Collaboration_CoverWith the first month of the new year well behind us, it’s time to stop and re-evaluate your resolutions. If my gym is any indicator, people are already falling off the fitness wagon, but maybe there’s still time to salvage some of your business goals. Specifically your brand resolutions, and what you hope your company will look like in 2014.

January never fails to bring in enthusiastic clients, but often that enthusiasm fades, and some of the top priority marketing tasks start slipping further down the to-do list. Rather than getting discouraged that your brand isn’t where you want it to be, take some time to prioritize and get organized (seriously this time!)

First things first, BE REALISTIC.

Maybe you were a little too ambitious on January 1st and bit off more than you could chew. Did you set out to completely rebrand your company and get your new site up and running in a month, with time leftover to discover the key to world peace? As lovely as that sounds, it’s impossible to accomplish so much in thirty days, especially while maintaining any semblance of quality. Setting more realistic goals will allow you to accomplish them and make visible progress.

Take some time to asses what your brand currently looks like. Gather up all your marketing materials and decide what’s working and what isn’t. This step can save you a ton of time down the road, especially if you’re planning to rebrand. For instance, if your company has seen a shift away from direct mail and traditional marketing, towards online ads, now is a good time to acknowledge that and focus more attention on your internet marketing tasks. Taking a look at all your materials at once can also be really helpful in deciding the style changes you’d like to make in the upcoming months. Take notes about the things you like and don’t like about your brand’s current aesthetic, and your designer will be able to use those during the redesign process.

Once you’ve decided which items are most important to your business you can start making a realistic schedule. Not everything needs to be done at once, so pick a couple things to start with and go from there. Whether it’s a new project or an update, we tend to do things in the same order for our clients. Typically we start with our clients style and voice. Once we’ve establish what those are, we can move on to logos and branding, then website design and other marketing materials and advertising. Always think of your branding goals as a process, and not just one big step.

CalendarSetting attainable goals and making a schedule is going to help get your brand back on track, but only if you make it a priority. If you have weekly check-in meetings with your web designer, don’t cancel. If your graphic designer is waiting for feedback on something, schedule time to look at what they sent, so they can get back to work. Letting your brand updates fall further down your to-do list is a slippery slope, and once you get behind it can be really hard to get back on track. If you want to accomplish your goals, treat them with importance.

It’s still early in the year, so instead of getting discouraged about unfulfilled resolutions, take action. Start fresh, get organized, and make your brand everything you want it to be this year.