Is your branding beginning to look a little dated and old? Are competitors beginning to overshadow it with vibrant, modern branding that appeals to your target audience more? Do your products look drab and boring on the shelves? Are you struggling to get your brand message across?
If the answer’s yes to any of these questions, then it might be time for a rebrand. Rebranding your business can be an exciting yet scary time, as there’s so much to navigate, and so much riding on getting the brand just right.
Research Your Target Market
The first essential step to take before facilitating a rebrand is to research your target market and find out what they want. Once you’ve got a clearer idea of what appeals to your audience, you can design your new brand accordingly. This is especially essential if your business is a few years’ old; your target market may have changed. For example, if your products are designed for young people, it’s likely that the needs, wants, and pain points of young people today are very different from what they were ten years ago, and your branding needs to keep up.
Emphasize Your Brand Message
Once you’ve learned more about your target audience, it’s time to think about your brand message and whether or not it can be related to. There’s nothing wrong with adjusting your brand message if you see fit; after all, it’s important to stay up to date with your current market. This is an important step because when you come to design the visuals of your branding, your message should be the first and foremost factor in your mind; everything about your brand needs to reinforce it.
Redesigning Brand Visuals
Decide how you are going to change the visual factor of your branding. Do you need a complete rebrand, with a new logo, colors and fonts, or are you going to simply tweak and update the branding that you already have? Bear in mind that if you have already built up a lot of brand recognition, the latter might be a better option. Completely rebranding with a new logo and colors may mean that you need to start from scratch when it comes to building brand recognition, so it may be better to leave something that customers instantly recognize.
Keeping it Consistent
Finally, consistency should be key. Once you have decided on a visual rebrand, make sure that it is updated for every aspect of your brand. Update your website if needed; it needs to reflect the modern, sleek brand that you’re becoming. If you sell physical products, you’ll need to update the packaging, too. The Package Lab is a good place to start for product label design. Roll out your new branding as soon as possible.
Finally, keep your customers in the loop. Send out marketing emails and post about your rebrand on social media, to make sure that your customers know what to expect. You can even use this as an engagement tool; customers enjoy getting involved with brands they follow, so don’t be afraid to ask for their opinions on different branding ideas.