Many people have seen their incomes drop during this pandemic. Being a small business owner is tough right now. It is, however, not the time to rest easy! It is time to think about what we can do for our business. If your sales are down and you’re not busy, this is a great time to think about revamping your handmade business brand.
For many handmade business owners, their brand isn’t given much thought. But we should be thinking about our brand. It’s what our customers see whenever they interact with us. Our brand conveys our values to prospective customers and can tell people an awful lot about our business before they even see our products.
So, to revamp your business, start it by doing a few changes in how your business operates. You can do a few changes in your home workspace or studio; for instance, get better furniture items from a seller, such as an office monster, to make your work more efficient. Once you have more confidence in yourself and your business, start with changes in client services like better management, client dealing, helpdesk facilities, on-time order delivery, etc.
How to start a rebrand
If you’re not an experienced graphic designer (and let’s face it – most of us who are redesigning our handmade business brand are not design professionals), then the simplest way to create a new logo and start your rebrand is to find some fonts that you like.
Look for fonts that represent your brand and even you as a person. Is your brand fun? Whimsical? Serious? Modern? Old fashioned? All of these things can be conveyed through your font choice. Just typing your business name out in a couple of different fonts can start to make you think about how you want your brand to look. And don’t forget that there are plenty of places that you can get your fonts free to experiment with.
Make sure you live with your font choices for a few days before you change your website and shop. You might find that after a bit you come back to your designs and they’re not as good as you initially thought. And remember to always ask a trusted friend for their opinion too.
Imagine your packaging
Once you’ve decided on a few different fonts that you feel represent your brand, if you’re savvy with Photoshop you can start to mock up your ideas. This enables you to see how they might work in on your packaging.
Searching Google for design resources will give you lots of options for mockups and templates that you can use to start to envisage how your handmade brand might look.
Some handmade business owners think that their branding is only relevant for their website and online marketing. But the reality is that you need to continue your brand throughout the customer experience with consistently. The moment your customer opens the package that you’ve sent them, they should know exactly which business it is from. You might want to consider professional help from the likes of Epic Packaging and similar companies, who can help you rebrand your store! Talking about packaging, keep in mind that one of the things that customers nowadays are very cautious about is whether a business is using eco-friendly containers. Since the world has finally started showing its concern about the planet, it might be a good idea to ditch the typical plastic packaging that you might have been using for a long time. Instead, switch to an eco-friendly Custom Boxes Design to show your love towards Mother Nature and your effort to attract customers by using something unique.
Know that branding goes beyond just fonts and logos. It goes into the materials you use and the style in which you package. For instance one of the things that are important to my brand is that I’m environmentally conscious and only use natural fabrics in the things I make. I continue those brand values into my packaging, using cardboard boxes and recycled tissue paper for my packaging. I may also look for transfer stickers and packaging stickers with the business logo and name to use for business branding. I even have a natural-feeling business card rather than a card that has a glossy finish.
I hope that these tips have been helpful and that you can find something constructive to do for your business during this COVID-19 lockdown.
