By Jennifer Ruwart
Is It Time to Update Your Brand?
Your brand’s main job is to help you stand out, attract customers, and grow. If your brand gets out of alignment with your audience and growth goals, it’s not doing its job.
And while the thought of a rebrand may feel overwhelming, the cost of an outdated brand is even greater. Your business can’t grow to its full potential if your brand is attracting the wrong customers and repelling the right ones.
Like any change to your business, it pays to take some time to make sure a brand update really is needed. After all, you want to spend your budget wisely with an eye on a return on investment.
So how do you know when it’s time to update your brand? Ask yourself these five questions.
1. Have your offerings shifted?
Your brand is closely tied to your value proposition, and the products or services you offer are a key part of that. If you have added a new line of products or expanded your service offerings, your relationship with your customers may have shifted, too.
As your business grows and evolves, it’s helpful to check in on how you bring value to your customers – and whether your brand still communicates that value loud and clear. If not, it’s time for an update.
Our client Convelo Insurance Group recently went through this process with their rebrand. This is a rapidly growing company that is constantly making new insurance programs available to the brokers and agents they partner with. They felt pigeonholed by their original brand, which was too closely tied to a specific sector and not built for growth. We built a new brand for Convelo that emphasizes their expertise and speed – enabling them to carve out a broader niche in a competitive market. See what we did for Convelo.
2. Are You Embarrassed by Your Brand?
When clients come to Roger That, they often share that they are ashamed to put their company in front of new people because they feel embarrassed by their brand. Even if you can’t articulate exactly what doesn’t feel right about it, this is often a sign that your brand is not working as well as it could.
Maybe your brand was developed quickly and without a real understanding of the psychology behind brand development. Or, maybe your brand was spot-on several years ago, but your business has since outgrown it.
That was the case with Music Workshop, a music education nonprofit we rebranded this year. In 10 years, they had expanded from a community organization in Portland to a global nonprofit reaching 10,000 schools worldwide. They needed a fresh new brand to reflect the confidence and inspiration they bring to their work today. See what we did for Music Workshop.
3. Has Your Mission Shifted?
Your company’s mission articulates who you serve and why. That purpose should be at the heart of your brand. And if it has changed, your brand needs to reflect the new direction.
Ask yourself if your mission has shifted as your company has grown. Are you in a different business stage now? Has your purpose in the marketplace evolved?
We experienced this recently with DH Sutherland, a company that supplies manufacturers in high-tech industries with advanced materials. As DH Sutherland expanded beyond its roots primarily serving the aerospace industry, they found that their best customers in other industries are more focused on innovation than logistics. The DH Sutherland brand needed an update to reflect their new consultative approach and their mission to play a part in the resurgence of American manufacturing. See what we did for DH Sutherland.
4. Has your target audience shifted?
Brands are developed with a target audience in mind. As a company grows, it’s not uncommon for the target audience to shift or expand. Maybe you’re targeting customers in a new industry or region. Or, maybe you have learned more about your customer base and realized they’re not who you expected.
A brand refresh can help you reposition yourself to connect with your redefined or expanded audience.
We encountered an audience shift like this when we helped Winn Feline Foundation build their new brand identity as EveryCat Health Foundation. The organization found that cat-lovers were their most enthusiastic supporters, and saw an opportunity to raise more support than ever for their mission to improve the health and welfare of cats everywhere. By reimagining their brand, they have been able to not only engage with a much wider community but also turn them into brand champions and financial contributors. See what we did for EveryCat.
5. Do You Have More Competitors Than You Used To?
Is the marketplace feeling more crowded lately? Are you losing customers to the competition, or having to work harder to keep your audience’s attention?
A fresh brand can help you stand out in a competitive market by emphasizing what you’re best at. It shows your existing customers that you are evolving with the times, and lets prospective customers know that you are worthy of their consideration.
We helped Planned Parenthood Advocates of Oregon refresh their brand to stay at the leading edge of the movement for sexual and reproductive freedom in Oregon. As their cause has rocketed to the forefront of public awareness in recent years, they needed a brand that would feel contemporary and inspire a new wave of supporters to take action. See what we did for Planned Parenthood Advocates of Oregon.
If you answered yes to any of these questions, it is time to consider updating your brand. We are here to help you figure out exactly what your brand needs, so it can get back to work helping you stand out, attract customers, and grow.