“Rebranding” is a common business move done by most major companies and large establishments. Most of the time, we tend not to notice that “branding” changes as “customers” and most brands are the result of weeks, months, even years of dedicated time and effort.
We get it! “Your brand is your baby”, but there comes a time in most successful companies’ lives where the need to rebrand presents itself. You may think it’s just about colour changes or changing the logo or font of your company on a business card which may not necessarily be a huge deal, but Rebranding involves “serious declaration of intent” or a signature of your company’s commitment to growth and evolution in the competitive market.
So how do we know when it’s time to rebrand? To answer this question correctly, we need to understand that a “Brand” is more than just colours and logos. A brand shows the essence of a business in three vital ways:
- Visually — this talks about the business looks; logo, fonts, designs.
- Verbally — this talks about how the business sounds; company name, messaging, website.
- Experientially — This talks about the business policies, human resource, hiring, customer service.
Now that we understand what a brand is about, here are five signs that says you need to rebrand your business.
#1 The competitive landscape has changed.
When you started your business, perhaps not very many people were doing the same business or serving that particular market. But as competition changes, the brand should adapt too. It may be that you decided to expand your territory, to diversify your services or to enter new partnership with top brands.
#2 The times have changed.
Are you using outdated terminologies in your messages or marketing materials? or does your company’s logo and design style now look outdated, behind-the-times and intentionally retro? If yes, then it’s definitely time to rebrand. Even if your company has adopted a timeless look and feel, everything needs to be refreshed and updated at some point.
#3 It’s harder and harder to attract customers.
If you’ve worked hard to build a strong relationship with your customer but somewhere along the line, your brand is holding you back when you try to attract new business partnerships. The thing is, the market evolves faster and faster as well as customer’s taste for products and services. Even as more companies are emerging, the competition gets tighter for those that lag behind subconsciously. For instance, the audience may be used to high quality multimedia experiences, so using the same logo and content layout that worked some years ago, may not work anymore.
#4 The offering or price has changed
This may not necessarily be about directly expanding the product or service line under the same consistent brand umbrella involving the same market, same benefits, same promise. It may be that you've added some spice to your product, more benefits or you’ve modified the promise. With a shift in what you sell comes a shift in the value you offer and potentially, the customer to whom you offer it to.
#5 Your brand lacks quality
The word “quality” is a broad term and this is because the factors required to create a brand are broad too giving several opportunities to slip on the professionalism of your brand. Some questions you should ask yourself are;
- Is my brand identity consistent in all elements and platforms?
- Does its value reflect those of my business?
- Do I have a distinguished brand?
If your answers to these questions are negative, then your company definitely needs to rebrand.
