A brand identity crisis
Imagine being an education organization that transforms lives through social-emotional learning (SEL) and mindfulness, yet when it’s time to grow, people only see you as a yoga brand.
That was the reality for Breathe For Change. For nearly a decade, they have equipped educators with tools to enhance well-being and improve student outcomes. Yet, as they sought to expand their impact—particularly by boosting enrollment in their Master’s program—they encountered a critical challenge: their brand identity was holding them back.
Despite their broader mission, the public perception was narrow, pigeonholing them as a yoga-focused company. This misalignment between their brand and their vision for growth was a barrier they couldn’t ignore. Breathe For Change knew it was time for a change, so they turned to us with a big ask: to help them reimagine their brand and digital presence from the ground up.
Our mission: Rebrand, redesign, revitalize
The task was clear but complex.
Breathe For Change needed more than just a logo update; they needed a complete rebrand that would resonate with their expanding vision. This involved a deep dive into their brand strategy, a visual identity refresh, and a website overhaul that would merge their YogaEd and Breathe For Change platforms into one cohesive experience.
Given the stakes, Breathe For Change needed a partner with both branding expertise and a deep understanding of the education sector—areas where our previous work with various brands, including CORE Learning and MDC, positioned us as the perfect fit.
Our proven track record gave Breathe For Change the confidence that we could help them navigate the complexities of their rebranding and web development needs.
Together, we set out to realign their brand with their future aspirations, creating a digital presence that truly reflected who they were and where they were headed.
Here’s what was involved.
Crafting a new brand strategy and identity
We began by immersing ourselves in Breathe For Change’s world, conducting in-depth research and gathering insights from stakeholders across the organization. This deep dive revealed what was working well within the existing brand and highlighted areas requiring improvement.
By taking this approach, we ensured that the new brand strategy would reflect the collective vision of the entire team.
The result? A new brand strategy and guidelines that encapsulated Breathe For Change’s mission and vision, from messaging and positioning to the design elements that would bring their new identity to life.
With the strategy in place, we moved on to refreshing Breathe For Change’s logo with updated colors and updated the visual identity to evoke the energy, inclusivity, and transformational impact of their work. The result strikes the perfect balance between the brand’s roots in mindfulness and their commitment to educational excellence.
Redesigning the digital experience
The next phase was the redesign of Breathe For Change’s website, which was heavily image-based, with a strong emphasis on yoga and mindfulness.
While these elements were important, they didn’t fully convey the organization’s broader mission.
Our goal was to create a website that clearly communicated Breathe For Change’s identity as an innovative education organization that integrates wellness into its curriculum.
Early in the website redesign process, we collaborated closely with the Breathe For Change team, working through some initial feedback and communication challenges.
At first, the team raised concerns regarding the feedback loop, feeling that their insights weren’t fully reflected in design revisions. However, through open dialogue and the collaborative use of Figma, we established a smoother feedback process that streamlined the project and made it easier for them to confidently contribute their insights.
This shift strengthened Breathe For Change’s internal communication and decision-making, demonstrating efficient project management and clear feedback integration—key elements for teams tackling similar branding or design projects. Ultimately, this approach ensured we met both the deadline and the launch date successfully.
“We greatly appreciated your clear, quick, and thoughtful communication throughout the website redesign process. We understand that managing various opinions and communication styles can be challenging, but your team excelled at facilitating discussions and integrating feedback into a final product we’re very happy with.
It’s often through resolving conflicts or misalignments that stronger working relationships are built. Early in the project, we had concerns about whether our feedback was being considered effectively. However, these concerns were swiftly addressed by both LH founders, and we soon saw changes that alleviated our issues.
Lastly, we deeply appreciated your ability to meet our aggressive timeline for this project. Building a website in 6-weeks is not for the faint of heart, and Literal Humans was able to pull it off without (noticeable) sweat!”
– Julia Bond, Director of Growth, Breathe For Change
Unifying the digital presence
The final piece of the puzzle was unifying Breathe For Change’s fragmented digital presence. With content spread across two different sites—Breathe For Change’s old Squarespace site and YogaEd’s WordPress site—our web development team faced the challenge of consolidating everything into a single, cohesive platform.
This task wasn’t just about migrating content from both sites; the new Breathe For Change website also included new pages and content that hadn’t existed on the older site.
To ensure a smooth transition, we went through a phase of content uploading and editing. We also conducted a series of Zoom workshops to train the Breathe For Change team on navigating the backend, enabling them to manage updates independently.
This training means they can maintain their site without ongoing technical assistance, saving time and giving them greater autonomy. For nonprofits and other resource-constrained organizations, this strategic training offers a model for building self-sufficiency in content management.
Our web development team had to work around a tight timeline as well. So, we split the development work into two phases, which allowed us to deliver a polished, functional site on schedule.
Despite the time constraints and complexities of merging two distinct websites, we successfully launched a unified site with custom blocks and content management tools that enable the Breathe For Change team to effortlessly update their content and support their continued growth and expansion.
