When is the time to rebrand?
And what are the benefits to you, the business owner?
You may be familiar with a business that launches a rebrand and think to yourself:
“Why? What was the point of that? Aren’t they worried that they will lose customers? I thought they had a great brand? “
Or you might think:
”Oh yes… that is much better, cleaner, fresher.”
The reality is - that is doesn’t really matter what you think? unless you are their ideal customer that would purchase or engage in their service. Ideal customers change over time, as your business grows so does the customer you target. As a business owner you would know all too well, the reality that your business cannot stay the same as when you started. Your core beliefs and purpose might be the same but business changes on a daily basis and your branding need to reflect these changes.
Why is it important?
The most simple way of looking at this, is sales. Are you not as profitable as you once were? Has your business just not scaled the way you would have liked? This could be because of your branding is not attracting the right customers to your business.
Just like a light to a moth… this is what your branding should do.
Here are my top 10 tips on when you will know it’s the right time to rebrand or update your branding.
1. Your business has changed
You have completely changed your offering. You may have started out as a business coach for small to medium business owners but you are wanting to niche yourself into the Fitness Industry for example. You would need a logo that would attract these fitness type business owners.
Cleanway wanted to move on from using the well known recycling symbol that could not be trademarked for their business. The font type didn’t look strong enough for a company that is Australia wide and handles large corporate jobs. We created a new symbol that represents direction from left to right.
2. You are finding it hard to convert a lead to a loyal customer
Customers may be coming to your website from searching in google but then getting to your website and turning away based off how it looks. Does it look dated that it’s turning people away? does it look trustworthy? does it look real?
Mel Fisher Photography had 10 years of experience photographing babies and families. She had multiple logo’s for each of these offerings. Her website was outdated and not easy to book through. She also had MJF photography instead of her name. After some consulting, and proof of her name being searched more than MJF - she changed her branding over. Her website is now converting 60% more leads than before.
3. Your target audience has totally changed
Your target audience has totally changed. For example - you may have been targeting 50 year old men to play golf but in 2022 Females are playing golf a lot more and want to feel included. If you want your business to succeed you will need to update.
BCD came to us needing help to merge 2 businesses together under the one “umbrella”. They were helping Seniors and were wanting to keep doing this but also move towards helping anyone that required NDIS help. They wanted their branding to be easier to read, more modern and fun to show how happy their staff were to help.
4. You are over it. It just doesn’t represent you anymore…
It was designed 10 years ago when you started up and had no budget. It might sound trivial but how do you feel when you put on a new outfit? pretty good? confident? that’s what a brand refresh should do too. This will also attract brand new customers that never looked at you before. This is not as scary as it may seem.
Urban Consultants came to us with their dated branding that they had completely outgrown. They wanted a more contemporary branding to represent their current business and to attract working with large corporates.
5. Potential customers are confused
Whether you are at a networking event or at a bar… if someone asks you what you do and you tell them your business name and they look confused? or worse they just walk away… you may need to really focus in on your business name and look at changing it.
Acals - had a really long business name and this is a nightmare for domain names and email addresses. So they changed their business name to ACALS an acronym for Accessible Care & Lifestyle Services.
6. You do not stand out amongst your competitors
You no longer stand out amongst your competitors. When you started - you may be have been the only business in your space? How can you visually communicate how awesome your business is in 1 second? your branding.
Macquarie Grove Homes came to us to update their branding as they felt it wasn’t getting noticed in the right way. It wasn’t conveying the quality of homes they were building. They specialise in custom built homes - so we wanted to put something special into their branding to communicate this, so we used a pattern that was unique to the tiles they had put into a few homes they had built. The handwritten font communicates that human element of the way they look after you.
7. You don’t want a complete rebrand, just a tweak…
You may not need a whole new branding - you may just need a tidy up, some finessing. Think about some large brands such as Coca Cola and how they have updated their branding and marketing assets over the years… It’s just enough to keep it fresh, and not too different that it looks like a new brand.
4th Trimester & Beyond had this beautiful illustration designed for her business a few years ago and didn’t want to part with it, neither did we. But the problem was that the whole logo didn’t work on social media platforms and her website. It was also too much text making it all seem just too much. It looked too hand done and not professional which was hurting her business. We took the main part of the illustration and created a more refined version of this.
8. You have scaled up, you need your brand to represent this too
You have simply outgrown your branding. What a great problem to have. You are larger than when you started and are now wanting to communicate this to potential partners, shareholders, franchisees and customers.
COPE accountants and business advisors came to us with the goal of targeting new clients that were different to what they had been targeting previously. They wanted to represent themselves as a larger firm that could take on larger clients. Part of their branding was adding in the office building in part of the marketing collateral.
9. Your logo is hard to read?
You branding is a little unclear, not easy to read. Perhaps the font’s that were chosen were considered perfect at the time. But now they look too casual, too cluttered and messy to read. If your branding has comic sans in it, we need to talk stat. :)
As you can see the Glendon Brae Homes logo below, the font is very hard to read. The only word that stands out is HOMES which is lucky… as thats what they do. We updated their branding to be less generic (the roof icon) and made it easier to read.
10. You never had one to begin with…
Lastly - Your branding is not just your logo. Yes it is a part of it. But it’s the whole package - the colours, the fonts, the patterns, photography, textures, voice of the brand. So if you are still just doing up an ad and sticking on the logo - Im sorry to break it to you, you don’t actually have a branding.
Belle Lifestyle Homes - Started out with a very feminine branding. Even though Women are the main demographic for influencing the property market, the home they were building were more sophisticated and minimalist. The branding didn’t match this move. We updated the branding to be more minimalist and more structured to represent their buildings.
What are the benefits or a rebrand:
Attracting the right customers = more sales
Faster lead conversion because you look trustworthy and up to date
Greater staff morale
Feel and look more professional in sales meetings/negotiations and pitches
Communicates that you are willing to invest in your business
Clear messaging that is easy to understand = more sales
“Such a massive thank you to the beautiful team at Saffron & Co. I have had the privilege or working with them to redo my logo and my website. I am just in aww of what they have created for me. Their attention to detail and communication greatly appreciated. They exceeded every one of my expectations. So if you are looking at starting from the ground up, or refreshing your image the ladies here are specular. Thank you so much again. I am so beyond grateful.”
If you can relate to any of these tips and feel ready for an update or complete new rebrand. Contact me to chat about your business.
*Mention Bucket List and receive a complimentary audit on your current branding.
Saffron Meade -
Brand Strategist
Saffron & Co. Creative
