With the new year focused on new beginnings and fresh starts, this is often the perfect time for a brand refresh. However, rebranding needs careful consideration and must be timed to ensure that it is necessary as well as innovative.

What is a brand?

A brand is more than just a logo and a name, but these key images, colours and website layouts that become associated with your company need to be strong. In that case, maybe it’s time for a brand refresh and update.

A good brand illustrates what your company does and tells customers how it does those things. Over time your logo, font or brand colours may not necessarily evoke the same feelings that your company now wants to portray, which indicates a need for a brand update.

But how do you know when it’s time for a rebrand?

The brand no longer reflects your visions.

Think about the aims and goals of your company. Have these changed over the years, or does your old logo only reflect these? If your brand no longer reflects your visions and aims, how are you going to achieve your goals for your business?

You’re embarrassed to hand out your business card.

If you’re getting to the point where you’re not proud of showing off your logo then it’s probably time for a re-think. Maybe the comic sans font used was popular back when you started, but now it just looks unprofessional. These changes over time can be seen by brands like Airbnb, who despite being a growing and influential company, have rebranded their logo at least 5 times. Although we discourage from rebranding too often as it means your message and clients can be lost, a change in logo, for example, to keep the brand looking modern is very important.

You look the same as everyone else.

If your name or logo is too generic, then maybe it’s time to re-establish yourself. Customers may associate your brand with your competitors, or worse, think your name or logo is too lazy. This is where a similarity with your competition can hurt your brand. Think about your position in the industry. Do you stand out, or illustrate that you offer something different to your customers. Sometimes brands under the same umbrella of services tend to start looking alike. Maybe a refresh is needed to highlight to your old and new customers that you are forward-thinking, ahead of the game and offer something different within your industry.

You’ve outgrown your brand.

Companies are always evolving, which is a great thing for-profits, company culture, and growth. However, sometimes these changes may mean that you outgrow your logo, website or brand. These changes may be down to a number of reasons;

There’s been a change in ownership

This is often seen as a perfect time to rebrand since a new director often signals a new direction for a business. Your company will want to highlight this as a positive impact.

You’ve moved location

Maybe your old logo used images of landmarks, or your offices, that just isn’t relevant anymore.

Your business has experienced growth

Perhaps your name or logo still gives the impression of a small local team, whereas you want to celebrate the new global presence of your company.

The above reasons show that you’ve outgrown your brand and it’s time for a rethink. A rebrand can stop things from becoming stale and allows your company to illustrate growth.

You’re reaching out to a new audience.

Maybe your company has expanded and new clientele is needed. One way to attract a new audience may be to update your image. There’s always a new generation that you may want to include in your customers and clients. A rebrand may allow you to reach these untapped audiences and allows you to keep your business on top of the demographic shifts.

You need to disassociate your brand from a negative image.

Unfortunately, a brand’s reputation can be tarnished. Uber recently underwent a brand overhaul in an effort to dissociate itself with its bad reputation and to commit to a new and improved culture. A rebrand helps your customers see you in a new and improved light.

You need new employees.

If you’re not attracting the right kind of talent during a recruitment process you may want to try updating your website to make illustrate the positive changes within your company. Maybe you’re aiming to hire designers, but your website is old, lacks social media links and shows your company in a more traditional light. Refreshing your brand and keeping up to date with social media will bring in a different type of talent, especially one that is more fitting for where you want your brand to be in the future.

Timing a rebrand is a very important part of the process. Change can be good, but too often and your customers may start to feel disconnected and your message lost. Therefore, if you think you’re ready for a rebrand, get in touch to arrange an appointment with us.