4 Things to Work on in Your Business Branding Whilst Clients Slow Over the Holidays

The holiday season is a time to spend surrounded by people important to us – our family and loved ones. It is a time of reflection on the year we’re about to leave behind us, as well as a season for giving.?

Which is why it’s perfectly normal to have less client-focused work, fewer consultations, and even, less clients. But this is also the perfect opportunity to work on your business branding ready for the new year, when things get busy again!?

Where to start…

We all know that?business branding?is important year-round and one of the things I like to do is keep notes and ideas throughout the year when I don’t have time to make huge changes, and then it gives me a perfect starting point over the holidays.?

If in doubt, start by giving your website an audit, after all it’s often the first impression between you and your prospective customers. Here are some business branding options to pay particular attention to.

1. Stay on top of popular trends

Trends are something that can immediately thrust you into the spotlight with potential customers, and the holiday seasons are often very lively online to make the most of this. It shows that your brand is current, up-to-date with the latest health techniques, and also gives you a way to see services and products that your audience is into right now, so the holidays are a great time to see what resonates well with your target audience.?

Following popular trends and hashtags on Twitter and Instagram is a great way to reach potential clients year-round. So, if you see a trending hashtag that matches a course or service that you provide, create an ad, social post, or even blog post that will tie into it and use the opportunity for promotion.?

How to tie this into your branding prep:

• Do hashtag research to prepare for the new year, ready for new social posts.?
• Create your own hashtag specifically for your brand
• Write several on-trend blog posts and schedule them to get a traffic boost
• Create on-trend social media posts that will attract potential customers

Note: You want to make sure that your business branding is current but not fleeting. It’s not wise to model your entire brand on a trend that might not be here in a year, but things like colours, recurring trends, or even something that ties in with your existing scheme would be good to plan or tie in.

2. Retarget potential customers

Most people like to visit several sites when looking for inspiration on what to buy. When you manage to attract new prospects to your site, use retargeting to remind them of how awesome your products or services would be as a gift.?

You already did the hard part by getting them to visit your site for the first time, so retargeting will help you seal the deal.?

How to tie this into your branding prep:

• Make sure you have social media pixels on your website (this is how you get the retargeting to work.?
• Create social media images that match across any of your channels as well as your website so that you’re instantly recognisable.
• Have a countdown promotion on your website to drive urgency in making a purchase over the holidays. New year is always a good cut-off.?

3. Are your values the same??

When was the last time you went through your health coach business branding? Have you checked that you are still portraying the right message about your branding, tone of voice, and what is important to you??

If the answer to that is no, it’s time to do a branding audit.?

How to tie this into your branding prep:

• Based on the customers you’ve attracted and converted this year, is your target audience the same??
• Is there something missing from your branding documentation that you need to adjust for?
• Do you still stand for the core values that you did when you last checked your values? If not, why not, what needs to change?
• Once you’re done, remember to check your social media bio sections to make sure that it aligns with your website and overall branding.?

4. Be your clients

One of my favourite things to do is to spend a couple of hours in my client’s shoes and experiencing what they do with my website and branding. That means ‘going incognito’ and searching online with keywords or key services and seeing where I pop up. This helps me determine how much work on SEO and presence I need to do and where to start!

Plus, I like to take a tour around my website and social media, clicking on links to make sure they work, seeing if I need to spruce up any documents on my website as well as catching any old or out of date copy too!

How to tie this into your branding prep:

• Write a list of any part of the experience that is not streamlined and needs to be changed, as well as any out of date information that you need to fix (double check pricing pages as well as documents that you might have as downloadables and PDFs!)?
• Do some keyword research of the top results that have come up that you searched for. What have they done differently that you can incorporate into your own branding??
• Ask friends and family to check your website and social media out and ask them what their first impressions are, this can be a great indicator of whether you’re getting the right message across.?

Another really important element of making sure you’re giving the best experience is being mobile-ready! Almost a third of purchasing decisions are made on mobile now, so you want to be accessible to potential customers. Use landing pages that are responsive, easier to read on a mobile, and make sure images, videos, and pop-ups are responsive too for the best experience.?

If you’re struggling with where to start, need a branding update, or help with your website, contact me today, and I’ll help you find the best ways to rework your business branding.