How to Make Your Brand Refresh…FRESH
If you think that rebranding a business is a sign of failure, think again. Many popular brands such as Netflix, Uber, Facebook and Mastercard continue to refresh their presence as a means of staying modern and maintaining influence. To help companies that may be struggling, developing or changing, one of the first things we recommend in order to draw renewed interest with both current and potential customers is a brand refresh. The main priority when refreshing a brand is to increase relevance, capture consistency and gain consumer attention.
WHAT IS A BRAND REFRESH?
In the world of branding, a refresh is a tactical move to increase your overall impact. While refreshing your logo is a great place to start, a successful rebrand can include updating your brand voice and reflecting this new identity across all digital and tangible properties. Ultimately, a brand refresh not only tells your audience that you’re modern and relevant, it shows that you’re connected to the industry. When planning a successful rebrand, we suggest following this checklist to ensure your brand refresh is FRESH!
PERFORM A BRAND AUDIT
This is the first step and the biggest by far. The goal when performing a structured brand audit is to compare your current performance against your overall goals. A brand audit can help identify the areas that need attention within your business. Common areas that need adjustments internally include, company core values, product or service offerings, consumer landscape and marketing strategy.
When developing your company's core values, focus on being authentic. Your core values should embody what is important to you as a business owner, reflect the needs of your consumers, and attract ideal employees. Once you have established your values, the next step is considering who these values speak to and the best way to reach that market. Industries are constantly changing, so it is important to consider that your ideal consumer may be changing too. When planning the new direction of your brand, consider who your target audience is, what they are attracted to and what new products or services may appeal to them. Ultimately, your consumers should see themselves in your brand and resonate with it.
UPDATE YOUR BRAND VOICE
Once you have outlined your core values and made appropriate updates to your daily operations, the next step is planning for the public eye. While a striking logo is a great asset to have, your brand voice plays a key role in gaining new customers, as well as consumer retention. Your brand voice should reach people on a rational and emotional level. Most importantly, your messaging should be consistent.
At this point in your rebranding journey, considering the help of a marketing agency is a great segway into the more strategic components of your refresh. A marketing agency can help identify the best brand voice for your market, keeping in mind the specific industry and your unique values. Once your brand voice has been developed, this messaging should be updated across all medias including but not limited to, your website, social media, print materials and products.
PLAN A LOGO REFRESH
Your visual identity, such as your brand colors, logo, photography, textures and fonts,are key to conveying who you are as a brand. With the help of adesign and /or marketing agency, this component of the branding refresh should feel exciting and fun! When refreshing a logo, the level of adjustments needed, come down to your unique situation. While some logo refreshes may include new colors, fonts or icons, other logos may only need a few subtle changes to make their current brand pop! Refreshing a logo doesn't mean starting from scratch, it’s simply adapting to the ever changing market with modern application.
ESTABLISH BRAND STANDARDS
The strongest brands are those that work hard to establish a consistent experience across all touchpoints. Now that you have developed a refreshed version of your brand identity, it's important to roll out your official brand standards. Your brand standards will outline authorized logo usage, guidelines for logo size, margins, colors and positioning, photography styles, and key messaging parameters.
Consistency is vital to a successful brand refresh, so it is imperative to indicate how, when and where you will use each brand element. For example, if you updated the colors within your logo, but the colors are different across the website and print materials, this can cause a disconnect. Having established brand standards are a great resource for your team, including any third party entities that may assist your organization, specifically marketing agencies that may be implementing growth strategies.
PLAN A MARKETING STRATEGY
Now that things are wrapping up, it’s time to consider how you will deliver this new information to your audience. Deciding your overall marketing budget is a great first step. If you are able to allocate funds towards a campaign, offering a product or service in tandem with your relaunch will be sure to leave a positive memory for current and future consumers. If you decide to showcase your refresh on a smaller scale, be sure to cover each and every touchpoint with appropriate imagery and positive messaging.
ROLLOUT
Now that you have completed the planning process of your brand refresh, you should have the following elements:
A full business audit including updated company core values, internal goals and synchronized daily operations.
Updated messaging and brand voice that speaks to your ideal customer and mirrors your refreshed identity.
An updated logo with established brand standards to match.
An effective marketing strategy that targets your ideal audience.
Refreshing your brand can be exciting, but it's important to not jump the gun. As mentioned before, rebranding is a tactical move and should be planned out thoroughly. In fact, releasing bits and pieces of your refreshed identity along the way can have the opposite effect, leaving consumers feeling confused and misguided. On the other hand, waiting until you have all elements in place to plan an official rollout is the best thing you can do! Keep in mind that as you unveil your refreshed brand, people are going to have questions. Be prepared with positive answers and potential offerings so that this shift in the brand will leave a positive memory in their mind!
If you are interested in refreshing your current brand, or creating a brand in general, Joba Studio is here to bring your vision to life! Visit our website to learn more about the services we offer, including brand development, website design, marketing strategy and more!
