Have you made branding resolutions for 2022?

There is a school of thought that New Year’s Resolutions are a waste of time. Many of us commit to reduce or stop drinking or smoking, many consider joining a gym or starting a business but few resolutions stick.

It’s not difficult to see why as making a promise for the next year, 12 months, 365 days is a massive undertaking and ambition. Perhaps they’d be better replaced by new week or new month resolutions to make goals more achievable.

But there is a definite change in the air in January in this country. We see it with the weather where days are getting slightly longer, we see regeneration in soil where snowdrops poke up and bloom, followed by early daffodils and other spring blooming plants.

For businesses too, new year marks a new start after the slumber and shutdown of Christmas and New Year and companies begin to look to improve on performance from the previous year.

There are other useful growth indicators too that are possible at the start of a year:

1. Launching new products
2. Finding new business opportunities
3. Adopting a better work-life balance
4. Embracing hybrid working
5. Exploring self-employment
6. Setting up a business on your own
7. Investing in new technology and equipment
8. Create a retirement or exit plan
9. Improve customer capture and retention
10. Enhance your branding

The past two years of pandemic living have forced many of us to re-evaluate the ways we live and work and, with lockdowns and travel restrictions, many people have gone back to basics. Looked locally. Found new ways of generating income from close to home.

It’s no accident that the major winners in the past year have been those who’ve adapted to this new Covid 19 landscape. Those who’ve embraced a broad canvas of marketing, whether that’s digital or physical branding. The big supermarkets all posted record profits as the “weekly big shop” became the norm.

The high street and hospitality took a bit of a battering but service providers, like tradesmen and women, found their work to be in increasing demand.

Have you tried to make a major purchase in the past year and struggled?

Cars, both new and used, became difficult to acquire. A new kitchen, a home extension, an extra bathroom, fitted wardrobes too, became easy to source but awkward to have installed in a short time-frame.

The thing is that many people have more disposable income than before – they’re not spending it on a holiday abroad or a new car, as they used to, because, well, it’s difficult.

We’re not into making resolutions as a team at Seymour Sign and Print and we’re not clairvoyants. But we can safely hazard guesses that consumers will still spend on home improvements, services, and will continue to move homes.

Your challenge, with help from us, is to make those cash-heavy customers choose you. They see your branding on vans and cars near home and on school runs and make a mental note. They may want a new patio, new windows and doors, and when they spot your smartly liveried fleet, you want them to take a photo, or head to Google and contact you.

The great thing too is that branding, done well, will last beyond 2022.