Every good brand has a few secrets.

At least, that’s what we have noticed. Sometimes they’re secrets about experience, service delivery, or teams—some so minor they barely feel like secrets at all, but monumental to the brand itself.

And in for us, every successful brand has a why.

If we were to tell you why we do what we do, it revolves around 3 secrets that we don’t always share publicly:

1. We aspire to let our perspectives and lifestyles be examples for others, empowering people to achieve what they want with the resources they have.
2. Seeing finished products motivates us—big time. It is incredibly satisfying to help someone go from confused and unclear to confident in what they’re putting out in the world.
3. Everyone deserves to succeed and is capable of more than they know. We want to help people own their calling so they can make an impact in someone’s life.

A few weeks ago, during a half-year business review, we felt it was time to make our WHY more prominent in our business. With the busyness of everyday life and a never-ending to-do list, it’s easy to let our why slip away without even noticing—which, in a way, has been our reality for the last few months.

Something felt off.

Even though on paper, we’ve had more momentum than ever—more leads, more opportunities—we couldn’t help but notice something had to change. Have you ever felt like that? Like everything is going okay—good even—but something doesn’t feel right?

That’s when we decided it was time to revisit our brand and make some changes.

Before we get into our rebranding process, we just want to say—rebranding is not always the answer. In fact, it’s often NOT the answer (which we’ll get into in a moment).

Common Rebranding Mistakes:

# Mistake 1: Rebranding for the sake of it or because you’re bored

Many entrepreneurs fall into the trap of creating a brand just because it’s what everyone says you should do.

Can we be honest for a second? If you’re not making any money right now, forget about building a brand—for now, at least.

We always say, “Build a business before you build a brand.”

A successful brand stems from your experience in delivering your services and products. Focus on selling and serving until you have about 10-15 solid testimonials. Until then, you haven’t earned the right to have a brand.

This might sound a little harsh, but we say this with love and complete honesty, even though we offer brand and website services. If you’re not making money but need a logo or some colors for graphics, DIY it. Yep. Find something you like and call it a day, then focus on selling.

Supporting Resource: Download this 48-Hour Waitlist Revenue Generator to learn how to turn your content into cash, attracting qualified people who want to work with YOU in the next 48 hours!

# Mistake 2: Rebranding based on trends

We get it. They’re all so pretty, right? You see a new trend like using neon yellow or lilac or some high-end elegant fonts, and suddenly, you want to change your identity completely without considering if it suits your brand and fits your personality and vision.

Listen—don’t rush the process.

For our brand, every decision is thoughtfully made; nothing is random. From name changes, type, colors, copy, word choice, texture, placement—everything has a purpose and a job.

Always ask yourself if the style or brand tone you’re considering aligns with your brand’s core values and long-term goals. Trends come and go, but a strong brand identity should stand the test of time.

# Mistake 3: Not having the right or all team members and pieces

Perhaps you’ve worked with a designer and a copywriter before, and the individual assets (brand logos, web design, copy, social media graphics) you received from them are great, but for some reason, they don’t quite work cohesively together.

So you made another attempt to piece together your brand using a website template, thinking, “this is it! I’m gonna stand out,”…but you’re still not feeling it.

The thing is, your brand design, website design, and copy are deeply interconnected. If you work on them separately or hire different contractors for each, you’re likely to run the risk of misalignment.

We see this as the most common pitfall in selecting a design—rushing into aesthetic decisions without first being crystal clear on the narrative and essence you want to convey. This approach can lead to unnecessary expenses and the endless cycle of switching “vibes,” trying to find one that fits.

Building a stunning brand can often feel like assembling a crew for an award-winning movie. Imagine you’re creating the next Best Picture. Stunning visuals might catch your eye, much like a beautiful, ornate set. However, if it doesn’t align with your business’s story, messaging, and unique voice, it’s like having a gorgeous set that doesn’t fit the film’s message — beautiful but ultimately out of place.

