Refresh Your Brand: Why You Should Do It Every Few Years
Building a brand takes years of hard work, from designing your visual assets to creating a tone of voice that connects with the audience. Whether you run a small business or a multinational chain, you cannot go complacent with branding. After all, customers recognize and resonate with brands first and then explore their offerings.
Statistics establish that branding is critical. Most companies allocate 10-20% of their marketing budget to brand-building. Digging deeper, 71% of companies with annual revenues of $500,000 or less set aside a monthly branding budget of $100-$500. Another interesting fact is that 57% of small businesses pay $500 for a logo, while 18% pay up to $1,000 for it.
Refreshing your brand might seem like a waste of money after spending on assets like a logo and website. But most companies have rebranding in mind once every 7 to 10 years. Additionally, they often opt for minor refreshes in between to take their visual identity a notch higher. That makes sense, considering one-third of Americans buy products with interesting logos.
If you run a business in a competitive market, you need to focus even more on branding and rebranding. For example, Fort Worth, the 12th largest city in the US, attracts a multitude of new businesses every year, adding to the existing competition. Running a business here means you should be on your toes to stay ahead of the competition. Besides building a brand, you must refresh it every few years.
Let us explain why rebranding is a savvy move.
Keep Pace With Industry Trends
Branding trends change faster than you imagine, and not keeping pace means losing out to your competitors. Your customers expect your logo, website, and other visual assets to be on-trend. Perhaps, that’s the most crucial reason to rebrand when these elements appear outdated. Fortunately, redesigning them doesn’t have to burn a hole in your wallet.
The cost of web design in the US starts at a few thousand, and redesigning may cost even less. Moreover, there are 228,772 web design businesses in the US as of 2023, making it easy to find one. If you want to collaborate with a Fort Worth web design provider, you only need to search online because Texas has plenty of options. Thriving in a competitive environment in this location will be a lot easier if you have a modern-looking website.
Icepick notes that clean, contemporary, and user-focused websites are great at fetching traffic and driving revenues. If your website falls short on any of these fronts, a quick redesign can take it in the right direction.
Realign With Changes in Your Business
Businesses evolve in many ways over time. Your product offerings, target audience, locations, and core values may change. You need to ensure that your brand messaging continues to replicate your identity. If it doesn’t, you need to rework your brand strategy and redesign your assets to ensure your audiences feel connected with your business.
Dunkin’ Donuts implemented a fresh logo in 2018-19, dropping the word “Donuts” and retaining only the brand name. Although the color palette remains the same, the refresh certainly got the brand the attention it wanted. Many leading brands like Wise, 7UP, Channel 4, and Bolt switched to brighter colors in 2023. Rebranding is about evolving because change is the best way to stay in sight.
Overcome the Challenge of Inconsistency
Another reason to refresh your brand is that it helps you overcome the challenge of inconsistency. According to the Lucidpress report called “2021 State of Brand Consistency”, 85% of organizations admitted to having brand guidelines, but only 31% agreed that they consistently enforce these guidelines.
Inconsistencies seldom go well with customers as they can affect trust and credibility. You cannot expect them to trust a brand that looks different online and offline. A refresh can help you address the design inconsistencies and ensure that your business has a well-rounded presence across all customer engagement channels.
Starbucks is a good example in this context. Despite several refreshes over the years, the brand made only minimal changes in its logo to maintain brand equity while keeping pace with the current design trends.
The Bottom Line
A brand refresh isn’t about breaking the bank for an all-new look and feel for your logo, website, and retail signage. You can do it the easy way by making small and frequent changes to align with the changes in your business and evolving trends. As you pick a rebranding project, focus on consistency to maintain credibility, equity, and recognition.
Bogdan Sandu, a seasoned designer with 15 years of diverse experience, has been designing websites since 2008.
Renowned for his expertise in logo design and visual branding, Bogdan has developed a multitude of logos for various clients.
His skills extend to creating posters, vector illustrations, business cards, and brochures. Additionally, Bogdan's UI kits were featured on marketplaces like Visual Hierarchy and UI8.
Renowned for his expertise in logo design and visual branding, Bogdan has developed a multitude of logos for various clients.
His skills extend to creating posters, vector illustrations, business cards, and brochures. Additionally, Bogdan's UI kits were featured on marketplaces like Visual Hierarchy and UI8.
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