Don’t hire an agency or a brand expert until you’ve understood this.
Your company has evolved, the products and services you once sold are no longer relevant. Or you are transitioning into a new industry niche.
Whatever may be your reason, how do you decide whether to refresh your brand or create a new brand?
Creating a new brand takes time and significant effort. So are you better off with repositioning and refreshing your existing brand?
A rebrand is rethinking your entire brand and brand identity. It’s as akin to creating a new brand and it comes with significant risk as you might alienate your existing audience.
3 questions to ask yourself:
- Has the audience significantly changed for my business today?
- Has my business significantly changed or only the products and services have evolved?
- What is the business outcome I want from this brand exercise?
One way to answer this is to dig into your business reason behind this. The other is to understand who your audience is.
If the audience has evolved or you want to attract a new audience that is “adjacent” to your existing audience, then a brand refresh with repositioning might suffice.
If your business has drastically changed and so has your audience, then a rebrand or creating a new brand might be in order.
Creating a new brand takes time and significant effort.
Leveraging your existing brand equity to reposition and clarify what you offer and to whom might do the job better.
Repositioning precedes a brand refresh.
Brand refresh usually involves:
- tweaking your logo and revamping your website
- updating your tagline
- using a new font and color palette
If a brand refresh is like a fresh coat of paint, a rebrand is like reconstruction.
A rebrand involves:
- A new brand identity and brand positioning
- Establishing the brand in a new market and for a new audience
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