Are you feeling as though your brand is out of date? Or the logo and colours you have chosen don’t fit with the products you are selling now? Or it's not aimed at your target market? If you said yes to any of these questions, then it might be time to rebrand yourself.
When rebranding, everything from the logo to your website and marketing materials will need to be revised. I know this sounds daughting and costly, however, if done in the correct way, it will all be worth it.
If you are looking to rebrand yourself then contact the team here at Spi-des-ign, we would love to help.
Here are a few signs that your business may need a rebrand:
- Your branding does not reflect who you are and what you're about.
Businesses evolve, services offered may have changed, the product list may have grown, so keeping with the branding the business started with maybe harming the potential rather than building it.
- If you have merged with another company or organisation
This may mean a total rebrand, when I say total rebrand you may have to change your companies name, which will lead to the rebrand of the logo, colours etc.
Need to target a whole new audience
If you’re targeting a new market you may need to rebrand your business to fit with the needs of these customers. If you want to appeal to a wider demographic you may need to incorporate the services you offer within the brand style, or you can rebrand to fit each target audience. - Are you telling the wrong or an out of date story?
A brand story should connect with your ideal audience/customers. You may lose this connection if you have expanded or grown into different markets, If this is happening it may be time to go through the story behind the brand again.
- Your branding is outdated
Are you using Comic Sans font? or a 1980s colour palette? It is probably time to rebrand, fonts and colour trends change with time you want to keep up to date or use colours that will never age. A great example of a business that rebranded over time is Airbnb. They went through a couple of colour and font changes before hitting the nail on the head with their latest rebrand.
What you should consider when rebranding your business
- Get feedback from the general public or your target audience.
Ask people what they think, you won’t know how people perceive your brand unless you ask them. Create a questionnaire or use a poll. This will help you see whether you need to rebrand/where you need to focus more when rebranding. You can also use this method to see what people think of your new branding elements, say you’ve created a logo but you don’t think it works, send it out and ask for anonymous feedback, ask them questions like; What is the first thing you think of when you see the logo? Or Do any other brands come into mind when you see our logo? If so which brands?
- You will need to roll out the changes you have made everywhere, across all platforms and mediums.
When you’ve rebranded it will be time to launch, make sure you haven’t missed anything when it comes to rebranding. Here is everything you will need to consider: Logo, Tagline, Domain name, Letterheads, Copy for the website, Meta titles and descriptions, All social media platforms you are on, Email addresses and the signatures, Graphic templates, Directory listings. When you know you have rebranded everything and aren’t missing anything then you can go ahead with launching the new rebrand.
- If it isn't broke, don't fix it
If you cannot find fault with your brand or you can't identify a real reason to rebrand then it is probably best not to. Leave it for a bit then if and when you find a reason to, go ahead. Here is an example of what not to do...
Gap, a well-known clothing business, decided to redesign its 20-year-old logo in 2010 after decreased sales, following the 2008 Financial Crisis.
The highly recognisable logo ran from 1990 to 2010; it was a simple yet memorable one.
On October 6th 2010 the old logo vanished and the new logo for Gap was released. The rebrand was estimated to have a cost of around $100 million! (1)
On October 10th 2010 the original well-known logo was back. The new logo only lasted a week before they realised they made a mistake, a spokesperson for Gap said "we've learned just how much energy there is around our brand, and after much thought, we've decided to go back to our iconic blue box logo." (2)
As soon as the new logo was released it recieved almost instant negative feedback. This is a great example of rebranding "just because" it doesn't always work, even for big well-established companies.
In conclusion
Don't just rebrand because "why not" think about whether it will benefit your business, the signs to rebrand your business can be just about anywhere, it's about finding the right signs and the right time. A rebrand is a natural part of the growth of any business (3) Many benefits that go with rebranding, your investment into doing so will most likely pay off in time, and will continue to pay off for years after.
If you are thinking about rebranding your business, get in touch with us by calling us on 01359 518060 or emailing enquiries@spi-des-ign.co.uk we would love to help.
