Brand Makeovers: Rhea Freeman On The 5 Things You Should Do To Upgrade and Re-Energize Your Brand and Image
Share. Tell your customers what you’re doing and why. Social media helps us to build tribes of engaged, loyal followers, and the least we can do is share our journey with them. Better still, get them involved in the process so they feel part of the decision. This can be a great way of building engagement and strengthening those all important connections.
As part of our series about “Brand Makeovers” I had the pleasure to interview Rhea Freeman.
Rhea Freeman is a social media expert and small business coach based in the UK. In addition to running membership groups, Rhea is also the founder of the Small & Supercharged Podcast and a Facebook group of the same name designed to help small businesses and influencers in the equestrian and rural space. She’s an award winning PR adviser, #SheMeansBusiness accredited trainer and Facebook Certified Lead Trainer. She’s worked with small businesses for over 15 years.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit more. Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?
I started offering a freelance PR and marketing service to small businesses, predominantly in the equestrian and rural sector, some 15 years ago. Eventually, I went to work for one of my clients in a full time capacity as their marketing manager. After a few years, I moved back to being self employed, but this time with a clearer focus on social media and working closer with small business owners to help them develop and grow their brands. Over the last 10–11 years, social media has become a bigger and bigger part of what I do, simply because of the awesome power it has. Now, in addition to working with my clients and helping them grow their businesses and their audience through their usage of social media, I am also a #SheMeansBusiness accredited trainer and a Facebook Certified Lead Trainer too.
Can you share a story about the funniest marketing or branding mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
I guess mine would be connected to colours. This was really just when graphic design software became more available to non graphic designers (so a while ago!) and, as such, I was learning everything as I went along. I decided a good project would be to redesign my own logo (no idea why I thought this was a good call as I am not a graphic designer!). Anyway, I persisted and got something I was fairly happy with, apart from the colour, as I was struggling to match that by eye. Of course, I then found various tools that could provide the hex code to make colour matching a breeze- but to think of the hours I wasted on that!
Are you able to identify a “tipping point” in your career when you started to see success? Did you start doing anything different? Is there a takeaway or lesson that others can learn from that?
I think success is a combination of many things, and these things take time. There’s no substitute for getting in the mileage as it means you are better equipped to handle and help with so many situations, which is now hugely useful to my clients too. When I decided to really focus in on what I wanted to do and what I was good at vs. trying to be everything to everyone, and putting the time and energy into achieving in this area, it really helped.
Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?
Well, I have written a book which is due out really soon! It’s all about how to elevate your brand on no or very little budget, and I know that if people read it and apply their learnings to what they’re doing, they will see results that will make a big difference to them and their business. I also have a few digital courses I’m working on.
What advice would you give to other marketers to thrive and avoid burnout?
Don’t be afraid to say no. I said yes to too many things for too long. When I realized that for every yes I say, I’m saying no to something else, the bits started to fall into place.
Ok, let’s now jump to the core part of our interview. In a nutshell, how would you define the difference between brand marketing (branding) and product marketing (advertising)? Can you explain?
Branding is part of everything you do. It’s more than your logo and your color palette, it’s your brand voice and it helps people to know it’s ‘you’ on any platform you’re on. When it comes to advertising, this is specific content you create with the sole aim of achieving the objective you set. You would still apply your branding to your ads, but branding should be part of everything you do rather than just ads.
Can you explain to our readers why it is important to invest resources and energy into building a brand, in addition to the general marketing and advertising efforts?
Yes. Your brand is the core of everything you do. It’s what people believe about you, say about you, and share about you. It’s what they expect when they deal with/work with you. It’s everything. If you don’t have a brand that people understand and want to get behind, your advertising and general efforts will have reduced impact as even if people get the product, you’re out there competing with everyone else with that product. If people get you as a brand too, you’ll appeal to your target market all the more because in addition to the product, they know and trust you and the service you’re offering too.
Let’s now talk about rebranding. What are a few reasons why a company would consider rebranding?
To modernize, to show a new direction or to show an expansion. These are the main reasons I see.
