Goals and resolutions often herald the new year but change has perhaps never been so eagerly anticipated as we look to 2021. Applying that momentum to your work life can create lasting change all year long, whether you’re a small business owner or an employee. Our design and management teams collaborated to share tips that can help your graphics, social media and overall branding reflect your commitment to a better year in ways large and small.
Design Tips to Refresh Your Brand
Chris Thompson
Consider updating your brand: Consider making some changes that could update your logo, especially if you have the same tired design year after year. Even simple changes such as colors and fonts can make a world of difference. For example, Google changed the font in their logo from the classic serif style font to a more modern san-serif font. The change was subtle, but it sent the message that Google is still relevant and paying attention to public perception.
Put it out there…strategically: If you’re going to try updating your visual presence, market it to your customers with a strategic rollout. Share your new look with your audience and let them know you’re here to stay by investing in additional brand assets. Be smart about it, though. Don’t just upload everything at once and expect that it will be well-received. Consider seasons, holidays and special events as lead points. Use those markers time to introduce your audience to your new look and show them what’s to come.
Stay on top of current trends: According to venngage.com, some of the trends for 2021 include using muted colors instead of the bright, vivid colors used through 2020. Also, there’s a shift from the organic and abstract shapes back to the more rigid geometric shapes, and an increasing use of flat icons and illustrations tending to lead to more creative design. If you do a quick search for “current graphic design trends” or something similar, there’s no shortage of information and opinions available. Get a second or third opinion in addition to your own before making major changes.
Tips to Refresh Your Digital and Social Media
Sloane Wellner
Refreshing your digital media
Review the metrics that matter: Spend some time reviewing what metrics are important to your brand, take inventory of how your brand is doing and make adjustments accordingly. Not every metric is relevant to every brand or industry.
Analyze your performance: Focus on strengthening the areas your brand is lacking. Take the time to pull data on how your content is performing across all digital channels. Note where you’re doing well and areas you can improve. Reviewing how your metrics work together should help give some insight in how you can make adjustments to your digital content moving forward.
Check on evergreen information pages: It’s important to keep your content up-to-date but sometimes it's easy to forget about the more static website content like on a website’s Mission, About Us and Team pages. Take some time to evaluate if any changes need to be made to the language. As time passes, the voice of an organization may evolve, especially in light of changes made in 2020 that will continue to impact 2021.
Refreshing your social media
Repurpose your older but still relevant content: When you’ve already done the work of writing an entire series of blogs, there is no harm in repackaging the high points, posting again and promoting on social media. You can even redirect your social media following to visit some of the older content with embedded links as long as it's still relevant to what is happening now.
Engage with other professionals: As business professionals, we sometimes get so busy trying to engage the audience with message-centric content that we forget to stop and be engaged ourselves. Make engaging in conversations relevant to your industry a goal this year. Comment on Facebook, like photos on Instagram and join a few conversations on Twitter, in addition to attending networking events via Zoom or in person when possible.
Coordinate and be current: Make sure you’re using the same photo for all your social media profile accounts. It’s important to maintain consistency across all channels. Double-check links and read over content for relevance in 2021.
Three Areas of Your Digital, Print and Social Media to Update in 2021
Callie Collins
Change copyright dates: If you have copyright dates in your website or e-newsletter footer, delete 2020 and replace with 2021. Update any headers, calendars or fine print that references the old year.
Update contact information: Even if your phone number and email addresses have stayed the same, make sure they are listed correctly with a quick review of your website. If you have moved to a remote work location, update your mailing address.
Turn the digital page on planning calendars: Create new planning sheets you use frequently, like sales tracking and budget documents. Update any templates with the current year and outline key dates to work around.
No matter what your goals are for 2021, we hope the year is much better for all. If you have a specific planning question or marketing challenge, please reach out to our team at price@pricelang.com.