24 OCTOBER 2024

Four Ways to Think About a Brand Refresh

In today’s crowded marketplace, we are inundated with choices. A brand refresh can be an effective way to rejuvenate your image, capture attention and foster deeper connections with your target audiences.

But before jumping into a rebrand, you should consider these four territories that can provide valuable insight for answering questions related to your brand:

1. Shifts in Company Goals

2. Outdated Brand

3. Target Audience Behavior Changes

4. Increased Competition

Shifts in Company Goals

Is your business changing, expanding its offerings, entering new markets or undergoing a leadership change? Shifts in a company’s business goals can serve as a catalyst for reevaluating your messaging, mission and vision. In doing so, take time to examine how your brand foundation has served to get you to where you are today. While the business goals may have changed, the core purpose and intention that got you there can still ring true. If that doesn’t resonate, you might be ready for a change.

Take careful consideration of how the assumptions that were made at the beginning of your brand journey can be refreshed to reflect where the organization is today. This will ensure you don’t jump into a radical change prematurely. But also will ensure that when you do make a change to your brand, that those changes are rooted in the core drivers of your business and goals.

Target Audience Behavior Changes

Target audience behaviors are in a constant state of change. This doesn’t mean you need to “rebrand” and pursue a new identity all the time. If you’ve validated your purpose, then perhaps time is better served examining how and why your customers have changed. Where they are now and how you can ensure that you are prepared to meet them. They may not be asking for a new you, just a new way of finding out how they can reconnect with you.

There’s a wide range and scale when it comes to a rebrand. You may find that small tweaks to color or style choices will be effective ways to re-engage target audiences without necessarily embarking on a full rebrand.

Increased Competition

What is the competition up to? Keep a close eye on what your competitors are doing, but be thoughtful about how that should influence your brand’s behaviors and choices. Sometimes it’s not about a new brand, as much as it’s about a new campaign – don’t confuse the too. We often find when it comes to competitor envy, really what a brand is in need of is a new campaign or strategy, not a complete brand overhaul.

What Should You Do Next?

Validating what you stand for and benchmarking yourselves against the competition are necessary steps to take before jumping into a rebrand. Refreshing what you stand for, revisiting your customer relationships and taking stock of your competition are incredibly efficient and useful steps to take before deciding whether or not you need to change your brand.

A brand refresh isn’t just about your logo and color palette – it needs to be a strategic move that ensures your business remains relevant and continues to resonate.