As a copywriter, I thrive on writing a strong hook for any given piece of content – but today is going to have to be an exception because all I want to do is skip the intro and tell you:

MY REBRAND IS HERE!

And goodness, what an adventure it's been. 

If you've been around here for longer than 2 seconds, you know that I simply don't do anything halfway (my About page literally says “whole ass only,” for crying out loud), and this rebrand has been NO exception – so in true Hello & Co form, I’m taking you behind the scenes of it all.

PS – a very special shoutout to Kristina of Gem Creative Co., who was the absolute best possible design partner for this project (and who met my thousand ideas with a thousand of her own)!

Why A Rebrand Was Necessary

Yep, necessary. 

A lot of the language I see around rebranding in the ~online space~ is vague about what that means (if you want to give me a “brand that works,” TELL ME MORE! Be so specific!) – but as a former brand designer who’s written website copy for several brand & website designers, I’m about to tell you *exactly* what was going on in my business that moved rebranding from “would be nice” to “must do before anything else.”

>> Want to listen to the full story behind the rebrand? I recorded an entire podcast episode about it!

#1 – My brand wasn’t ~me~

I didn’t feel like my brand. Or my brand didn’t feel like me? Something wasn’t right.

My DIY brand was full of bright, springy colors like hot pink and bold teal, and it was fun! It honestly all worked together! But it wasn’t me.

• It didn’t feel grounded enough to reflect the strategy and intention I put into my work, OR the results my clients see through that work.
• My brand felt disconnected from my personal sense of style, so I felt like I was catfishing my audience every time I filmed video content or actually showed myself (and as my girl Sara says, catfish don’t convert).
• Because I felt disconnected from my brand, I didn’t want to create content or show up at all – which is like, THE only rule of marketing. Or at least, the first one. I was avoiding the camera and my content both subconsciously and intentionally, because it felt so misaligned to show up. My brand was preventing me from creating the type of connection-focused, authentic content I’m known for (and that brings in subscribers, clients, and new friends) – and in turn, it was costing me visibility and clients.

#2 – Disjointed, cluttered visuals

Because I never actually took the time to sit down and create a consistent, layered aesthetic (I just went the quick fonts + colors route), I recreated the wheel every single time I sat down to create a post, slides, an email, or literally anything graphic-y.

Every time I thought a design needed a ~little something~ I chose a different something, which:

• Took forever each time
• Made my content less recognizable, because there wasn’t a clear throughline
• Was actually just really expensive, because I kept buying random icons and graphics and fonts to spruce things up

#3 – The logistical nightmare

My brand was quite literally getting in the way of doing things I want to do! At the time of my rebrand, I’d just launched the very first session of my messaging & copy program, which has its own subbrand (its own look), so I knew that would probably only need minor changes over time – 

But I still had:

• New product ideas
• Workshops I wanted to teach
• Offers I wanted to create

And I kept telling myself that I’d do them later, or they weren’t worth doing now because I’d just have to redo it all after I “finally fixed” my visuals.

Which I maintain is valid, because I was already planning on a rebrand and didn’t want to spend a ton of time designing new email sequences and slides just to have to go back and redo it once I had actual brand guidelines.

HOWEVER, waiting on all of that cost me money! And I did launch some of it in the meantime, because I’m an Action Girlie at my core – but it nagged at me while I did it, affected how I showed up to sell it all, and it’s just better like this okay.

The Rebrand Itself

Here's what Kristina and I kept in mind throughout the entire rebrand process:

I'm known for being funny, but also for being effective.

When Kristina asked me how my clients would describe me, I actually laughed nervously because I *thought* the answer would be “funny” (and “easy to work with” and “very good at seeing to the heart of a problem”) and it turns out:

I was right!

She surveyed some of my past clients (the best insights come from your literal clients; I’ll die on this hill) and found that I’m the website copywriter they hire because…

• They don’t have to worry about their stuff when I’m handling it
• I get it done *right*
• I make the entire process fun
• I take their project seriously, but not myself

I actually mentioned one of my more recent newsletter subject lines, AKA “Getting The D(ata)” on our kickoff call as proof of my sense of humor and it became a clipart moment! Cute!

One of the reasons I write the best copy is my knowledge of website design.

Website copy is NOT just about sounding good! It’s intricately related to your overall website strategy (what pages you need, what they should say, where they should guide people) and you absolutely cannot separate it from design – 

But as a website designer AND copywriter, I don’t! And websites turn out better for it.

Whenever I write a website, I pre-format the copy (this is called wireframing & it’s my favorite) to make sure it all makes sense visually AND linguistically. It’s entirely in the small details, like:

• Making sure columns and lists have about the same number of characters, so they look even
• Adding paragraph, line, and section breaks where they make sense for a WEBSITE
• Putting in enough placeholders for buttons/calls to action
• Even making sure the length of words in a sentence/heading give you a visually balanced sentence (without needing a hyphen to break it between lines, or a single word on a line)

Kristina gave me an entire design motif centered around website wireframes, and I am OBSESSED – it even made it into my logo suite!!! Look at her!

The Reveal

As a website copywriter, of course my website is THE place to visit if you want to see how I actually put my brand into action! But since you're already here on the blog, allow me to introduce you to my personal favorite pages:

• My About page, which inspired some of my clipart phrases
• My Portfolio page, with a few small nods to my Kindle addiction
• My Services page, that's basically a love letter to all of my potential clients
• My Contact page, which is where you should go to become my newest favorite client!

More Of The Rebrand

For even more rebranding BTS, you'll want to head to…

• The podcast, where I break down why I rebranded repeatedly in my first few years of business, how I chose a designer, the process – basically, all of it!
• The BTS video, where I show you every single element of my brand, why and how it was incorporated, and all my favorite moments!