In the past month our work lives have changed radically. For many of us, “working from home” has become the new standard. And even so, some business owners are experiencing some forced down time.
So what can you do with this “extra time”? What can you do that will help your business when we eventually get into recovery (yes, it will happen)?
This may actually be a great opportunity to tend to your brand image. It might be the time to clean up all those items you promised yourself you would get to later….but you never did (under regular circumstances).
So if you find yourself thinking “what can I do for my business today?” this might be the time to just clean up your visual brand and make sure it’s consistent across the board-online and offline.
Set aside a few hours – or perhaps a day-and go over the following items. Cleaning up these items, or at least starting the process, will have you in better shape for when business picks up. And you’ll be ahead of the pack.
1) Website update
You may not be able to update your website yourself-but you can review all the pages and see what needs to be changed. This is specially true if you haven’t had a website update in more than 3 years.
Take some time to review your written content in particular. This is one task most people dread, and leave until it’s almost too late.
2) Your contact info
This is just a simple review and clean up. Check that you phone numbers, email address, and any other contact info is still in use and relevant. You’ll be able to make changes in places like your Facebook or Twitter pages.
When it comes to your business card, contact your designer. She’ll be able to update your info and get you some new printed cards fairly quickly.
3) Tagline
Look over your marketing collateral. Is your tagline used consistently everywhere? If it isn’t, decide which version you want to use moving forward-and make changes where you can. If you work with a webdesigner, it should be fairly easy for him to update your tagline.
Other places, like your social media pages or directories of organizations you belong to, shouldn’t be too much of a challenge. You just need to give yourself the time.
4) Promotional items
Review the promo items you’ve been giving away. Is it time to come up with something new, more current? You may not be ready to place an order, but you certainly can do some reasearch to find some innovative new options. And now you will have the time to actually plan and budget, so that you’re not stuck ordering the same boring old pens you’ve had for years.
Those 4 items above should give you plenty to work on. And in a few months, your business image will be freshened up, updated, and ready to get back on track.
If you’re having a hard time figuring out a plan for creating or updating your brand image, please contact me. I am offering a 30-minute complimentary video chat to discuss your needs, and answer your questions. I know it can be tough to figure out what to do first and where to spend your money-specially in our current situation.
–Loreto
loreto@loladesign.ca