Just over 2 years ago, the Academy and its associated campuses had a complete make-over, or more precisely, a re-brand. One of things I found really exciting about the process of re-branding as opposed to branding a new business, is all the knowledge about your business you can bring to the ‘branding brainstorming table’.
When just starting out, you don’t know your business yet. You can do research into your target market and spend time developing goods/services that you believe will appeal to that market, but there is still an element of unknown in there. You don’t know your business or what people will think of it as yet. That doesn’t mean you don’t brand or spend time on your brand in the beginning, but it does mean that it is ok to re-brand in the future and if you feel that your business can benefit from it.
One very simple reason for re-branding is that society changes. When the Academy first started, online education was very new and social media was not a way of ‘doing business’, in fact it was not yet a way of communicating at all. In the space of a few years this one very simple thing changed everything; from how we do business, to how our target market thinks, speaks and acts.
Another reason why re-branding can work is that you come to a re-brand with knowledge about your business and what your customers think about you. When re-branding, you can ‘think deeply’ about your brand and your ideal client, because you now have knowledge about those things. Your customers give you this information in their buying habits and feedback. It can also be found in looking at the demographic you attract. Where do they live, what are their spending habits, how old are they, where do they work? With this information in hand you can work backwards towards a brand that reflects who you are now and into the future, rather than where you came from and where you were projecting to in the beginning.
If you have had a wedding or event business for several years, now might be the time to give your brand a check-up to assess whether it is still sending the message you need it to in order to attract your ideal client. If you are just starting out, a good way to start thinking about your brand and the ideal client you want to attract, is to think about your ideal working environment and your own personal style, as Academy student Morgan has done in the inspiration board below. Thanks so much for sharing your vibrant board with us Morgan.
Graduates of the Academy may find it useful to review their business units ahead of a re-brand. You may also like to read this blog post by our CEO Kylie Carlson, about using mind-maps for rebranding.
