The Rebirth of My Brand

May 2022 marked exactly 6 months since I launched Meremeta Africa Beauty’s consultancy for high-end beauty and fashion entrepreneurs at a business accelerator. I spent the 6 months figuring out what the standard for my brand was going to be even as I worked on my first project, and implemented everything myself with the guidance of close mentors.

I’m proud to have these mentors as friends now but if there’s anything I’d recommend, it’s learning by doing with the guidance, support and empathy of people more experienced than you. You can never go wrong that way!

So, why relaunch when a business is already up and running? Relaunching is a sign that a business cares about giving it’s customers a better experience over time which is how the best brands in the industry continuously stand out. Relaunching entails making steady adjustments to connect better with customers or your audience.

Different entrepreneurs tend to be at different stages in their businesses so in line with excellence, a core value at Meremeta Africa, we created packages and one-off services so people can save effort by doing things right the first time around. We have services for entrepreneurs launching for the first time and those beginning to fill gaps in their businesses, for instance. Care is taken into crafting brand-specific solutions for each brand which increases confidence in putting one’s brand out there.

My team and I relaunched on Instagram to further reintroduce ourselves on social media given The Album Cover Challenge, and the fact that we’d been working in the background for 6 months.

Here’s the shift that was reflected in our visual branding so far:

Here’s a vibe and theme I put together for my brand’s Instagram when we relaunched in May 2022. The goal was to have our new feel, color palette, image and photo guidelines, and social media guidelines reflect. I was hands-on with everything

Since relaunching in May 2022 we’ve been handpicking our next potential clients based on who we feel would be the best beneficiaries of what we have to offer at this time. The biggest challenge so far has been getting the clients to make payments within a specific period but that’s just inspired us to think of ways to better position ourselves in 2023.

The first brand we worked with was Afruveda. Afruveda is the first hair care brand of it’s kind to fuse African ingredients with centuries’ old ayurvedic hair care practices and support natural enthusiasts to grow their hair in a healthy manner.

Here’s a collage I put together for Afruveda’s style guide, specifically the look and visual branding bit. The goal was to establish strict image and photo guidelines to ensure that the brand is executed in a consistent manner. I directed and participated in the shoot in support of my client. You might be able to spot the cute blue polish on my nails with the hair growth oil in the bottom center :)

The founder came to us ready to begin filling gaps in her business. We handled their customer and competitor analysis, brand shoot, brand strategy, first pop up, brand relaunch on Instagram and Facebook, collaborations with 5 young Kenyan influencers, and social media management for a month. There was a reach of over 9,700 from one of the launch posts within a week and 4 people sharing a post to people in their network within just 2 hours of launching.

The brand was revamped to be playful, daring, spirited, creative and passionate as you might be able to tell here:

Afruveda’s Instagram before and after working with us from left to right

We also supported them at their first pop up as you can see from screenshots of my Instagram story in July 2022:

A screenshot of my Instagram story in July 2022 of Afruveda at their first pop up. This was part of the 6-month relaunch package they purchased from us. We identified the pop up after first working on their marketing strategy and ding the ground work to understand their customers and competitors fully. The team went on to book the date, show up to the venue, direct the day, and were extremely hands-on resulting in 25 new Instagram followers and 2 pre-orders for their beard oil

Afruveda brand ambassador, Lawrence, and co-founder, Wanjiru from left to right

The Meremeta Africa team team has grown from a team of 1 in November 2021 to 3 in May 2022 and now 4 members comprising myself, my virtual assistant Kellen, media planner Lisa and client success lead Florah.

Lookout for my next couple of blogs for more on the amazing team ensuring our clients feel more in control of the direction of their businesses and less overwhelmed. I’d love to know if any of this resonated :)