If you’re on the verge of purchasing another template or contemplating a rebrand—we urge you to pause and reflect because it’s vital to approach your brand thoughtfully, ensuring every single asset aligns with your goals and message.

Have these pieces dialed in?

We thought it’d be fun and helpful to share our recent rebrand experience—exactly what we did and how we did it—so that you can make better decisions for your next rebranding project.

Our Rebrand Process:

# Step 1: Personal Reflections

We began by asking ourselves some hard, soul-searching questions, involving things that weren’t even about our “business,” such as:

• What activities or interests make me lose track of time?
• What are my natural talents and/or strengths?
• What impact do I want to make in the world? Why does it matter?
• What are my values that guide my actions and decisions?
• What inspires and motivates me?
• What would I pursue if I had unlimited resources and no fear of failure?
• And so many more questions…

Here’s the thing: Your business should be built for your life. Otherwise, what’s the point of being an entrepreneur?

We believe many business owners feel stuck and uninspired about their business is due to forgetfulness:

1. They’ve forgotten their why.
2. They’ve forgotten they are in charge.

By addressing these personal questions, you would be able to reconnect with our core purpose and align our business goals with your personal values and passions. This clarity is incredibly important for laying a strong foundation for building a brand that is uniquely yours.

Starting from your heart, your why—that’s something nobody, no trend, can ever compare to or take away from you. The best part? You will genuinely, wholeheartedly love your brand because it’s not just a reflection of who you are, but an accumulation of your experiences, struggles, talents, and service.

# Step 2: Business Reviews

Next, let’s dive into the business aspect. We conducted a thorough review of our offerings, strengths, capacity, and how we want to feel every day.

It’s important to note that you can refine your business without necessarily undertaking a full rebrand. However, for us, the challenges we faced were directly related to our visuals and messaging.

Our challenges:

• Our portfolio didn’t adequately showcase our design expertise, which we anticipated as a “copy first, design second” studio. We aim to better communicate our design prowess.
• Our visuals weren’t aligning with our target market’s preferences.
• Our brand tone and copy lacked the boldness and clarity we desired.

As mentioned earlier, we believe in establishing a solid business foundation before refining our brand. During the early days of Hype Studio (our former brand), we prioritized sales, experimentation, and learning from both successes and failures. This rapid approach provided valuable insights into our clients’ true needs.

Don’t hesitate to experiment and evolve your business strategy before committing to a rebrand. A rebrand should be a strategic decision—one that propels your business forward rather than a mere response to boredom or a desire for change.

So, if you’re considering a rebrand

Ask yourself: Is it a strategic move that will drive business growth? Or is it simply change for change’s sake? Ensuring it aligns with strategic goals will position you for success.

# Step 3: Brand and Messaging Strategy

This step was the most time-consuming for us, but being a designer and copywriter team had its advantages—we could develop our initial creative direction and messaging strategy simultaneously. During this phase, we hadn’t yet begun crafting the actual logo or website copy.

Here’s how we approached it:

– Creative Direction

Creative direction involves guiding the visual and aesthetic aspects of a brand or project. It focuses on defining the overall look, feel, and style that will convey the brand’s identity and message visually.

Zoe led the charge by:

• Collating our reflection answers to dissect and conduct additional research, envisioning what our brand could embody and seeking examples to communicate our vision in a visual way.
• Establishing a cohesive color palette and typography selection to ensure brand consistency.
• Developing a mood board and a sample website page to help visualize our brand in action.

– Messaging Strategy

Messaging strategy involves developing the verbal aspects of a brand, focusing on crafting the right messages and content to effectively communicate the brand’s values, benefits, and personality.

Cynthia was responsible for:

• Conducting extensive market research so that we can use the language they use to articulate their problems and solutions, ensuring our copy is perfectly aligned with what our audience needs to hear
• Establishing clear guidelines for how our brand should sound, ensuring consistency in tone and messaging.
• Defining what phrases to use and avoid to maintain brand coherence so that we don’t have to start from scratch every time we try to market our services.