A brand reborn
Breathe For Change’s rebrand journey culminated in a vibrant new identity that truly resonates with their community. From the initial brand strategy and identity development process to the creation of mood boards and concept phases, every step led to a refreshed brand.
Through iterative feedback and close partnership with the Breathe For Change team, we created a cohesive brand identity and digital presence that effectively captures their mission, values, and goals.
The feedback from the Breathe For Change team has been overwhelmingly positive—they have expressed their appreciation for the enhanced brand identity, the website’s look and feel, and the overall user experience (UX), which have all boosted trust and credibility.
“Everyone has loved our new brand. It feels both familiar and energized, which is the perfect balance to strike for a brand refresh. Our team appreciates its flexibility and how seamlessly it translates across marketing materials and product design. The new website is much better as well; the feedback we’ve received is that it feels professional, clean, and spacious and also approachable, human, and friendly.”
— Julia Bond, Director of Growth, Breathe For Change
In addition to increasing brand cohesion and recognition, our work with Breathe For Change has also driven significant growth:
- 28% increase in website engagement rate
- 16.8% increase in website sessions
- 72% increase in organic search sessions
- 737% increase in form submissions
These metrics tell the story of a brand revitalized.
With improved user experience and a refreshed resource library, navigation has also become more intuitive, making it easier for users to engage with Breathe For Change’s offerings.
As a result, the number of users has grown by 12.6%, with new users up by 12.5%. Call page views have increased by 30.7% and downloads are up by 42%. Moreover, the new site was optimized for conversions with a clean sales landing page that boasts a 3% conversion rate during promotions.
These impressive results underscore the substantial return on investment (ROI) that Breathe For Change achieved with their rebranding and digital strategy.
Beyond the rebrand: A partnership for growth
What started as a branding and website redesign project quickly evolved into a bigger partnership—something we’re well-versed in, having done the same with clients like CORE Learning.
After the successful launch of the new website, Breathe For Change expanded the project scope to include ongoing SEO, content marketing, and paid media support.
We initiated a content marketing retainer, which included conducting keyword research and creating a content calendar to ensure that Breathe For Change’s in-house content aligned with their SEO goals.
We delivered content briefs and offered detailed feedback on drafts to ensure they are fully optimized for SEO while meeting Google’s EEAT (Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness) guidelines.
This strategy, which is set to enhance Breathe For Change’s site authority and ranking, also strengthened our collaboration with the internal team, who expressed positive feedback about the collaborative process.
When the Breathe For Change team had limited bandwidth to produce content, we pivoted to offer content creation services, filling a critical gap and enabling them to maintain a steady flow of publishing high-quality, relevant content.
We have also become a key resource for the team’s SEO-related questions and content planning needs. For instance, when the team needed guidance on optimizing SEO for their Master of Education landing page, we provided insights to help improve search visibility. Additionally, when a proposed blog on “side hustles” raised internal debate, we verified the search volume, offering data that demonstrated the topic’s relevance.
Although our support wasn’t a formal training program, our insights have empowered Breathe For Change to make content decisions that align with their SEO strategy and mission, ultimately enhancing their capacity to drive impact through their content.
Paid Media
On the paid media front, we created a Google Ads campaign that leveraged AI-assisted keyword research, resulting in over 250 unique lines of copy across 13 keyword themes. This highly targeted method significantly improved the relevance and performance of Breathe For Change’s ads.
But our work extended beyond that—we also supported Breathe For Change in enhancing their tracking capabilities and overall growth strategy, making sure that their digital marketing efforts would continue to drive meaningful impact long after the project’s completion.
Although we encountered some delays while setting up tracking, these were successfully resolved through diligent coordination and adjustments to our strategy.
Overall, the campaign has been a game-changer. With a cost per acquisition (CPA) of $122—well below the $300 target—it has delivered high-quality leads, with 90% meeting Breathe For Change’s criteria. In stark contrast, previous campaigns had a CPA of $339, with only 30% of leads being of high quality.
Our campaign has not only been more cost-effective but also more effective in reaching the right audience. The secret behind this success lies in the fact that we have avoided common pitfalls by refining the keyword strategy, targeting relevant locations, and avoiding placements on low-quality websites.
Beyond campaign creation, we also provide guidance on troubleshooting tracking discrepancies. We help the team differentiate between expected discrepancies and those that indicate genuine issues, offering insights on how to use various data sources to optimize their paid media and make informed decisions based on reliable metrics.
“We’re happy with our experience of working with Literal Humans. Overall, our experience with the team is that they are both personable and human—very on brand —and also professional and responsive. While there have been times when an issue has taken longer than anticipated to address, the issues have always been resolved successfully.”
— Julia Bond, Director of Growth, Breathe For Change
Your turn: Transform your brand and digital presence with Literal Humans
Our partnership with Breathe For Change is a testament to the power of a well-executed branding and digital strategy.
Through a highly cooperative process that involved maintaining open lines of communication, rising up to challenges, learning from mistakes, and fostering a strong partnership, we delivered a comprehensive rebrand and digital strategy that exceeded expectations and set Breathe For Change up for sustained growth.
This too can be your story.
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