NextStep’s January Update

In the spirit of transparency and “building in the open,” the NextStep team will share a monthly update on how things are going. While our monthly newsletter, the “10 on the 10th” has been a nice way to share small wins, this forum allows us to add detail and color to what’s going on.

So, onto the January update…

a refreshed NextStep brand

2021 is a new year, and with it comes a refreshed NextStep brand — think neutral tones and inviting imagery. While we’ve loved the look and feel of our Instagram — inviting, communal, and transparent — we’ve received feedback that there’s a disconnect between our Instagram and the rest of our marketing materials and product. So, over the past few weeks, we’ve been testing different colors, messaging, etc. First, we implemented the new brand in our newsletter. Next up, the website and our product. Look out for that announcement next month.

new newsletter

We launched NextStep’s “10Qs on the 10th” last April, and we’ve seen an overall increase in brand engagement and awareness (e.g., more clicks, DMs, responses, and social media followers).

So, heading into the new year, we wanted to challenge ourselves to do more and bring our NextStep community both inspirational quotes and career advice. We now give our readers tactical action steps for their next move, including “Take 5,” “4 things we’re listening to,” “1 Stretch goal”.

• Take 5: Five suggestions that will only take five minutes to do
• 4 things we’re listening to: Four podcasts, videos, or books related to career and life growth that we’ve found insightful.
• 1 Stretch: One reach goal that will take brainpower, focus, and motivation to complete.

All career / professional related, but a little meatier than in 2020.

sips & tips

We launched our event series, Sips & Tips, in November. And, wow — they exceeded expectations both times. During the event, members of the NextStep community gather together (virtually) with their favorite happy hour drink to chat with a NextStep coach about a career / professional topic for an hour. After both events, participants reported feeling more confident in their career paths and many converted into customers.

• Rock your LinkedIn Profile: Ashley, a NextStep coach and former LinkedIn employee, showed participants how to be both professional and authentic when creating their LinkedIn profiles.
• RIP Fear: Jasmine, a NextStep coach and TEDx Speaker, helped participants identify “the wisest decisions they made in 2020” and how that can and should influence their goals for 2021.

We plan to do at least one ‘Sips & Tips’ a month. This month Sips & Tips will be lead by Payal, a NextStep and financial coach, on empowering participants' relationship to their finances.

gift of coaching

Since launching in August, one of the biggest things we hear is “my sibling needs this” or “I know a friend who could really benefit.” So, we ran with that! We launched “Give the gift of coaching” back in December. And our NextStep community purchased gift cards for brothers, cousins, friends, and everyone in between.

our new features

We have partnered with Pairi, a development team, to help elevate and automate our product offering for users. Launching this week — we will now have in-site scheduling, messaging, and coach-user matching to better serve our users and help our coaches help our users. It also automates coach payment. We’re excited to see where this relationship takes us!

Well, that’s all for now.

Till the next 10th!
The NextStep Team