3 Tips on How To Rebrand Yourself

I don’t know if I should call it a re-brand or call it finally completing my brand identity. Most of my designer friends can relate, and admit they are the same way. With as many manuals and brand guides as I’ve completed, mine sat undone. With as many social media strategies as I’ve planned and scheduled, my Instagram gets posted to once every few months. I pour so much into creating for clients that when it came to my own brand, in the past, I got as far as a mood board and then just winged the rest. I did enough to make clients pick me, and not much else. No marketing, no platform building, no inspiring – just existing and working.

Thankfully, my mindset has changed and switching to a more lifestyle based purpose prompted a rebrand that inspired me to invest time into myself and into my vision. For once, I took more than a few hours on a random weekend to create a new site. I actually completed a logo that wasn’t just a random typeface I liked with no other working. I finally became the type of client and brand that I was actually passionate about and put work into. Luckily for you, I noted some thoughts and advice along the way.

How To Rebrand Yourself

GET INSPIRED

Sometimes this is the easy part – at first. But it’s important to put the same mindfulness and strategy behind collecting your inspiration for your rebrand as you would a client. By the time you’re putting together that pretty mood board, you need to be considering key aspects of your brand. Some of the things I kept in mind when creating mine (seen below) based on my new business needs were:

• Inspiration for an online shop backdrop / set-up
• Colors that will match my home decor and vibe – since many content images (blog post covers, IG posts, etc) will be shot at home
• A vibe that can match the sustainable fashion pieces from brands that I like
• Isn’t a copy-cat of any known creators in my niche
• Speaks to a long lasting, sustainable brand – and can be in place for years to come without major refreshes

I was inspired by many independent creatives, brands, and studios. I got my palette inspo from a pair of earrings from The Clay Edit thanks to a sponsored Instagram ad. I’ll be buying a pair as soon as her store is back from vacay as a thank you for the inspiration. She’s a small handmade shop, which always feels great to support.

KNOW YOUR WHY

When people asked what I liked about being a designer, I gave the same tired line about loving helping people start their dream businesses. While that’s true overall, it wasn’t a specific why filled with true passion. I feel that even if you aren’t diving into a personal brand that aligns with your business brand like I am, it’s still good to have a niche why. It will fuel you on the hard days. For me, it’s knowing that there’s a better, more eco-friendly and human-friendly way to live life. And from the business side, it’s supporting those companies that acknowledge this and can dive into making changes on a larger scale than I can.

DON’T APPLY PRESSURE

I started thinking about rebranding in June, and actually got started sometime in July. If I would’ve announced it prematurely, my launch date would have been August 1st. So, I’m glad I didn’t, since the date ended up being August 13th. It’s good to hold yourself accountable for doing things for yourself, but not at the cost of cramming something in and it being half-assed. For that reason, I advise you not to publicly announce anything until you’re pretty much done. This gives you time to breathe, time to check for errors, and time to prepare. I’m not some huge fortune 500 company with a huge marketing rollout – just a girl who announced this site launch 3 days in advance. Enough time for me to make some quick promo graphics for Instagram. Once I start building my ideal audience, maybe rollouts will be a little bigger, and out as far as 2 weeks, but for now, this was efficient and didn’t stress me out.

Overall, rebranding is just about being mindful and finally taking time for yourself to create something you’re proud of. It’s also letting go of the pressure to make things absolutely perfect. I also wouldn’t try to erase hard work from the past. For this relaunch, I didn’t create a ton of new content or add new things to my portfolio. That will come later since it’s not my main focus and the old stuff was chosen for a reason. It was more about a little facelift with a better user experience that fits.

Consciously,

Lindsey