# Step 4: Assets Building

After finalizing the initial creative direction and messaging strategy, we proceeded with the design and copywriting phase.

Our brand embodies modern sophistication with approachability. The color palette contains bold colours like orange and blue, evoking a sense of boldness and credibility. These colors were chosen not for personal preference but because they align with what our brand needs to convey creativity without sacrificing professionalism.

We opted for a logo that is sleek and modern yet strong enough to leave a lasting impression and convey ease.

Patterns and textures play a crucial role in effortlessly elevating our brand and web design. Inspired by luxury brands such as Hermes and LV, our pattern strikes a balance between sophistication and ease, avoiding an overly extravagant look while communicating tastefulness.

For the website copy, we’ve aligned our brand voice to be smart, straightforward, with a touch of sass and humor. This adjustment ensures that our messaging resonates effectively with our elevated clientele, moving away from a more lengthy, pain-point focused approach.

Side note: This blog post will get crazy long if I break down each step and tell you how to do everything, like how we approach our home page, about page, etc. So, we’ll leave that for future blog posts.

# Step 5: Copy Integration

Finally! We’re ready to integrate all the copy into our website platform (aka Showit). Our website design is inspired by many modern product shops and their websites. We’re inspired by their clean navigation and placement—it’s easy, high-end, and elevated. So, we adopted the idea to use an all-beige background for our entire website and use our bold colors sparingly to maintain the clean look we’re going for.

Pro tip: Get inspiration from outside your industry. That way, you’re more likely to remain original and find something truly unique.

# Step 6: Prep to Launch

Once the website is ready, we, of course, also needed to update other assets such as our social media, CRM, etc., with our new branding.

Here’s our quick checklist—feel free to use it for your next rebrand launch

1. Social Media:

• Profile Updates: Change profile pictures, cover photos, and bio descriptions to reflect the new branding.
• Content Plan: Develop a content calendar that aligns with the new brand voice and visual style. This includes creating templates for posts, stories, and highlights.
• Announcement Posts: Prepare and schedule posts to announce the rebranding, including teasers leading up to the launch and a big reveal post.

2. CRM and Email Marketing:

• Template Updates: Update email templates to match the new branding, including fonts, colors, and imagery.
• Email Campaigns: Draft a series of emails to inform your audience about the rebranding, the reasons behind it, and what they can expect moving forward.
• Contact Segmentation: Ensure your contact lists are segmented appropriately to tailor messages to different audience segments.

3. Marketing Materials:

• Business Cards and Stationery: Redesign business cards, letterheads, and other stationery items to align with the new brand identity.
• Brochures and Flyers: Update any printed materials, ensuring they reflect the new brand colors, fonts, and messaging.

4. Internal Communication:

• Team Briefing: Hold a meeting to brief the team on the new branding, including key messages, visual elements, and the rationale behind the changes.
• Brand Guidelines: Create a comprehensive brand guideline document to ensure consistency in all future communications and designs.

5. Website Testing:

• User Testing: Conduct user testing to gather feedback on the new website. Make any necessary adjustments based on the feedback to improve user experience.
• SEO and Analytics: Ensure the website is optimized for search engines and that analytics tools are set up to track the performance of the new site.

#Step 7: Launch it!

Could we have done more? Absolutely. Are there more things we want to add to the website? YES! But we didn’t let that stop us from launching. We’ve seen people spend months, even years, perfecting their website because it never feels quite right. Trust us, it’ll never be perfect, but it’s perfect to launch it NOW so you can start growing.

By refreshing our brand, we aimed to embody the modern sophistication and approachable nature that define Maison S. We’re confident that this rebrand will help us better connect with our audience, effectively communicate our values, and stand out in a crowded market. We’re excited to continue serving our clients with a brand that truly reflects who we are and what we stand for.

Did you enjoy reading this blog post? What are your thoughts on our new brand and website? We hope you love it as much as we do.