In today’s fast-paced world, businesses must evolve to stay relevant and competitive. Even the most popular brands have undergone rebranding or refreshing their brand to maintain their success and market position. But what’s the right solution for your business? Is it a brand refresh or a complete rebrand?
In today’s fast-paced world, businesses must evolve to stay relevant and competitive. Even the most popular brands have undergone rebranding or refreshing to maintain their success in the market. But what’s the right solution for your business? Is it a brand refresh or a rebrand?
Let’s explore the difference between the two and which is best for your company.
What is a Brand Refresh?
A brand refresh is a strategic set of changes made to a brand’s identity to realign with current market trends. It’s like giving your brand a facelift while keeping the core brand identity intact. Businesses that want to keep up with the latest trends and stay relevant in their industry usually opt for a brand refresh.
A brand refresh may involve changing your own logo design, new font, color palette, brand slogan, and writing style. However, if your business needs more than just a cosmetic change to avoid losing its competitive edge, it may be time for rebranding.
What is a Rebrand?
A rebrand is a complete overhaul of a brand’s identity and strategy. It’s usually enacted when the current brand strategy fails, and the business needs to make substantial changes to breathe life into it. Rebranding can be time-consuming, expensive, and requires a lot of approval to conduct. The changes in a rebrand may include brand positioning, values, brand guidelines, mission and vision statements, and even a whole new logo or name.
Brand Refresh vs. Rebranding
- The main difference between a brand refresh and rebranding is the level of change involved.
- A brand refresh aims to modernize a brand while keeping the core identity intact. Conversely, a rebrand involves completely overhauling a brand’s identity and strategy.
A brand refresh is a way to go if your business wants to make more immediate changes to the core identity without significant changes. But a rebrand may be necessary if your business needs to make substantial changes to its brand equity and avoid losing its competitive edge.
Brand Refresh Strategy
If a brand refresh is a right solution for your business or brand’s future, here are some steps to guide your business through a successful.
Determine if you need a brand refresh or a rebrand
Before jumping straight into a rebrand, figure out the purpose behind it. A rebrand requires completely changing the company’s branding and vision, including goals, message, brand values, and culture. If no pressing need necessitates a rebrand, continue conducting a refresh.
When considering whether to rebrand or brand refresh, it’s important to determine which approach is best for your business. While a brand refresh involves making strategic changes to a brand’s identity to realign with current marketplace trends, a rebrand requires a more significant overhaul of a company’s vision, goals, message, and culture.
Before jumping straight into the rebranding process, it’s essential to determine its purpose. Changing your logo or name is insufficient, as a poorly defined brand can hinder your growth and success in today’s competitive market. Therefore, it’s important to consider other avenues if your client can’t present a concrete reason for rebranding (and “I’m bored” doesn’t count).
Here are some cues that might suggest a new visual identity or rebrand is necessary:
- Your brand has plans to expand nationally or internationally.
- Your current brand is restricting growth into other markets.
- Your customers have negative associations with your brand.
- Your company is merging or acquiring other companies.
If any of the above scenarios apply, refer to our guide to a successful rebrand to better serve your existing branding needs. However, if no pressing need necessitates a rebrand, consider conducting a refresh instead.
Brainstorm with your team to envision what they want the company to become
Don’t let the responsibility of refreshing your brand fall on just a few people. Collaborate with your team to develop new ideas and determine which elements can attract more attention from new and existing customers and increase your brand’s visibility.
Here are some key elements to consider when refreshing your brand:
- Logo: Your logo is the face of your brand, and it’s essential to modernize it to stand out against competitors while maintaining your brand’s identity and values.
- Font: Choose a font that is accessible, professional, and distinct to make your brand easily recognizable and memorable.
- Color Palette: Your color palette can represent your brand and create an emotional connection with your audience. Use color theory to choose a palette that aligns with your brand’s values and personality.
- Brand Slogan: A refreshed brand slogan should speak to the relevant needs of your target audience and communicate your brand’s unique value proposition.
- Writing Style: Tailor your writing style to be more consistent and speak to the buyer personas looking for your product or service.
When working with a client, consider asking them and their team these questions:
- Do they plan on expanding nationally or internationally?
