When to Know it’s Time For a Rebrand
Re-evaluating your branding
If you’ve ever felt like your website, logo, or overall branding is no longer an authentic representation of you and your company, then it might be time for a rebrand. The rebranding process can feel cumbersome and overwhelming, but achieving a final result that truly and authentically captures the essence of your business’s personality, values, and gifts to the world, is well worth the effort.
What is a rebrand?
Think of a rebranding process as a reinvention of how your business is perceived. This process could include changing and/or updating everything from your business’s name, logo, website, business cards, color palette, typography, to brand photos. The changes can range from small tweaks to drastic overhauls — the scope of your rebranding process will ultimately be determined by how aligned your current branding is.
A rebranding process can capture the big changes that happen in your business. In 2021, I left my full-time job in corporate America to launch Esther Knox Creative. In my first year as an entrepreneur, I learned so much and my business grew. As I worked with amazing clients, I discovered who I serve, how to find those clients, and how to tell my story. The rebranding process was an opportunity to usher in all those learnings as well as a new era in my business: the launch of Sereth Design, a one-stop-shop design studio. The rebranding highlighted the changes that I and my business had undergone in a year, from a one-woman show to a team of creatives, while the name, Sereth (an anagram of my name, Esther) symbolized how I aim to keep some aspects of myself and who I am at the core of Sereth Design. I also wanted to introduce my culture in a way that was thoughtful, intentional and honoring to my history. I took time to think through the feelings we desire for all our work and clients: SEnsational, REfined, and THoughtful.
Learn more about my rebrand in this blog post.
Even if your business hasn’t changed drastically, you can still benefit from the vibrance and life that comes with a rebrand. The Kutoa Project, a counseling, therapy, and education service center in Nairobi Kenya, wasn’t changing its mission statement or who they serve. However, their 5-year-old branding didn’t reflect the organization’s story, growth, and transformation. The rebranding process here presented an opportunity to redefine their story thoughtfully with intention to breathe new life and vibrance into their visual design.
Why should I rebrand?
The most important aspect of rebranding is that it allows you to bring your visual identity into alignment with the core values of your business. Effective branding is the strongest possible representation of your business. It should clearly demonstrate your values, your products or services, and what makes you unique.
Your initial branding may have been scrambled together in an effort to get your business up and running (maybe it was in the start-up phase!), and that's normal. But now that you've got some time under your belt and have learned some potentially hard lessons, you can rethink how you want to present yourself to the world.
Signs it’s time for a rebrand
Your company’s vision, mission, or values have transformed.
When your company grows it’s also going to change, and sometimes you will outgrow the branding you started with. Rebranding in this case is important because you want your brand to be a fully authentic, clear representation of who you are as a business, right now — not who you were years ago.
You’re not proud of your website or visual identity.
It’s a good sign you’re in need of a rebrand if you feel slightly embarrassed to show someone your website or business cards. You deserve to feel like your branding represents the best sides of your business. You put so much effort and work into making your business amazing, so your branding should reflect that.
You feel like you have to do a lot of explaining to communicate what you do.
Your branding should do the heavy-lifting for you when it comes to helping your customers understand who you are, what you believe in, what you have to offer, and what makes it so great. If you’re always getting these questions and finding yourself having to explain what you do to others, then that’s a good sign that your website, social media presence, business card, or logo are unclear or confusing and in need of an update.
You want to connect with a new target audience.
Maybe you’re excited about working with a specific audience, but your branding is preventing you from making that connection. Changing your website, brand voice, or even your name can make a difference in helping your business connect with an entirely new group of people.
Your customers no longer resonate with your brand.
Maybe what used to connect with your target market no longer does — if you’re seeing a steady decline in your sales and leads, a rebranding could help you to figure out where you got off track, and help you step back into alignment with your customers.
You didn’t make your first brand choices intentionally.
Sometimes when we’re so focused on getting a business off the ground, especially when we’re solo entrepreneurs, the decisions we make about how the website looks or what fonts we’re using were just about what looked “good enough” at the time. A rebranding process gives you the chance to step back and truly be intentional about the choices you make in your branding so they reflect who you are and how you want to be perceived.
Your branding doesn’t match up to the competition.
Maybe you’re starting to notice that even if your product or service is superior to the competition, your branding isn’t. Are you standing out in your field? A rebranding process is a great way to give your business an edge.
You want your brand to be something that will grow with you for a long time, not just a season.
Has your business changed but your branding hasn’t?
Unfortunately you’re not putting your business’s best foot forward. And as a result, you’re missing out on the chance to more deeply connect with the people you serve. If someone can’t determine who you are, what you do, and what makes you special by looking at your branding, why would they want to give you their trust? If someone doesn’t feel an emotional connection with your branding, why would they want to spend their time and money working with you?
The rebranding process allows you to take a step back, revise, and create an intentional, strategic visual identity that is an accurate reflection of your business.
Work with Sereth Design
You deserve branding that fully captures your personality and communicates all the things that make your business special. If you’re ready to elevate your branding, inquire here. We can’t wait to create a sensational, thoughtful, and refined brand with you!
