As Brand Consultant at Veva, I get to talk to a lot of different business owners who are at varying stages of their branding journey. Many are considering rebranding and want to know the benefits of undergoing this process. This an area that I am incredibly passionate about and it’s what Veva specialises in. I’m often asked questions like,

Is a rebrand necessary?
Is rebranding worth the investment? or
How do I know when it’s time to rebrand?
These are all valid questions and it’s prompted me to reflect on some of the most common reasons our clients have decided to rebrand.

This two-part article explores my top six reasons to rebrand. Are these relevant to your business?

1. IS YOUR BRAND WEAK AND DISJOINTED?

Successful brands have a strong, clear and consistent identity. Everything from the logo, colour palette and wider visual identity, through to imagery, language and messaging remains consistent. Because these elements never deviate from the established brand guidelines, the brand’s visibility and recognition is enhanced. This enables its customers to instantly connect with it, building awareness and loyalty.

Brands that are disjointed have mixed messaging and no unified identity. And they suffer badly. This inconsistency dramatically weakens the brand’s appeal and memorability. Their target audience struggles to connect with it because there’s nothing tangible to hold on to. The brand simply isn’t doing its job and any marketing spend is just a shot in the dark.

2. DOES YOUR BRAND RESONATE WITH YOUR CUSTOMERS?

As a business owner, it’s critical that you really know your customers. Understanding who you are talking to and what makes them tick is so important in building a relevant and valuable brand. Ask yourself how well you know their attitudes and behaviours, and their perceptions, values and pain points. When you know the answers to these vital questions, you then need to assess whether your brand is really resonating with them in the right way.

If your brand isn’t resonating with your audience, you’re missing opportunities for growth daily. When a brand resonates with its specific customer base, it generates an emotional response. This emotion can transcend logic. It changes a passive onlooker into an invested purchaser – a brand champion. We all do this every day – our purchasing patterns are often based on a feeling rather than an analytical assessment of the benefits of one product over another.

For example, a friend of mine has a husband who is a keen cyclist and is emotionally invested in the Giant brand. This brand resonates with him completely. He will only ever purchase Giant, to the point where he insisted on buying this brand of bike for his daughter when she turned just six years old! He knew that a Giant bike for a six-year-old was unnecessary and unaffordable, and that a bike from K-Mart would have been much more appropriate. But he just could not bring himself to purchase any other brand. He couldn’t do it because his emotion outweighed his logic. And that’s how powerful branding can be.

3. DOES YOUR BRAND LACK MEANING?

A rebrand is about far more than just designing a new logo. It’s a strategic discovery process that involves a lot of questioning, understanding, assessing and exploring.

At Veva, we’ve helped many clients who have come to us after an unsuccessful branding process. Whether they’ve used 99 Designs or engaged a designer who only considers the aesthetics, these clients have felt let down by the value of their brand.

Why? Because there’s simply no meaning behind it. Their brand is just a picture. It might look nice and use lovely colours, but it doesn’t have any strategic direction behind it. It doesn’t build the right perception of their business or tell the right story.

As you assess where you’re up to on your brand journey, these three critical areas can help you work out whether a rebrand is necessary, timely and worth the investment. Part two of this article explores another three reasons to rebrand.

Category tags: Branding, Logo Design