When is the Right Time for a Brand Refresh

How and when will you know?
And, why is it so significant?

Change is Constant.

When is the right time for a brand refresh?

We’ll answer all your questions here. The one predictable thing about our unpredictable world is that things never stay the same.

This applies ten-fold to the working environment, or so it appears.

Change is a fact of business life. New product streams, new and different routes to market, responding to competitor growth, re-structuring – your near-perfect branding from yesteryear now looks perfunctory and performs less strongly.

What looked sharp, has become spongey and stale. Your à la mode branding is now outmoded. In brief, it no longer accurately conveys the message it should, and once did. It just seems unaligned, and out of kilter.

If this is the case, to make your brand the asset it once was, now could be the time for a refresh.

The Importance of Branding.

Impactful branding is all about letting your target market know who you are, what you do, and what you believe in. It’s a powerful emotional connection with others. In our view, it expresses your personality and inspires loyalty, identification and even pride.

In its immediacy, we could say that branding is one of THE most effective and powerful tools at your disposal.

As a result, one of the most important. You run your business in a competitive environment. Therefore, a strong, distinguishing brand sets you apart. Standout, meaningful, whatever industry sector you work in, you’ll want to be the number one, go-to thought that pops into your customers’ minds when they need your products or services.

What is a Brand Refresh?

Let’s start by defining what it’s not.

It’s not a starting-from-scratch overhaul, where everything is reworked from the bottom up. A brand renovation could happen with a change in the business name, for example, or as a result of a mergers and acquisitions exercise.

In other words, a whole fresh look and feel is required.

On the other hand, a brand refresh is more subtle; a change of direction, updates, alterations and improvements, say. Refreshing your visual identity could gently yet persuasively change perceptions in the minds of people who buy your services.

Let us explain.

Think of it This Way.

You’ve gone through a brand refresh. It’s injected new energy into your company, with improved consistency across several media.

Previously, your all-important customer base considered your organisation to be like this (whatever this meant to them). And now, without losing any confidence or faith, their awareness of what you do has grown; their insight has expanded. That is, they still see you like this – only bigger, more focused, and able better to meet their needs.

Thus, a brand refresh is less risky and less dramatic, but as the saying often goes, small can be beautiful. Not least in an ever-changing environment, where further brand updates may be needed at some stage.

Plus, a brand refresh campaign is your ideal opportunity to generate a buzz on social media and elsewhere.

When is the Right Time for a Brand Refresh?

Think about these points:

You’ve broadened your service offering or shifted your organisation’s focus

If you’re thinking, “When is the right time for a brand refresh?”, the most obvious answer is this: there could be a disconnect between what you offer now, and how you’re talking about it. Is your brand messaging accurate? Is it still relevant? If not, you could be losing market share to your competition.

Successful business development relies on so much more than great products and services. Your customers need to recognise you as a contemporary company – not as you were 10 years ago.

You’re changing the way you grow your business

Referrals and word-of-mouth growth are gold-star ways to sell. They’ll (nearly) always deliver good growth.

However, this target market may not always be there. Refreshing your branding allows for more routes to open up: social media, online, point of sale, digital billboards – not to mention your presence at trade exhibitions and so on.

Equally, your branding must “work” across both electronic and print media, even on a mobile app should this be appropriate for your business. Again, consistency is the keyword here. For your peace of mind, adapting media-wide branding is definitely in Turquoise Creative’s skills catalogue.

You will need to reach precisely the people you want, in the way they want to be contacted. And, for them not even to realise. We can make that happen for you with a brand refresh.

Your branding is inconsistent

You may be using different versions of your logo on printed materials vs. online. Not only can this look disjointed, but it’s also confusing for your customers. Remember, people have small attention spans. They may not even be 100% they’re dealing with the same company.

Your branding is out of date

Quite simply, if it looks old-fashioned and dated, some tweaks to bring it into the 21^st century are a must.

Your once-revolutionary logo now looks retro, but not necessarily in a clever way. Its colours and font may belong to a previous generation. If you think this sounds strange, consider the BBC’s branding in the 1970s. The font looks, simply, well – from the 1970s.

Your customers’ understanding of your organisation is different from yours

As a senior-level decision-maker in marketing, you know the ins and outs of your services and products, almost like no other person in the business.

Yet, you have a strong suspicion that your audience is just not up to speed. They think one thing, yet you know another. Are they decoding your offering? If so, they’re missing out on what you offer. Likewise, you’re losing wallet share, due to what could be cloudy visual messaging.

In Summary.

Do you need a brand refresh? The answer is: not always. You may be comfortable with your messaging and already have a brand story that your audience recognises and understands. It does its job, and you’re happy with it.

After all, alienating your target market is not on the agenda. Let’s not fix what’s not broken.

However, if any of the above issues are starting to bite, and you need to strengthen brand recognition to enable smoother business growth, we’d be happy to help.

So, when is the right time for a brand refresh? We hope you’ve found this article helpful. We know that this is true: you may have fantastic quality products and amazing customer service.

With the right branding, you could spend less time trying to convince your audience that this is the case… and more time doing what you’re best at.