“very new beginning comes from other beginning’s end.”
– Seneca
Ah, the new year. It’s the ever anticipated, oftentimes dreaded, but always celebrated, time of the year that brings resolutions you never finish, frigidly cold temperatures, and 365 new opportunities for you and your business. Although in its most commercial sense, New Years is seen as an overly intoxicated, gold-encrusted holiday where we should all sit around and talk about how much weight we could spare or how much money we could save in the days ahead, but in its purest sense, New Years is all about new beginnings, and for Rethink Media, our new year is beginning a new in the most exciting of ways, so we thought we’d lend a helping hand and assist you in creating a new beginning for your brand as well.
Creating a logo or a website or any piece of a brand’s identity is an important part of starting a business, and for many, it’s hard to move away from something when it’s been so good to you for so long. It feels like it’s a piece of you, and we get that, but when you’ve been in business for a number of years, it’s easy for your brand to become stale. That’s where a simple change can make a world of difference. Here’s the kicker, you don’t need to completely rebrand yourself to keep up with the latest trends. Sometimes all you need is a simple brand refresh to give your business the new beginning it was needing all along.
Successfully refreshing your brand starts with a great strategy. You can’t simply go into a refresh with no plan of action. That’s where we come in. Use the below steps to aid you in your brand refresh mission.
Is it a Refresh or a Rebrand?
As much as we’d like to tell you all brands require a simple nip and tuck here and there, that would be a lie. Sometimes your business is in desperate need of a full overhaul, so a simple brand refresh just won’t cut it. That’s where the rebrand comes in. This costly and time consuming strategy is something that takes a lot of effort from the company at hand. When you’re in need of a new company vision, goal, and culture, that’s when the rebrand comes in. Of course you’re going to want the cosmetic things as well, but when it comes to the rebrand versus the refresh, you really need to decide if what your company needs truly lends itself to a rebrand. If that answer is no, then move ahead with the brand refresh.
Hints your company needs a rebrand:
An expansion is imminent
Market growth is limit due to the current brand
Negative consumer association with your current brand
Company merger
Brainstorm Ahead
A brand is only as strong as the team that creates and utilizes them. That’s why arguably the most important part of the brand refresh process is the brainstorming session you should conduct with your team. What does your team envision for your company? How can you implement that? These are the questions you go in with, and that’s how you start building a brand that properly reflects that company and the people inside it.
Branding Elements to Brainstorm About
Logo
Company Font
Color Palette
Slogan
Website
The Softer, the Better
No consumer is going to trust a company that changes everything overnight. That’s why a soft launch of your refresh is a critical piece to the branding puzzle. Use social media to start cluing your followers and customers into changes that are coming. Make it fun for them! Give them a reason to check back in with you after you start hinting at things.
What makes social media the best place for a soft launch is the social listening opportunities. It is no secret that people, unfortunately, are not silent on social media. If they have a problem with the new you, they’re going to let you know. They’re also going to let you know they love it, and that’s the best part.
Emotions, Emotions Everywhere
The brands that have the biggest impact are the ones that evoke an emotional response from their target audience. Use that in your refresh. Try to meet your consumers as much as possible during your refresh process. Talk to them and allow them to give you real, unfiltered feedback on how they see your brand. Not only is this going to strengthen your public appeal, but it helps to give you a better idea of what your target audience actually wants. Which is something many companies think they know but few actually do.
It sounds daunting to start a refresh for your brand, but the fact of the matter is that when you take the proper steps, a refresh is a relatively manageable task for you and your business this new year. Don’t believe us? We should know! At the beginning of January we started launching the collateral from our very own brand refresh. After a decade of the famous pink and black, Rethink is dropping the Group and adding in an array of bold, vibrant colors that reflect us as much on the outside as it does the people on the inside.
The task of a refresh isn’t small, and it certainly won’t be easy, but with the right strategy, it can give any brand a whole new beginning.
Is your brand in need of a refresh? Let us know below!
