I don’t know if you’ve realised but Technology & Digital Marketing Trends are moving faster than ever before. It might be that you’ve spent a lot of time and money building a website a year or two ago but you feel that it’s not quite up to 2015 standards. You are probably right!
It brings back into the focus the importance of keeping up to date with Business Trends (keeping up to date doesn’t mean activating something new all the time). It does mean putting things in place to ensure that when the time comes you can refresh your brand at little cost and effort. We must be RESPONSIVE in 2015, it’s the buzzword for the year. Responsive to trends, to target market, to technology. It’s something we talk about in the 2015 Marketing Bootcamp E-Course.
I’ve recently re-branded Market Me. I’ve always LOVED orange as a marketing colour – it stands for Creativity, which is totally what I want my Brand to be recognised for. So when I spoke to my chosen designer Mandy from Creatistic, I said I wanted something simple, modern, fresh, orange and black, with an icon, she literally nailed it the first time.
I’m going to take you through my rebrand to show you how it looks, but first…
Few Current Design Trends to highlight
There are a few things really sticking out for me right now:
- WordPress – a perfect solution for an ever changing Technology World. I love WordPress because it means I can change the look and feel of my site when I feel it needs it, shift things around, mix it up, but the CONTENT stays the same. The images just keep getting added and the site gets better and better.
- When it comes to Business Names and creative taglines, less is better. You will notice that a lot of the NEW awesome Brands being promoted on social media right now are one or two word Business Names. They are quick and easy to promote and look great in marketing. I think we need to say GOODBYE to looooooonnnnnnggggg Business Names and Taglines. Find something memorable that can represent your brand well.
- Simplicity – I’m noticing a lot of while, modern fonts (yep said goodbye to Century Gothic a few weeks ago), and the creative use of letters in Branding and Web Design. It’s all about BOLD colours right now. The rustic and light colors are being used less and less.
- Icons are HUGE! In fact with my logo re-brand, I asked specifically for an icon that I can use on my marketing. I want people to know me by my icon first, second by my name. It’s a great way to make an impression, and I’m having THE BEST TIME, playing around with my new little person, which actually matches some of my ‘out of the box’ professional images that I had taken and use in my marketing. You can use icons for so many things including Avatars etc.
- FONTS – Please, Please, Please, do a review of fonts! Times New Roman is so old school. You may have also noticed that Modern Branding sometimes includes handwritten fonts. I’ve got a hand written font in my logo, and I also then use this font in my marketing stuff.
- Professional photos are the shiz – If you are a Product Based Business, you need professional images or they need to be well placed so they really make an impact. One of my clients has done this sooooooo well and I visit her website just to look at them! It sets an incredible high quality tone for her Business.
http://www.thesilvergoosejewellery.com.au/
If you are a service Business, you can use Stock Photos. There are a number of websites you can use but I like www.dreamstime.com because I think their pricing is the best out there, and it’s very easy to use. I can pay between $3 and $6 for a photo.
I ALSO have engaged a Photographer to take photos of me! Being the person behind the business, I thought I needed to get some done. I have then used one of these photos in my other branding to help integrate it, but to also give it more depth. I also think this is quite unique as I haven’t seen it done much! I loved working with Jaime K Photography.
So this is one of the photos I had taken, and this is how I have used it to add depth to my branding.
This is one of many shots taken by my incredibly talented Photographer Jaime K Photography, with the help of Pete Dobre Photography down at Port Willunga, SA. You’ll see I have used the half without me in it for backgrounds.
TIP: Be thinking about what you will be using the photos for when you consider doing shoots like these. Cover pics, Backgrounds, do you want to be able to put wording on them etc.
I created the bottom image above to be my cover image, and I’ve also used it as my email signature. I recently came across a GREAT Email Signature Platform called Sigstr which tracks click through and gives me stats of how many times the signature has been shown (how many emails I’ve sent!). The other great thing about this one is that when I edit the Email Signature to reflect my next campaign or product, it automatically changes it for me. (Just make sure that when you change it you log out and back into your email program so the chance can be replicated. It connects with your current email programs for easy integration.
So what does the rebrand look like?
Old logo & new logo 
Website
The background image was a stock photo from Dreamstime. I’ve used it in my marketing for about 3 years now. It symbolises growth.
Facebook Page
Twitter Profile
Eventbrite
I then used my new Branding to create a Promotional Postcard which I’ve been meaning to do for ages!!
I got totally inspired by a fellow Adelaide based Creative Entrepreneur Karen Gunton on using shareables to help promote your brand. And because I LOVE shareables and believe they are great in getting those little nuggets of wisdom out there, I started to create some images to share. Storytelling is a buzzword in 2015, and images help share part of your story!
2015 is my 5th year in Business, and I actually feel like I now have everything in place to really get things moving! It’s amazing that when you have the confidence of a strong brand behind you, what you can actually achieve. If you do it on your own, it can take a few years, BUT if you work alongside someone who has already ‘been there and done that’ successfully, you can be ready to roll in no time at all.
If you’re struggling with your Business, or you think it’s time to ‘up the anty’, why not shoot me an email and we can have a chat about the best way forward.
I’m soooo pumped right now, and I want that for you too.
Nic Jones