Are there downsides of rebranding? Are there companies that you would advise against doing a “Brand Makeover”? Why? The ‘worry’ is that people won’t understand the rebrand or, if it’s a dramatic change, they won’t identify it as you as your appearance has changed so much! If you’re updating fonts to more modern ones, and maybe tweaking your logo but keeping the colours the same/very similar, then it’s not such a big deal. If you’re rebranding everything- the colours, the fonts, the tone, the messaging, then it can feel like a whole new business. One of the key things I’ve seen, particularly during the pandemic, is when companies and associations have rebranded in a big way when they’re having to make cuts in other areas. This doesn’t always sit well with a following. It could well be that all of this was decided and agreed way before other things have impacted on this business, but the story might not look like this to the outside.
Ok, here is the main question of our discussion. Can you share 5 strategies that a company can do to upgrade and re-energize their brand and image”? Please tell us a story or an example for each.
- Fonts. I love a good font as much as the next person, but they can and do date, and free ones can and do get overused. If you have a font that has dated, then it might be worth considering an upgrade here. A few rebrands ago, I picked a font that, when I selected it, wasn’t that popular- and I liked that. Then, one day, I received a parcel through the post from a high street chain which had ‘my’ font on the side with a tagline. I decided it had become too common then. Looking to adjust fonts can be a simple and effective way of refreshing a brand and bringing it up to date with minimal effort.
- Colors. Work with a designer on your colour palette. With social media and all the different types of content and imagery we are meant to create nowadays, it’s nice to have more than one or two colours to use on your content, but you also want to make sure these work together. There are lots of amazing designers out there who can help you make better decisions when it comes to this.
- Consistency. When we upgrade our branding, sometimes it isn’t upgraded on every platform we use. And this can just look a bit lazy on our part. Try your best to change everything if you decide on a more dramatic change, so things don’t get forgotten.
- Share. Tell your customers what you’re doing and why. Social media helps us to build tribes of engaged, loyal followers, and the least we can do is share our journey with them. Better still, get them involved in the process so they feel part of the decision. This can be a great way of building engagement and strengthening those all important connections.
- Sit on it. Make sure you REALLY like what you’re changing for. When you have your proposals in from your designer, don’t jump in. Ponder the suggestions. Speak to people. Think how they’ll work on each platform/product/service. Take your time. Because you’re going to need to do a lot of work to implement these changes across your website, stationery, socials, etc… and you want to make sure that you’re really proud of it when you do.
In your opinion, what is an example of a company that has done a fantastic job doing a “Brand Makeover”. What specifically impresses you? What can one do to replicate that?
Oh gosh- now you’re asking! I like the makeovers that show an evolution rather than the ones that jump from one thing to another without any real warning. One good example of this would be Instagram. As they grow, they tend to update and change their branding, but you always know it’s Instagram because it still has that all important DNA.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
We see a lot about the #bekind movement online- and with good reason- but I really want people to think beyond an on trend hashtag and start applying this kindness to every interaction. This doesn’t mean they should be walked over- you can be kind and assertive- but I’ve seen too many examples of people promoting one thing and doing another. If you’re in doubt about whether to send a DM or add a comment, give it some time and then rethink when you’ve had a moment.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
‘You either win or you learn’ I don’t know who first said this (I’ve seen a lot of different versions online) but it’s so true. This shift in mindset, which eliminates failure and looks for the learning, is huge and has allowed me, and so many others that I mentor, to try new things safe in the knowledge that everything we do will be a win of some kind- either an obvious one, or we will learn something valuable.
How can our readers follow you online?
I’m in all the places — but I’m most active on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/rheafreemanpr, Twitter https://www.twitter.com/rheafreeman, Facebook https://www.facebook.com/RheaFreemanPR and I’m over on LinkedIn too https://www.linkedin.com/in/rheafreeman/, and www.rheafreemanpr.co.uk
Thank you so much for these excellent insights! We wish you continued success in your work.
Brand Makeovers: Rhea Freeman On The 5 Things You Should Do To Upgrade and Re-Energize Your Brand… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
