January 6, 2021
You have made it to another year — and like the visionary you are, you have big goals. For your business, for your brand, for your offers, for your audience. All of it. Of course, to make all of those big goals happen, you want to make sure that everything you’re putting “out there,” whether on the internet, in person, or in your communications, is on-brand and fresh.
Here at the Design Lab, we recently wrote about an end-of-year brand audit and all of the pieces that go into reviewing your business’s design assets and processes. If you’ve completed a brand audit, you’re starting with a really clear view of what you have and what you want to do. If you haven’t, that’s alright, too! Either way, we want to make sure that you have a clear view of all your brand’s creative assets (logos, fonts, colors, keywords, patterns/prints, etc.) so that you can quickly and easily update important collateral.
What assets might we be talking about? Think about the last time you refreshed your media kit, or sent out a pricing guide. Maybe you need to create a one-sheeter or a case study this year, or maybe you want a proposal that looks as groovy or polished as your brand is now. All of those are “brand assets” that can be used to create the sort of brand environment you want to extend to your clients or customers!
You’ve done all the thinking, the planning, and you’re ready to rock this year, right? Perfect. So let’s talk about refreshing your current marketing and internal assets, and how you can make new ones that reflect your goals!
You have your logos, colors, fonts, and other brand elements to bring to all of your client- or customer-facing documents, marketing, and so forth. But have you done a refresh of any of the things you’ve created with those brand elements lately? We’re talking everything from newsletter templates to podcast pitch kits, your local area flyers to business cards and slide decks. When was the last time you updated those? (No judgment!)
Instead of cringing when you think about that proposal template you made yourself with Microsoft Word, let’s try something else: Make a list of all of the “templatized” or currently used files and documents you or your team use to share information, book clients, sell products, etc. You can drop them all into a spreadsheet with links to the asset, if that’s easier! From there, you’ll want to go item by item, checking to make sure that everything those assets contains is on-brand and correct.
Ask yourself:
While we want to make sure that your assets include your latest visual branding and design standards, you’ll also want to check each item for:
Fix what you can as you review, or schedule time to do a batch update so that everything is ready to rock (and you don’t procrastinate!). From there, you’ll have a better idea of the different files and documents you can use with more confidence — and brand consistency — in the New Year!
Here’s a peek at our most-used branded assets. Our client-facing service packets and getting started guides get updated every year with updated visual branding, rates, brand language, and relevancy.
Completing a review of all the current files, documents, and templates that are currently in use or exist for your brand is a great first step. This can remind you of all the content or assets you can share with customers or clients! However, it may also show you a certain template or document you want to have on hand, or remind you of a certain asset you’ve been meaning to create for a while.
Most often, this review will remind people they need to create a new pricing sheet, design a new case study, or even create a media kit. You may also find that you need a new pitch deck for a new investor project, or a slide deck for a webinar you intend to run soon. Whatever it is, don’t be afraid to add it to your spreadsheet or asset list, so you keep it top of mind.
Not sure if you really need to create anything new? Here’s a tip:
🍊Do you want to book more clients? Maybe creating a visually dynamic or even animated case study could help.
🍊If you want to increase revenue, is there a new email pitch deck you can create that would hit the mark for potential leads?
🍊Have you found that people ask you the same questions over and over again? Consider creating a one-sheeter with questions that you can email to people or share on your website.
🍊Need to update your rates? A pricing sheet can be a great way to share pricing information objectively and professionally — and make it easier to book new clients.
🍊Are you planning to release a new course soon? You’ll want to make sure that you plan to create workbooks, video thumbnails, and other assets that help your course look professional and aligned.
Of course, these are just a few examples of the types of brand assets you can create (or refresh!) to give your brand the leg up it needs to succeed this year. Review what you have and think about what you’ll need in the immediate future — and always ask yourself: “Does this feel like an extension of my brand? If not, what needs to change?”
Everything, even the most “boring” document, can create the brand environment you want your customers or clients to experience. Don’t be afraid to have fun, explore, and have high standards for how your assets should look! You can find a template to help you get started with virtually anything you want to create!
Speaking of templates…
We know that creating a course is a big undertaking. We’ve been there ourselves! Once we finished all the good stuff that went inside the course, we didn’t exactly have a bunch of desire to design all the things that go on the outside of the course. We also know that messing around with graphics or hiring a designer is just not on your radar right now, which is why we want to share our Complete DIY Course Design Kits!
All you have to do is choose the kit that matches your brand and course, and get ready to make it all your own. You can also design way more than a course with these kits — just see how one our DIY design kit users got ready for her big holiday launch!
With your DIY design kit, you get:
And now, you can also add a matching slide deck to your DIY design kit!
If “sell a course” or “create a digital download” or “host a training” is on your to-do list for this year, you can check out the Complete DIY Course Design Kits today!
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