Investing time and money in creating a great brand from the beginning can help ensure a new business’s success. But what if you have been in business for a while already? How do you know when it’s the right time to rebrand or if it’s even necessary?
The majority of the time, when a new small business owner starts out they aren’t thinking about their brand. There could be a few reasons for this. It could be financial. Maybe it’s because they don’t know what it means, they think their brand is their logo or it could be they don’t think it is important for them at their current stage. Eventually, they’ll need to rebrand, but what does that mean?
Let’s break it down.
What is Rebranding?
To simplify, rebranding is the process of improving the company’s alignment to it driving principles and visual guidelines, in order to engage with your target audience. A rebrand involves overhauling elements of the current brand and replacing them with something new. Rebrands can include a change/overhauling any of the following:
- Your company name
- Your brand vision, mission and values
- Your brand voice
- Your logo and/or brand mark
- Your tagline/Slogan
- Your brand’s style (fonts, colours and imagery)
- Your website or marketing collateral
When is it time to rebrand?
While I could tell you that If your brand isn’t doing its job, appealing to your key demographics, and accurately representing your company vision, it needs to change. That’s as simple as it gets.
Here are 5 signs it’s time to rebrand
Suddenly, you’re empowered to change your hairstyle, refresh your wardrobe, and ditch a few unhealthy habits. You feel different, and before long, everyone around you starts to notice, too.
1. You didn’t have the budget before
This is the most common situation I have seen over my career.
• You have a small budget for branding and design because there are other things that are more important.
• You hired a cheap designer, you went the DIY route or got your assistant to whip you something together to save money.
• You ended up with a logo that you were ok, but nothing else.
For whatever reason, over the years, it seems that your brand has been frankensteined. You never had a clear set of brand standards, things don’t look cohesive and it is now starting to hold back your business’s growth.
2. Your visuals are out of date
Maybe you website or brochures look tired, or you based your original visual identity on a trend that’s not relevant anymore. Trends change quickly. Your design can become stale and over time fail to represent the level of service they did in the beginning. You could be in need of a rebrand simply because your look needs to be refreshed and everything else just slightly updated.
3. Your list of services has changed
Maybe you’ve discovered that one service you offer makes you happier. Perhaps another service you offer doesn’t make enough money to make sense continuing to offer it. Rebranding can be the perfect opportunity to review and revise your service offering to go along with the freshly updated identity it needs.
4. Your brand, vision, and values don’t align anymore
Your mission and values dictate how you interact with your customers, how you operate, and how your brand develops over time. If they change, your brand should follow. When that alignment isn’t there you can end up confusing potential customers with inconsistent messaging. It will make you look insincere and they will look elsewhere.
5. Your brand doesn’t differentiate you from your competitors
For example, what makes a Full-Service Health & Wellness Clinic different from the clinic down the road offering All-Encompassing Services for your Health & Wellness needs? Not a whole lot at first glance.If your audience considers your brand no different from the next 3 competitors in a Google search, it means they don’t see the value you offer. It also means they may default to choosing the option they think is most affordable. That’s a good sign it’s time to consider rebranding.
6. You’re not attracting the right type of customers.
A properly executed brand is designed to appeal to your ideal target market.This is what makes a brand relevant and relatable. If you’ve done the research and figured out that you need to target a different type of customer your brand will have to evolve so that you can connect with them. Brand design and your visuals are a huge part of triggering that emotional reaction in buyers.
Is it time to rebrand?
It can be difficult to know when it’s time to rebrand your business. However, the suggestions above are a great place to start. Consider these factors when determining whether it’s time for your brand to be refreshed and re-engaged with your target audience.
Are you ready to rebrand your company? We can help. Take a peek at how we help you craft a great brand.
