Over the years we’ve advised hundreds of clients to rebrand. To help pivot a business model, prepare for a sale, or better reach markets.

We’ve finally taken our own medicine, and rebranded.

Our visuals are refreshed. But it’s much more than a facelift. Our website and our brand voice are newly imagined.

We’re shining through—and it makes great business sense.

To look at our website and brand for the past 10 years, you wouldn’t have really known us. As advisors, our superhero moments are about who we are as much as what we know. As accountants, we show up for conversations that count with our clients.

But our people—and their voices—were missing.

So now our rebranded new website starts conversations just like we’d start them in person.

With warmth, integrity—and imagination.

Here’s how we did it—and why it makes great business sense.

Finding our real voice.

As advisors, we know the value of marketing. Over the years we’d had marketing help—but with a focus on SEO and lead generation that didn’t quite fit for us. We’d always thrived through word of mouth—our client’s experience was our best marketing.

And so we grew anyway.

But after people had met us at a function, or heard about us from a friend—our website didn’t fulfil expectations. We lacked consistency through the personal, the social media—and ultimately the website.

Then after nearly 40 years and hundreds of business clients, after growing from 5 staff to a team of 55, we reached the limit of word of mouth marketing.

We needed the human elements in all our communications—a brand voice that really felt like us.

And it doesn’t grow on trees.

Innovative by nature—finding the trailblazers.

We love innovation—it’s how we stay ahead of the curve for our clients. We’ve always pioneered new and better ways to work—from cloud technology to our new coworking-style offices.

We needed partners who could innovate our brand, and found them in Hunt & Hawk. They pioneer sales and marketing with strong roots in branding. They bring a human element to business communications. They dared us to speak like our authentic selves.

It was a major investment of our time—and it took a lot of trust.

Hunt & Hawk spent hours listening to our senior team. They asked questions we’d never been asked by marketers.

When we got the work back, it all paid off.

We had straplines—‘Imagine better’, and ‘That’s us’. We had web headlines, and campaign concepts. Next came a brand story and a brand guide. We had language we could actually use.

It rolled off the tongue so well that we found ourselves using it in conversations. We started using the language on LinkedIn, with great effect—we were even singled out at a LinkedIn workshop as an example of how to do it right.

We published our new website. Hunt & Hawk had picked our brains on every piece of content, so it’s all completely accurate. Then they’d expressed it all in a new brand voice.

And just as we’ve been advising clients for decades—that brand voice helps shape our business development.

Growing wise—the right clients.

Great business comes from creating great value. And that starts with finding not just new clients, but the right clients.

We call our ideal clients ‘zebra’ clients—because they stand out from the crowd. They’re very serious about their business, and usually very good at what they do. They’re ready to innovate—just like us.

We’d previously marketed for digital lead generation, focused on SEO. It’s all about people finding us on Google—which sounds compelling. But those people rarely became clients—and often weren’t our ‘zebra clients’ anyway.

With our voice and brand right, we’re already seeing the change. Great clients, with expectations matching our talents.

From meeting us at a conference, or hearing about us from a colleague. From our social media to our emails. And of course from our new website—which shows our people for who they are.

It all reduces friction in our business and dials up value.

The real stars—our clients.

We spend a lot of our office time sharing the victories of our clients. Clients inspire us and keep us coming to work every day—ready for the next challenge.

Our rebrand has cleared the way for us to share these stories.

From Kedron Wavell’s tech-driven restructure, to Laticrete’s world-first use of self-levelling flooring. From the Soak Bathhouse business run entirely on a phone, to Periwinkle restaurant outwitting the pandemic.

These stories help new clients imagine better for their own businesses. They’re a better way to show people what it’s really like to work with us.

Our own marketing medicine.

After decades advising people to take their brands seriously, we finally took our own medicine.

We’re clear and confident. Our brand guide helps new staff understand our values—and how we communicate them. We’re finally consistent in how all our people share our big ideas—and start the conversations that count with clients.

We imagined better branding—and now it’s helping us imagine better for our clients.

For a confidential conversation with an SRJ Walker Wayland partner, contact us today.