Ciara invested in her brand & website to book more high-ticket clients

If you are at the stage in your business where you are pivoting away from 1:1 work to do more work with bigger/corporate clients, you may relate to Ciara’s story.

Through her business Positive Prospects, Ciara works in the career sector and has done a mix of 1:1 and corporate work. When she came to me, she was ready to focus more on the corporate work and she knew the brand & website she had was holding her back from doing this effectively.

Where she was with her brand and website…

1. No visual brand – Nothing to visually make her stand out

First of all, something that was holding Ciara’s business back was a complete lack of a visual brand. It held her back because there was nothing eye-catching about the communications she was sharing with her audience. Without a visual brand she also wasn’t showcasing her business in the most professional way. She had to rely on default Canva graphics that could be used by anybody in her industry. That’s not the best approach if it’s time for you to level-up your business and stand out to your ideal clients. She also found whenever she went to create something, from a social media post to a presentation, that she was starting from scratch each time and ending up with something that looked completely different from the last thing she made, give or take a few colours. As someone that is great at sharing content about her business and does it quite often, this messy process was frustrating her and wasting hours of her precious time. She knew it was time for a change.

2. A DIY website that didn’t do her justice

Like lots of businesses when they start, Ciara created a website herself on Squarespace. It was a great option for her to get her business off the ground, but as her business grew she realised she outgrew what she managed to put together herself.

Realising this was a really important step for her. It meant she could spend her time looking for the right designer to work with to get her to the next level instead of spending days/weeks/months going down Google rabbit holes trying to teach herself how to become a professional web designer. All that would lead to is wasted time and an urge to throw her computer out the window! I’m mentioning this because I think there is a lot of pressure on business-owners to be able to do everything themselves all the time. And while we all have to start somewhere (trust me I get it as a business-owner myself), it’s just not possible to achieve high-standard results in areas you’re not an expert in, in a timely manner.

Where she is now with her brand and website…

1. She has a brand inspired by her career experience and tailored to attract more corporate clients

While working with me Ciara got a chance to really dig in to what her brand is and how she wants it to be visually represented. This first step of the process is really important for me as the designer to really be able to get a feel for the brand and what the client is looking for. It is also such a great chance for the business-owner. If, like Ciara, they didn’t have a brand in place before working with me and were relying on using generic Canva graphics, then this is likely the first time they’ve considered their brand in this way. Who is it for? How should it be seen? How should it make her audience feel?

Having this in-depth exploration of the brand in place first, made sure that Ciara got to put her stamp on the brand, bringing her experience and taste to it. I take everything she wants on board and I translate some of the things she couldn’t fully describe and transform them into a fully fleshed-out and developed brand. To give you some insight into what Ciara was looking for – she wanted a brand that highlighted her focus on people’s strengths, showed the honest side of people’s career path, hinted at her tech background and has bright colours to give a sense of optimism. That’s a lot of things to condense seamlessly into one clear brand, but with a clear direction and regular check-ins with Ciara for feedback, I think we pulled it off! Ciara was certainly happy with it and is now set up to showcase and promote her business in the best way possible.

Check out Ciara’s reaction to her new brand and website here:

2. A custom-built website that encapsulates all her skills and experience

Far, far away from where she started, Ciara now has a custom website that shows off exactly what her business does and who she does it for, in all its wonderful glory!

When you DIY a website you are soooo limited as you are usually doing the following:

• Ignoring that you have to do the job in the first place. Anyone else shove overwhelming tasks like this onto tomorrow’s to-do list? Every. Single. Day?
• Stressing out just trying to string some accurate information together on a few linked web pages
• Spending hours trying to figure how to get a tiny section of your site to look they way you want it to
• Trying not to pull your hair out and throw your laptop out the window – no matter how much a platform is marketing as “easy to use” and “no coding skills required”

But a DIY website will do grand won’t it?? Absolutely, when you’re at the start of you business journey, but not when you are ready to level up like Ciara was – and like you probably are.

That flung together DIY website might technically count as having the website task ticked off the to-do list, but it’s doing nothing to convince those high-ticket, dream clients to work with you. Not at the rate you deserve anyway.

What a customised website like the one Ciara now has, does for your business is elevate how you are seen in your industry. It helps to shape the perception people have of the work you do and its value. You want this high-value perception to be supported at all times in your business. Not because you’re trying to hoodwink anyone but because you are just that good at what you do, and the world finally needs to see you as the trailblazer you are.

Check out more of Ciara’s brand and website here.

Let me know in the comments where you are in your business journey. Is it time for a brand and website upgrade?