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A business’s brand is one of its most important aspects. It is no less than the business’s identity and can, therefore, influence how a business is perceived by both loyal customers as well as prospective customers. It is representative of a company’s goals, principles, and it even acts as a standard of a business’s quality.
Much like our reputations, brands take time to establish and they will influence how we are perceived by the people we interact with, whether it’s for the better or worse. A good brand reputation can increase sales when it is able to build trust with its customer base. Inversely, it can turn prospective customers away when a brand has been known to be bad or if that brand is unknown.
But that isn’t to say that you should rebrand at the first sign of trouble. A lot of established brands go through it. Sometimes all your brand might really need is a boost in content quality, whether it’s by your own staff or through a copywriting service.
Rebranding at the wrong time might adversely affect your image. So, what are some signs and instances that indicate that it’s time to rebrand?
A Change In Goals and Company Values
Your brand needs to reflect the changes that it’s going to take on. A brand that’s going to take on a more professional stance should utilize a minimalistic design with a limited color palette, while a brand that puts a priority on a fun and vibrant experience would benefit more from a colorful image.
New Target Market
A brand needs to coincide with what appeals to its target market. Your brand needs to adapt according to its intended target market in order for it to be effective. You can’t expect to appeal to young professionals when your brand image is currently attuned to target a significantly older demographic.
Outdated Brand Image
In the same manner that your brand image needs to adapt to appeal to its target demographic, so too, should it keep up with design trends. An outdated brand image could be perceived as being unaware of trends and even worse, it might even be perceived as a lack of progress. Even established brands update their design every 20 years or so.
Competition
When competition moves into your market and is threatening your brand as a rival, you’re going to need to differentiate yourself from them. When a new competitor enters the market, having similar branding is bound to confuse your customers on what brand they’re going to buy from. Inversely, if you find a brand that has successfully differentiated from you, look at the things that they did right and apply them to your brand.
Bad Brand PR
If you find that your old brand is simply unsaveable, then a fresh start might be the best way to move forward. A bad brand isn’t going to have a loyal customer base anyway, and therefore, it’s not going to have anything to lose, so there isn’t any harm in starting anew. Just make sure that before rebranding, you’re able to sort out the problems of your company to ensure that this rebrand isn’t merely a cosmetic change, but an indicator of a more holistic change.
In essence, you need to plan your rebranding as carefully as you can with the objective of retaining the positive effects of your brand while discarding the negative. However, a rebrand should be viewed and treated as a drastic maneuver. There’s no point in creating confusion over some cosmetic changes.
