Making the decision to refresh your brand takes courage. For some executives and business owners, holding on to past successes can lead to a brand that is no longer relevant. As organizations grow and evolve over time, the communications strategies that shape how their brands are received by the public must evolve as well. After all, you wouldn’t want your competitors to acquire more of your customers, right?
At Trillion, we have seen our fair share of owners and marketing directors who’ve come to us with a brand that is overdue for a refresh. Through a combination of market research, strategic thinking, and the application of experienced creative intelligence, we’ve helped put their brands back on track.
If you’re wondering what signs to look for to determine if you’re in need of a brand refresh, here are three fairly common indications.
During a brand refresh project, your visual identity is the most likely candidate to be updated. Many companies outgrow their logo and/or their brand’s look and feel and evolve into something new. A disconnect has happened between who your brand is and what it is presenting to the world.
If you’re wondering what signs to look for to determine if you’re in need of a brand refresh, here are three fairly common indications. See if they sound familiar to you!
1. What you do and stand for is no longer in step with how you represent yourself.
It might happen gradually: your business evolves from serving small businesses to handling larger clients with longer lists of requirements. Now your brand needs to adjust its visual identity and messaging to be in step with your new client base. Maybe your industry has changed with new products and competitors, and you have adapted to grow alongside it, but your branding has yet to catch up. Or perhaps your branding doesn’t reflect some new priorities your customers have.
At Trillion, we consider the current competitive landscape and your established brand personality so that your brand update is reflected as authentic. The goal is to preserve what is recognizable and successful in the current brand and balance it with new ways to express the relevance of your products and services. The changes should be implemented systematically, making adjustments along the way as you maintain continuity.
2. Someone whose opinion you value said something negative about your brand.
We’ve seen it occur when a business associate a client respects, or even a hired consultant, stumbles when talking about the relevancy of that client’s brand. If there’s something negative going on, the truth can sting, no matter how straightforward or obfuscated the message. Arriving at the realization that your brand has lost a bit of its zing, however, could be the best thing to ever happen to it—because now you know it’s time to take action.
When your brand isn’t connecting with your audience, you don’t want to be the last one to know it. Hearing an outsider’s point of view can provide you with the fuel you need to invest in a brand refresh. A brand refresh doesn’t necessarily have to be drastic. Simple adjustments to your brand’s language or visual identity, or the type of imagery you use in your communications, could be enough to get your brand back on track. The brand refresh process should position your brand for the future as well as leverage any relevant critiques that help support your value proposition.
3. Your brand is knocking, but your customers aren’t home.
If you’re in a position to consider a brand refresh, the likelihood is you have achieved past success with your company. Before, there was no question that you were reaching the right customers and prospects. Your bottom line proved it. But evolving with your customers’ needs and wants is critical. Understanding the pain points and needs of your target audience helps form the language you use in your communications to address what’s important to them. Together with the right visual identity and imagery, you can reach the right customers at the right point in time when they’re most receptive. Knowing how and where your prospective customers spend their time will help you market to them in an intelligent, efficient and thought-provoking way.
Understanding the pain points and needs of your target audience helps form the language you use in your communications to address what’s important to them.
If your internal research and customer surveys don’t reflect the brand as you see it, a refresh can help. With the plethora of screens and messages that bombard your customers and prospects on a daily basis, you need your brand to connect quickly. Are you providing the solutions that they are looking for? Is your visual presence and messaging still resonating? Team these up with smart marketing efforts and your brand can be positioned for success once again.
So you’re thinking of a brand refresh?
In reality, if you’re thinking about a brand refresh, you’ve probably run through some of these scenarios and are justifying the need. After all, you haven’t read this far by accident! The visual identity of your company, as well as how your brand sounds, needs to be relevant to your audience and authentic to your brand.
Additionally, the mix of traditional marketing materials, digital endeavors and social media has some companies concerned about undertaking a refresh. While some branding and marketing efforts are more appropriate than others, a brand refresh can challenge some of the preconceived notions you and your customers might have about your brand. Creative intelligence and forward-looking planning can help revamp and position it well for the future.
From beginning to end, the brand refresh process can vary from several weeks to several months. The cost of a brand refresh also varies depending on the time needed as well as the creative deliverables required for your specific situation. In every case, we are here to help you.
Trillion can help with your brand refresh!
At Trillion, we have particular expertise focused on transforming brands. We take sound strategy and apply relevant visual identities to help brands evolve.
You can learn more about some of Trillion’s branding projects, reach out with your brand questions or just give us a call at 908.219.4703. We look forward to helping your brand grow!
