are very few business bank accounts without fees and requirements. But, some financial institutions waive one or more fees if the account continually maintains a certain minimal balance and/or has a number of business transactions. Know not all introductory offers are the same. Some banks offer very tempting introductory offers. Of course, these expire, so you want to make sure you understand the exact terms. Moreover, pay close attention to what occurs thereafter because it might well be a lot more trouble than it’s worth. Do your homework. Of course, you can always get recommendations from other businesses. But, don’t just go on their experiences alone. Take some time to research different banks online and see how they perform with the Better Business Bureau. Commercial customer reviews could also tell you a whole lot about how a bank treats its business customers. Compare and contrast. Obviously, you’ll need to stack your possible options up against one another. While one might charge a bit more in fees, it could offer waivers. Or, you could value having several branches because it’s more conducive to your business’ needs. Be sure to go over the pros and cons of each to decide which is the best overall fit. What other suggestions do you have in selecting a good business bank account? Please share your thoughts and experiences so others can benefit from your unique perspective! Interested in learning more about business? Then just visit Waters Business Consulting Group.