It’s not always easy to know if your bustling business is ready for a rebrand. If you are noticing a trend of the items below, chances are you’re ready for to take your brand to the next level.
#1 Your values and vision aren’t reflected.
Whether you’ve had the same brand for 12 years or 12 months, if your brand doesn’t reflect your vision and values, it’s time for an update. If you have an idea of where you want your business to be 5-10 years from now but your brand doesn’t that vision, it will be harder to communicate that to your customers and it will be harder to get to that vision.
Reality is that your brand can actually be the guiding light for your vision. It can steer you in the right direction through the years when different opportunities come up. That leads to a stronger business, which means better bottom lines. (I’m talkin’ dolla, dolla bills ya’ll!)
#2 Your business is headed in a different direction
This happens for a variety of reasons. Either you bought a business, you experienced bad press, or over time your business has just evolved with the times. Whatever the reason, if you have a new direction for your business, your brand should align with the new direction, so it accurately represents where you are headed.
#3 The brand isn’t clearly defined.
Tell me if you have ever felt like this: You are getting ready to post that picture or graphic on social media and you spend hours trying to put together about 20 different fonts and scrolling through 50 different pictures to find the right one. Sound familiar?
If you don’t know how to keep your brand consistent across different platforms and collateral, chances are that your brand isn’t well defined. You should have a specific set of brand colors, fonts, and graphics that you can use and reuse to establish your business. That means you can spend less time scrolling through a bunch of different options, and get back to what matters most.
#4 You’re not reaching your ideal clients
If you’re struggling to reach that group of customers that want to pay what you’re worth, it’s a good idea to look at your brand and see if it’s aligning with what your customers are looking for. If you want your clients to pay top dollar for your products or services, you have to look, sound like, and FEEL like a business that attracts the top clients. Simple as that.
#5 You don’t stand out from your competitors
This problem happens a lot with industries that are crowded with people all claiming to do the same fundamental thing (ahem, photographers). Find what makes you and your business different from others and figure out a way to translate that into your visual brand.
Look at it this way, if you’re doing what everyone else is in your industry, how do you expect your potential clients to know why they should choose you? The answer is they won’t, and for them, it will probably come down to who is prices lower. That’s a game that you never want to be playing.
Related: 3 Reasons Your Business Needs a Custom Logo
#6 You cringe a little when you give out your business card or website.
If you’re not happy with anything that represents your business, then CHANGE IT. If while you’re handing out your business card to your dream client, you feel like you should have a disclaimer attached to it that says “I know this isn’t great, but it’s all I’ve got” then it’s time for a rebrand. You’ve put literally hours of work into your business, now let’s show all that work off to the world.
Bottom line, if any of these sound familiar to you, it’s probably time for some soul searching and putting some moo-la aside to hire a designer to define and create a brand that will help get you where you’re meant to be.
