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To rebrand, or to keep things the same?
If you're reading this, chances are you're trying to figure out whether or not you should rebrand your business, and that's what we're gonna talk about! First, let's cover something important— let's define "rebrand" and "branding" so we're on the same page. Branding is the visual, emotional, and psychological ways that your business connects with its ideal clients and customers.
This is accomplished through visual elements such as your logos, brand colors and fonts, as well as your brand voice and personality, brand messaging, brand positioning, and more. The core goal of branding your business is to help bridge the gap between where your ideal client is, and where you want them to be— aka, wanting to work with you. Through all your visual brand elements and the way you show up and speak and present your business to your ideal client, is how you brand your business and create that connection with people.
Think of it as literal branding, like with livestock— you're putting your unique mark on your business so that everyone can distinguish your business from someone else's, and it helps your business stand out. After a while, with your business building a quality reputation, everyone recognizes your brand and it means something to them.
A re-brand is what might need to take place when the way that your business is perceived by your audience and clients is no longer making that connection with your ideal client. If you're not getting as many clients anymore, and there seems to be a disconnect somewhere, it might be time for an overhaul of your current branding. During a rebrand, you're likely changing a lot of things in or about your business, and you want your audience to perceive your business in a certain way that reflects these changes you're making and where you want your business to be.
A rebrand isn't something to take lightly, and it takes quite a bit of work and effort to redo, and implement. You incorporate your branding into every part of your business, so when you change it, there's a lot of work to do afterward to implement it! Here are some ways to know if it might be time for a rebrand for your business.
Your Services And Products Have Changed
Maybe you've been in business for a couple years now, and you now realize that your DIY branding no longer represents your current business and just isn't cutting it. It’s not great quality. It’s grainy and you can’t remember where your other logo files are anymore (if you even have more than one, which you should), and your brand colors don’t vibe with the look and feel you’re going for. Or, maybe it was even done by a professional, but now it just no longer represents your business accurately.
If any of that sounds familiar, it sounds like it's time for a rebrand in your business. If we're progressing in our business, it only makes sense that over time, our experience and expertise should be improving, our skills should be getting better and more refined, our knowledge should be expanding, and if you're a product-based business, your products should be getting better over time, too. That being said, as your business is growing and improving, your branding should as well. If you're selling $50 non-toxic, high quality, sustainable candles and you're still using your very obviously DIY hand-made label that doesn't directly reflect the quality of your product, then you should probably take that as sign to upgrade your branding.
If you're a business coach, or professional service provider, and you've worked with numerous clients over the years and your knowledge has expanded, and your skill set has improved, and you've had more and more experience in your field, but you're using your DIY logo template you purchased off Etsy, or found on Canva, but you're wanting to charge thousands for your services, you might have a hard time getting your ideal clients to pay top dollar. On the other hand, if you're intentional and you invest in professional brand design (and web design), your potential clients will take notice of how serious you take your business and that you care, not only will you look more professional right off the bat, but people will be more willing to pay top dollar for your services.
Overtime, as your services and skills and products improve, you should consider rebranding. The quality of your branding, and the quality of your products and services should directly reflect each other.
Your Target Audience Has Changed
It's perfectly okay to get a year or two into business and realize that it's time to make some major shifts in order to keep your brand moving in the right direction. Sometimes we out grow our branding and that's not a bad thing. There could be a number of reasons as to why you've outgrown your branding and need to change things up. And you'll realize that the more your business grows, the more you'll keep refining what your brand is, who your target audience is, how you want to serve them, and so much more.
Big national and international brands such as Starbucks, GAP, Harley Davidson, McDonalds, Comfort Inn, and so many more have made changes to their branding over the years, and you can check out a whole list of these widely known brands and their reasons for changing their branding, and they're fun to look through and see how they've transformed their brands over time.
Your Business is Either Doing Incredible, or Doing Terrible
Does this sound like you? You finally took the leap into entrepreneur-hood, started that business you've always dreamed of, and you haven't looked back. Your business took off, and you find yourself totally booked out (or sold out, if you are product-based) regularly, you're getting inquiries right and left, and things are great. But, there's just one thing... Your branding. When you started out, you used a quick logo your friend threw together for you in a day from a template and you never really established any brand fonts, colors, or anything else to help you stay consistent with your branding. Now that your business has taken off and you're a well known business in your community, you want your branding to reflect that.
Or, you're on the other end of the spectrum... You're not attracting your ideal clients whatsoever, or any clients at all for that matter. Business is slow, and people aren't sure who you serve, and you're using brand fonts and colors that don't go well together, and don't accurately represent the feelings you want your branding to evoke in your ideal customers and clients. You are burnt out from working so much on your business and not seeing results that you just wanna give up entirely. Or your products aren't selling because your branding looks very homemade and DIY, but the quality of your products (or services) are five-star, but your branding doesn't relay that properly.
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