Our tiny corner of the blogosphere has been quiet since last October. That has been a conscious and purposeful decision. With so much going on in our collective worlds due to the pandemic, the constant din of social media, a news cycle that never stops and a level of uncertainty that has permeated daily life for the better part of a year and a half, remaining hyper-focused on our own marketing and business nuances seemed, well, less important. So we took a hiatus, of sorts.
We continued to work head’s down with many clients who decided to make pivots with their companies as a result of COVID-19 and the many changes that affected the marketplace and how individuals were making purchasing decisions, interacting and managing needs and wants. There have also been clients we have worked with over the past twelve months that took the downtime they were experiencing to refresh or overhaul their existing brand’s look, voice and vibe, some integrating subtle shifts while others went big with their facelift. So we have been hard at work doing what we love and do best, which is getting down to brass tacks, finding out what is remarkable about a brand and then crafting their “onlyness” story through the use of their website, logo, identity and marketing mix.
As for re-tool’s® own outreach, we felt that adding to the firehose of noise that seemed to have increased exponentially while everyone has been at home online was something we wanted to opt out of in the short-term. Being inundated ourselves and experiencing unprecedented territory for months and months left us feeling fatigued and certainly at times in a state of overwhelm. Keeping the proverbial plates spinning behind the scenes here at re-tool® was taking extra effort and thus our self-regulation kicked in and we said “let’s remove a few plates for a while“.
So that is what we did. It allowed us to catch our breath which felt much needed. As life’s pace began to pick back up this spring, we felt it was time for us to do the same. The past two months we have spent time reflecting, recalibrating and refining as we begin to ramp back up recharged and ready to reveal what we have been working on to get re-tool® firing on all cylinders once again.
What exactly does that mean? It means we are evolving re-tool’s® approach, process and service suite to better support many of the new perspectives and ways of doing things. This includes understanding how people are connecting, buying, selling, learning and living in a business world that has adjusted and adapted in so many significant ways.
Our re-tool® website is currently being updated to showcase some re-tooling of our own narrative and identity. Much like other brands, our story has added a new chapter or two, so much like we advise our clients who have evolved to share in their evolution, so shall we. We will begin to post blogs again. We will be bringing back our monthly brand oriented magazine this fall and we will be seeking to educate, inform or entertain with our email communications.
We debated about how to re-engage with our readers and followers and really honesty is the best policy. Our team simply needed to dial back and take a break. The McDonald’s jingle of the 70s “You Deserve A Break Today” comes to mind. Did you know that popular ad campaign was one that almost never came to life? Read more about it here.
Stay tuned for more brand golden nuggets from the re-tool® crew.
