One of the check boxes on my to-do list last year was to rebrand my copywriting business, a process that was quite intimidating and took a lot more work than I anticipated.
But months of thinking and planning, talking things over with my very helpful husband, and sending lots of emails to my new web designer paid off – my new copywriting website is live!
(It actually has been for about a month, but I realized I never announced it here. Whoops.)
Rebranding was a big decision.
Luckily, I was able to make it early enough in my freelance career that I wasn’t too worried. (A little worried, yes. Too worried, no.) It wasn’t a decision that I made lightly, but I realized that focusing myself on clients in a certain niche, a niche in which I had real-world experience to offer as well as writing experience, was going to be for the best. Many of my clients were already in the wedding or event industry, and the ones who weren’t would, I was certain, understand that the change had nothing to do with not enjoying working for their businesses.
Still, it probably wasn’t a choice I could have made if I didn’t know I have very solid relationships and open communication with my big clients.
For the rebrand to happen, the first thing I needed was a new website.
For that, I decided to go with a professional website designer. My first website, which I created at the beginning of 2013, was something I was very proud of. But, I knew a professional would give me a much more polished look. And I couldn’t be more pleased with how it turned out.
Yes, communicating your vision to someone else is difficult. But so is trying to make things work in WordPress when you have to look up every other html code that you need, and even then, you get it wrong a third of the time. I also knew what I wanted in terms of logos and buttons, and knew that I couldn’t make them happen on my own.
She did a much better job than I ever could have.
Yes, hiring a professional designer cost money. But sometimes running a business does. And as a freelancer, my time is also my money, and I didn’t want to spend it all trying to make a new web design work.
Sometimes, it just makes more sense to pay someone else to do it.
Other steps I had to take?
Picking out a new domain name (one that was more searchable for my niche, plus wedding writing has a nice alliterative flow, don’t you think?) Letting my clients know about the switch (via newsletter). Getting new business cards (yet to happen). Publicizing my new work in my new niche (but that will always be an ongoing process.)
Overall, rebranding was exactly the right choice for me, from the new domain to the new clients.
Now, instead of being a generic copywriter for any business that will have me, I can brand myself as an expert copywriter, blogger, and social media manager for the wedding, event and hotel industry.
That has a much better ring to it, don’t you think?
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