What can you do if you’re not happy with your brand?
There are loads of other people in this situation too. Maybe they feel brand shame or they know they’ve grown out of their brand or they’re serving new markets or selling new things and it just doesn’t fit anymore. There are so many reasons why you might fall out of love with your brand.
Sometimes it’s that the DIY approach is most cost effective at the beginning and they’re ready to step up.
Sometimes their business has pivoted and their brand doesn’t fit properly anymore.
So what can YOU do if you’re struggling with how your brand looks?
Firstly you need to do a review..
Get all of your “stuff” and set it out around you. This means your website, your social media graphics (not just the posts, but the covers too!), your stationery, banner stands, uniform, leaflets, brochures, email signature, information documents, invoices, receipts, ads, book covers.. all the things. These will be different for every business. Collect it all together.
Take a look at it.
What do you like? what do do you not like? Why?
Have a good think about the reasons why you don’t like something and the reasons why you do. Did you add something in and it’s just stuck around? Did you stop doing something that you really liked and somehow it’s just disappeared? Maybe someone else started putting this stuff together and they put their own spin on it. Perhaps you’ve not been following the style guide and you just need to blow the dust off it and get back to do doing things properly. Perhaps your business has grown and the style guide is no longer specific enough because there’s more people involved. Perhaps you don’t have one! Perhaps you don’t really have a bad brand- you’re just using it badly. Maybe? Or maybe the whole thing is totally disjointed and messy and doesn’t work and you really do need to take more drastic action.
Having a brand you don’t relate to anymore doesn’t always mean a huge shakeup. It can literally be cutting out that shade of blue or not using that particular image anymore – right up to a full rebrand. It just depends where you’re at.
Make a note of what you think about this. Then look at all of your stuff through the eyes of your ideal client. What do THEY think? How does your brand make THEM feel? If you don’t know, pick a couple of your best clients and ask them. Make a note of this too.
It’s important – very important – that your brand is attractive to the people who you want to work with, these are the people who will keep your business going – but it’s also important that you’re happy with your brand too otherwise you’ll feel a lack of connection with it, you’ll have brand shame, you won’t be excited to share your website, brochure, content etc.. because you don’t love it.. so the balance between you loving your brand and your ideal client loving your brand is a fine one!
Next you need to answer some questions.
What’s changed? Do you have new values? A new audience? New targets?
Change is a very good reason to tweak things. Your business doesn’t stay the same, and neither will your brand. It’s a moving thing but it doesn’t have to be a big change – a tweak might be all you need.
Think about what your brand values are. What your brand personality is. Who your ideal client is – and what they’re attracted to, where they spend their money, the sort of things that capture their interest. This will help you to determine if your brand fits in that place that makes them stop and look. Think about how you want people to feel when they look at your brand. Think about your plans for the future.
Then go back AGAIN to all of those things that already exist and determine how well your brand image sits with those things.
- Does it communicate your values?
- Can you see your personality shining through?
- Does it excite your ideal client or help them to feel connected with you?
- Does it support your future plans?
Then you need to decide if you need an update or a full rebrand or something in between. Maybe during this process you’ve reconnected with your brand. You’ve realised that you were just having a moment! Or perhaps you really do need to take drastic action to get your brand looking and feeling so fabulous that you’re happy with it again – so that you’re brave enough to share it with the world?
It’s up to you – you’ll understand why and can make an informed decision.