- What other markets do they want to expand into?
- What are their long-term goals for their business?
Incorporating their answers into your refresh can ensure that you’re creating a brand image that will stand the test of time and avoid the need for frequent refreshes in the future.
Use social media to communicate with your audience
Leverage social media to get new audiences and communicate with your audience.
Social media is essential for communicating with your audience in today’s digital age. Use social media platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook to reach your target market and soft-launch your updated brand collateral or UI/UX as part of your strategy.
You can use social media marketing campaigns to inform your audience about your changes and engage with them by gathering their thoughts and feedback on the refresh. By listening to your audience, you can gain valuable insights to incorporate into your new brand image and ensure that your refreshed brand resonates with your customers.
Consider your audience’s emotions or desires in your strategy
Consider your audience’s emotions or desires in your marketing strategy.
You need to consider your brand story and the audience’s emotions or desires to make a successful brand refresh. The most successful brands evoke an emotional response from their target audience, so it’s essential to go out and meet them, speak to them directly, and gather feedback on improving your marketing efforts and brand image.
Here are some considerations for your own brand refresh strategy:
- Identify your target audience and their interests, preferences, and values.
- Conduct market research to understand what drives your audience to make purchasing decisions.
- Identify your target audience’s emotional needs and pain points and how your brand can address them.
- Create a customer feedback loop and listen to what your customers say.
- Incorporate customer feedback and suggestions into your brand refresh strategy to improve your image and increase customer loyalty.
Implement the changes slowly.
Remembering that a good brand refresh doesn’t happen overnight is important. To ensure your audience receives the changes you make positively, implement them gradually. This allows you to gauge reactions and make adjustments as needed.
- Consider starting with minor changes, like updating the color palette or fonts used in marketing materials. You can move on to more significant changes, like updating the website or logo. By taking this gradual approach, you can identify issues before they become more significant problems.
- If you receive negative feedback, don’t hesitate to approach your audience and understand the issues. Use their feedback to adjust your brand image and ensure your refresh is received positively.
Brand Refresh Checklist
Brand Refresh Checklist for Successful Brand Updates
When considering a brand refresh, it’s essential to conduct the process to ensure the best results. Follow this brand refresh checklist for guidance:
- Conduct market research and competitive analysis to make informed decisions
Research and discover changes in the market, including customer needs, economic factors, and current trends. Analyze the competition to gain inspiration from their successes and failures in maintaining relevance. - Refresh your visual identity while maintaining recognition
Your logo, slogan, and color palette should be visually appealing and updated without losing your brand’s recognizable identity. Choose exciting colors, sleek fonts, or updated geometry to improve the aesthetic appeal. - Develop brand messaging with emotional appeal
Craft messaging that resonates with your buyer personas and showcases your brand’s value in content quality and emotion. A refresh with authentic and trustworthy messaging reflects your company’s emotional intelligence and differentiates it from competitors. - Audit important content and collateral before rollout
Conduct a content audit of your pre-existing posts, website, and other brand elements. Editing or removing outdated content can give your digital footprint a fresh look and feel. - Develop an implementation plan to execute your brand refresh
Create a clear plan to communicate and implement changes internally and externally. This ensures a smooth rollout and sets up your brand for success.
Following this brand refresh checklist ensures that your brand refresh process is conducted with intention and will lead to a successful update.
Keeping a brand fresh is critical in today’s ever-evolving market. With more and more businesses cropping up daily, staying competitive and relevant to your target audience is vital. A brand refresh can help you achieve just that. It’s an excellent way to revitalize your existing brand, and breathe new life into it, keeping it up-to-date and aligned with the latest trends and new audience and expectations.
At Giant, we understand the importance of a brand refresh and have helped hundreds of companies achieve their goals in this area over the years. Our team of experts can guide you through the entire branding process, from research and analysis to implementation. We can help you identify areas that need improvement and develop a strategy that resonates with your target audience.
Keeping your brand fresh and relevant in today’s fast-paced market is essential. With a brand refresh from Giant, you can stay ahead of the competition and continue to thrive in your industry. Let us help you elevate your brand to the next level and make a lasting impression on your audience.
