Birds chirp, flowers bloom, and as Spring hits its stride many of us are looking forward to a new season. Is it time to take a cue from Mother Nature and give your marketing a refresh this season? Here are a few ideas, inspired by Spring, that you can implement in your marketing strategy right now.

Logo refresh

Refreshing your logo is a less dramatic approach to a complete logo redesign. If your current logo is an integral part of your company’s identity but hasn’t changed in over a decade consider making a few subtle tweaks. It’s a simple solution that pays homage to your company’s heritage and history without compromising your brand. Some ideas for a logo refresh include:

  • Modernizing your typography
  • Brightening up your color scheme
  • Revitalizing your logo shapes
  • Simplifying for a more minimalist look

Unveil a tagline

Like baked goods, taglines can grow stale, especially if your business has evolved. Your tagline should be short, memorable and communicate your brand’s culture or purpose in a catchy way. It’s not a mission statement and shouldn’t be long and dry like one. Some of the world’s best known taglines are just a few words like Nike’s “Just Do It” and Toyota’s “Let’s go places.”

To work on new taglines, try these steps to get started:

Outline your goals

  • Who is your target audience?
  • What emotions do you want to evoke? Humor, inspiration, pride, belonging etc.
  • What benefits of your brand could you highlight?

Brainstorm ideas

  • Host a whiteboarding session with your marketing and creative team
  • Map out words that resonate with your audience – keep in mind the end-user
  • Use a thesaurus to find imaginative alternatives

Trim and test your top five

  • Trim down your top five brainstormed ideas into short, usable tagline form
  • Run these by your internal staff and key stakeholders narrowing it down to your top two
  • Test out your final selections on a segment of your external audience and see what hits the mark

Update your graphics for greater diversity and inclusion

Consider the people that make up your customer base. Now gather your marketing materials and compare the images you see; do they accurately reflect your customer base? Some factors to consider are age, gender, sexuality, appearance, race, physical ability, socioeconomic status, etc. If you’re unsure about who your customer base is don’t be afraid to ask! Send out a survey with an incentive like a coupon or gift card for participation.

Why should it be important to you? Because it’s important to your customers. In 2018, a Shutterstock survey revealed that 88% of Gen X and 90% of Millennials felt diversity helped a brand’s reputation. However, remember to be authentic. Consumers can smell fakes from a mile away. Feature real customers versus stock photography whenever possible.

Spring is the perfect time to sit back and decide if your marketing needs a touch up. If you’re stuck for ideas or need help getting started, give the experts at Lawton a shout. We’d be happy to lend a hand with logo refreshes, crafting a customer survey, or printing new marketing materials using your renewed ideas.