Well you’re here right… and maybe you’re curious. Is it time to freshen up your brand?

When you’ve looked at your own brand for as long as you have, it’s no surprise it feels tired already. After all, you probably spent months working on it before it even hit the shelves.

Did you know, it takes approximately 50 milliseconds, that’s 0.05 seconds, for users to form an opinion about your website that determines if they stay or leave.

Humans are visual creatures and most of us process information on what we see. So it’s crucial for brands to make a strong first impression. If you’ve noticed results slipping and you can’t figure out why, take a look at your overall brand identity and question, “is it working?”

Sometimes the clues are obvious. Your product or service offering has changed, or you’ve moved locations and are in new markets. You might be under new management, experiencing internal growth or have an outdated image. However, clues are easily missed and customer churn could lead to decreasing numbers and the start of a slippery slope.

Many try to tackle these problems from the inside, out. Results get analysed, internal techniques and processes changed.

But taking the 0.05 second opinion theory in mind, we suggest stepping back and looking at business from the outside in.

If your brand isn’t building trust, credibility or delivering solid customer experiences, it’s time for a rebrand.

First things first, there is nothing ‘wrong’ with your brand identity.

If done well, your current identity will be the outcome of research, experimentation, a solid brand mission and a carefully crafted brand strategy. Hopefully these branding efforts have helped you achieve great results!

However, your brand needs to continuously reflect your market positioning and overall business strategy. As this naturally changes over time, it’s important to critically analyse and look at the bigger picture. Have you experienced the following?

If you answered ‘yes’ to any of these, this is the issue. Not your brand identity. There is nothing ‘wrong’ with your branding. It’s more likely that your brand has evolved and is no longer resonating with your audience.

When you grow and develop, your brand identity shouldn’t be left behind.

It’s important that your vision and identity is aligned to your brand compass – the business’ vision, mission and values.

It’s a no brainer that these will evolve over time. But does your brand identity support the new compass? Let’s dive a little deeper.

What is a brand compass?

Your brand compass is a technique to help business run smoothly. When used strategically, it helps to ensure messaging and brand identity is aligned throughout a business’s journey. A brand compass is made up of x5 essential points:

Purpose – the reason your company exists.
Vision – the desired focus or end-journey of your business.
Mission – the route to your success.
Values – why you are here in the first place.
Objectives – your strategic, tangible milestones.

If these change, so will your audience, and so should your brand. Analysing your evolution will help determine what brand components need changing for future success, results, and positive reputation.

There could be a few reasons for this.

If you have introduced a new service or product, your key audience groups may change. Identities need to work positively for this updated demographic.

Question this. Do the following resonate with both current, and new audiences?

• Brand Identity
• Tone of voice and interaction methods
• Look and offering of product, website and branding

If not, customer loyalty will eventually stray.

It can be challenging to create an identity that connects with multiple demographics. That’s usually where the experts come in. But rest assure, you can improve the audience experience and get back to achieving the loyalty and results you need.

A good starting point is to reassess and redefine your key differentiators. Analyse how you can reengage with your audience. This will help you find your way back on the road to success.

Once you have an action plan, you’ll know the direction your brand needs to move in. This might call for a branding tweak here and there, or full rebrand.

If this is something you are entertaining or have experienced, it’s crucial to step back and have a look at the bigger picture. A rebrand of some kind is always inevitable.

Acquiring or merging with other companies can lead to misalignments. Which is a given, especially as most companies will have different values, cultures, visions, legal requirements, positioning, audiences – the list goes on.

Ultimately, you change from being one brand with a clear vision, to having various brands and sub-brands involved in your identity. It’s important to get on top of updated brand identities early, if possible.

Performance is key to brand success. If you align harmoniously and agree on an updated identity, a rebrand will help to drive the success you’re after at this exciting time.

It’s possible your brand or product is starting to look like other brands. Don’t panic. This isn’t uncommon. As more competitors enter the market, it’s easy for brand differentiators to blur.

If you have already tried to capture the target audience’s attention and ‘failed’, go back to the drawing board. You may need to tweak your strategy.

Having a solid understanding of who you are, what you want to achieve, and how you can realistically do this is important. These are all things to iron out when redeveloping your brand compass.

Don’t overanalyse your competition; you won’t have full insight of their real success. However, do use them as inspiration and to help you analyse what is holding you back. This could be anything from:

• Your marketing
• Brand identity
• Product or brand positioning
• Tonality

Discovering what makes you unique is the best thing to do, to shine in a saturated market. Call it the gateway to your success. Critique your current identity, approach and materials, implement changes, and rise above the noise.

Markets are dynamic, meaning customer needs will naturally change over time.

But with market shift comes many considerations. If your brand, service or product isn’t repositioned to match market changes, it risks being left behind. Maybe you are currently experiencing something similar?

Your brand identity will need to be adapted to appeal to the new demographic and new space. Going back to the drawing board is a good place to start. Remember, you don’t need to start fresh, but you’ll notice a dramatic difference with a few tweaks here and there.

Remember your value proposition. Reshape your brand identity to fill in the market gaps. Brand repositioning should be strategic, and rolled-out carefully market wide.

Let’s face it. Your journey will not always be a bed of roses. At some point down the line you may find yourself in a spot of bother.

If apologies aren’t enough to resolve the issue, sometimes a business will need to recreate itself. This happens more often than you may think, and to large global corporations such as Volkswagen, Nike and Starbucks.

You may have heard the recent news about Facebook. The parent company name of Facebook has been rebranded to Meta. Many have questioned if this change is the result of the latest load of criticism – but we’ll let you be your own judge of that.

If your identity has been compromised, a fresh start might be the best strategic move. With the right plan and support, you can achieve what is necessary to recover, survive and grow stronger.

Thinking you might need a rebrand is often the first indication that your business needs one.

It’s inevitable that every company will experience a change of visual identity at some point. After all, branding is important and needs to reflect internal objectives, vision and the desires of your customers, which evolve over time.

Trust, credibility and positioning are essential to get you in front of the right audience. Hence why rebranding brings huge benefits. Visual identity encourages customers to connect, and ultimately, results in profitability.