When is it Time for a Brand Refresh?
Look in the mirror and consider how your look has changed over the past decade. Maybe you’ve evolved your clothing choices, styled your hair differently, put on some glasses. You’ve changed as a person, after all, and your outward appearance likely reflects that.
Just like you, your business’ outward appearance — its brand — will and should change over the years to reflect the evolution of the business.
Marketing professionals refer to change as a brand refresh. It’s a way of enhancing the look and feel of a business to align with its ever-changing mission, goals and identity.
The problem is that many business owners are so focused on their business that they forget about the brand and how others are perceiving it. Or, they may have intentionally evolved their mission but neglected to evolve their brand with it.
In this post, we’ll discuss how you can know when it’s time to refresh your business’ brand and what factors you should consider in doing so.
Importance of a Brand Refresh
Your brand is the visual identity of your business. It tells customers who you are, what your mission and vision is, and how you’re different from everyone else. Your brand shapes the public perception and reputation of your business.
Refreshing your brand ensures that how others perceive your business is accurate with what your business does and what it stands for. If it does, then great! If not, it’s time to think about a refresh.
Refreshing your brand can be one of the most impactful ways to revive your business. A refresh can add renewed excitement for loyal customers, attract new ones, and give them something to talk about. This renewed energy and understanding of your brand can also lead to other benefits like increased sales or customer retention.
Brand Refresh vs. Rebrand
It’s important to note that a “brand refresh” does not mean “rebranding.”
A brand refresh simply means updating some of the visual elements of your brand. This could be your logo, color palette, fonts, or the language and tone of your written content across platforms, including your website, promotional material, social media pages, and more.
A refresh is NOT an overhaul of your brand, and you do not need to completely update your market strategy and the DNA of your business branding.
Refreshing Your Brand: Is It Time?
So, how do you know it’s time for a brand refresh?
If you wait too long to refresh your brand it can begin to look old and stale. Customers may get bored and perceive that your business is not changing along with their own needs and desires. But if you refresh your brand too frequently, you’ll leave a lot of customers confused and potentially unable to recognize your brand.
While there is no specific answer as to when you should refresh your brand, there are signs you can consider to help you make the decision.
You should consider refreshing your brand if:
1. Your brand is inconsistent with your mission.
Is your business focused on technological innovation but your logo looks like it was designed on a napkin in the ’70s? Or does your business work to protect the environment but your color palette doesn’t hold a single earth-toned hue? Then maybe it’s time to refresh. You want your brand to and feel consistent with your mission. Your brand shapes the audience’s initial impression of your business, and they should not be surprised at what your mission is after seeing your brand.
2. Your brand doesn’t resonate with your target audience.
Consider your target audience. Are they younger? Older? Athletes or academics? You should consider these demographics and how your brand may or may not appeal to that specific audience. Your business serves them, after all, and catering your brand to the wants and needs of their demographic — while staying authentic to your mission and values — is an easy way to gain stronger attraction from them.
3. Your brand looks outdated.
Sometimes there is no reason to refresh your brand other than the simple fact that it looks old and outdated.
Your brand should look and feel exciting to those who engage with it. Having a strong visual appearance can mean creating purposeful, emotional connections with your customers. Just think about bikers who get Harley Davidson tattooed on their biceps; it’s because they’re emotionally connected to the brand and all that it stands for.
4. Your brand does not reflect your products/services.
Maybe your brand aligned with your product or service offering when you first launched. Now, though, you’ve evolved your business’ services. That means it’s time to evolve your brand, too.
Take Starbucks, for example. This coffee tycoon originally had a logo that was encircled by the words “Starbucks Coffee.” This logo accurately aligned with the business’ offerings, as it primarily sold coffee at the time. The company evolved, however, to sell other products including tea and sandwiches. As a result, they dropped “Starbucks Coffee” from its logo, so as not to imply that was the only product it sold.
In the same way, you should consider how your brand may be impacting how others perceive your product or service offerings and avoid losing out on valuable customers.
5. You’re facing increased competition.
Maybe it’s been five or 10 years since your last brand refresh. At this point, you — and your customers — may start to notice that other competition is consistently evolving and you’re still where you started.
In this case, refreshing your brand can create the perception that your business is in a strong place and on a renewed journey. A brand refresh can intrigue your customers and create excitement about your new chapter. It makes it look like you are ahead of the competition, and that you know exactly what you are doing.
Refresh Your Brand
So, is it time to refresh your brand? If so, it could be beneficial to dig into some best practices like conducting a market study to understand how others perceive your current brand. Refine your brand strategy, and start redesigning by focusing on elements like your logo, colors, fonts, written content, and how those translate across your website, social media, and other platforms and material. From there, it’s time to launch. Have fun with it! Build up the excitement and let your customers know something new is coming.
Overall, make sure that your brand first and foremost remains authentic to the mission, vision, purpose and goals of your business. A strong relationship between the two will only lead to success for your business.
Looking to refresh your brand and not sure where to start? Contact our team at Dream Media Designs and we’ll help give your business’ brand the refresh that it needs.
