When do you need to rebrand?

This is an important question and one that should not be taken lightly.

Your brand is the essence of your business and a core communication vehicle for all your marketing messages. It should remain 100% consistent and be consistently used at every point of contact with your target audience.

‘Branding’ isn’t just a pretty symbol or a company name with fancy design; it’s far more than that. Some of the best brands are simple and placid.

It’s about building perceptions of your company that become embedded in your brand which, over a long-term strategy, build brand equity and improves your bottom line.

Read about the evolution of brand in the these modern cases: Pepsi, Volkswagen, Nike, Canon and Apple

”My business is too small to worry about a brand”

Wrong.
No business is ever too small, or too big for that matter. Think of branding as reputation. How will your business grow if customers don’t recognise you or have never heard of you?

A brand is a critical identification tool that presents information for your target audience to assimilate and, hopefully, recommend. Now without it, you’re just a person doing a job. If you want to grow, you should seek to be a person who represents a brand and all the hard work you devote to that job not only earns you revenue but is simultaneously developing your intangible assets; your brand.

‘Brands reside in the minds of consumers’
 

Perhaps your business is in a “comfortable” position? Do not rest on your laurels. Think. Will the company be “comfortable” in 10, 5, even a years time?

Any major change occurring now, or that may occur in the future, within your business’ environment must become explicit to your target audience in marketing messages. Otherwise the core communication channel of your business, the brand, will start to, one for a better word, go out of fashion.

Perhaps the business environment has changed and your company requires a different proposition?

Maybe there is greater impetus on service/product innovation – how will you communicate your methods in servicing this market?

Even the “big guys” get this wrong – Read the Microsoft vs Apple Case Study

Evaluate your brand

Here are 5 Important factors that raise questions about how “in-trend” your brand is:

• Market differentiation – How does your brand/company differ against competitors? Does it at all?
• Brand awareness – How well is your brand understood?
• Associations and emotional attachments  – What is understood about your brand?
• Consumer personality ­– Does your brand and marketing communications reflect your target audience accurately?
• Improve relationship customer base – Can a tighter bond be created between consumer and brand? If so, why has this not been achieved?