The five-year mark is a natural milestone to take stock of and, probably, tweak your brand and website. When we started Pixels & Pencils in 2016, our branding reflected an artistic, gutsy, and a little-bit-irreverent startup. More than 5 years later we have evolved, grown, and proven ourselves as a B2B agency contender. We have work in our portfolio that we’re extremely proud of. It was time to revamp the website and brand to reflect our evolution to a mature, boutique firm.
Here are the things we recommend doing every five years, and use these to guide your evolution over the next five.
- Who do you want to work with? Take a look at the kind of clients you most enjoyed working with, and which engagements were mutually successful. That’s where your niche should be going forward. You are no longer a hungry startup, and it’s okay to be choosy now.
- Have your values changed? What are you NOT about anymore? Has your core value proposition evolved with the company? Ensure your messaging and your visual identity expresses who you are today. If it doesn’t match, change it.
- Go after the kind of work you want, not what comes to you. On your website show only the work you want to continue doing, because like attracts like. Be sure to show how you solved a challenge, because results resonate with potential clients.
- Revisit your pricing structure. When you are a startup, you have a lot to prove. You may have given discounts when you were very hungry for work. At this point, you have the credibility to charge full rates. You may have to make the difficult decision to break up with some of your original clients if they can’t afford you now.
The five-year milestone is the perfect time to ensure your brand elements match your personality today, and will communicate effectively to your target customers over the next several years.