If you consider that your brand has become obsolete, it is important that you consider whether you need to refresh it. A brand refresh is an update, while maintaining the brand's core identity. This refresh may include minor tweaks such as a logo, a font change or a revision of the corporate colour palette.
If you want to keep up with market trends and maintain your competitive edge, a refresh is what you need.
Define what needs to change
The first thing you need to do for a successful brand refresh is to assess your brand's strengths and weaknesses. These may be obvious in some cases, but executing a refresh means different things, so it is important that we identify what needs to be changed and what we can keep. Use your competitors as benchmarks, see what they look like and how they communicate.
The second step is to review your brand's corporate manual (logo, colour palette, fonts, tone of voice...)... Are they different from the rest of the competition? Are they recognizable? Can someone who doesn't know the company understand what you sell, or the sector in which you operate? It is these weaknesses that will need the most attention.
Timing is important
The decision to rebrand should be carefully considered. The process is likely to take a lot of time and work, but first make sure the timing of your announcement is right to get the best results. Rebranding is a perfect way to build momentum for milestones in any business, such as, are you planning to launch a new product or service in the next few months, or are you planning to launch a new product or service in the next few months? It might be a good idea to time the launch of the new brand image to coincide with the time when the product, service or project, in our case, is available, so as to grab as much attention as possible.
All rebranding starts with empathy
It is very likely that right now you are considering that your brand needs a refresh because you feel you are losing touch with your audience. You should follow the basic principles of design, which explain that you should focus on people, in particular your current and potential customers. This is the only way to build an effective rebranding strategy.
Your audience must be present at all times. It would be advisable to first ask them for feedback to get a broader picture of where your brand is at the moment. Depending on the resources you have available, a survey or discussion can help you find symbols, tones of voice and fonts that best convey your message and connect with your audience.
Your brand story is the eye of the hurricane
Renewing your brand should not mean getting rid of its history and your beginnings. The goal is to convey those wanderings in a more powerful way, stripping away the superfluous, letting your identity shine on its own. Remembering where you came from is essential to a successful brand refresh.
Consider your brand journey: How did your business start? What was the goal then and what is the goal now? What do you think have been the obstacles and achievements of your business? Asking yourself these questions will help you refine your brand identity and locate points of differentiation from the rest. The answers to these questions will help you develop more coherent and effective ways to represent your brand, while maintaining your identity.
Not too much and not too little
You shouldn't settle for too little and you shouldn't go for too much when it comes to resetting your brand. If you settle for too little, your work will go unnoticed; if on the other hand you go beyond what is necessary, your brand may become unrecognisable and you will have lost your identity and with it, your current audience.
Be consistent, a brand should be uniform and tell a coherent story. When you are going to change one element of your brand you must bear in mind that the other elements must fit together.
Consistency and adaptability
These two factors are key for brands. Updating your brand should be reflected in every facet of your business. You can't forget about any channel; both digital and print must be considered. The changes they bring should illuminate your brand in every channel, from social media posts to business cards.
We will also need to consider a change in internal communication and how the refresh will influence it. It will be difficult to get your employees to help spread the word of change if nothing has changed for them internally.
Spread the word
You will have invested time and money to make your rebrand a success, so don't be afraid to share it. Share it with your team first, make sure every employee supports the plan and understands your decision. Your employees should always be the main ambassadors of your brand.
Next, work with your social media and PR team to spread the word on a massive scale, especially if you are launching it with an eye on your company's future project. Prepare resources such as deblog articles, social media posts, press releases, etc., and you'll reach new customers to tell your story to.
Make it long-lasting
A successful brand refresh goes beyond the initial excitement of the first few days. Communicating a clear plan and creating useful resources and guidelines that are available to your entire team will be vital. It is the best solution to ensure that the old doesn't get mixed up with the new after a while.
Make sure your whole team knows where to find the new identity manual, where to check what tone of voice to use, the graphic documents they need and examples of what to do and what not to do. There may be figures within your team who are responsible for safeguarding and ensuring that this refreshed image is maintained for both internal and external communication.