If you want to refresh your brand without completely starting from scratch, now is a great time to start. A brand refresh doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive. Whether you have an experienced graphic designer or you’re a complete design newbie, there are expert tips that can have your brand looking its best in just a few steps.
Though you might not recognize the importance of your branding, it truly matters for your audience. In fact, presenting your brand consistently across all platforms can increase your revenue by up to 23%. This means your branding translates to cold, hard cash, and it’s worth paying attention to. While you don’t need any complicated branding to get started, it might be time for a brand refresh. Keep reading for 6 pro tips to refresh your brand.
1. Consider the Timing
As the saying goes, timing is everything. Resetting your brand can be a great choice, but you need to plan your timing accordingly. You shouldn’t have a brand refresh for the sake of it. Consider your current branding, whether it serves your goals, and decide if a refresh is right for you.
If you’ve decided it’s time for a brand refresh, proceed with caution. It’s a good idea to launch your brand refresh at the same time of a new milestone in your company. For example, if you’re launching a new product/service, now is the time to roll out a new brand design. Similarly, if you’re reopening your business, this is another opportunity to showcase new design elements.
2. Tell Your Story
Next, the right branding does more than choose the right colors or fonts. It tells a compelling story. Branding is all about communicating something about your business. It lets your brand’s identity shine bright, and it gets rid of any unnecessary distractions. It’s possible your brand story changed since you launched your business, and that’s okay. It must means it’s time for a refresh.
How can you use your branding to tell a story? Consider how far you’ve come. Where did you start? What was your original objective, and how does it match your objective now? When you consider the brand story you’re trying to tell, it’s easier to set branding goals.
3. Balance Your Changes
It’s important to remember that you don’t want to throw all of your past branding completely out the window. While there is a time and a place for starting fresh, you don’t want to overwhelm your customers with changes. Take a cue from Goldilocks: look for the brand changes that are “just right.”
Instead of going too large or too small, stay somewhere in the middle. When you find the right balance between the old and the new, your brand refresh is less disruptive as a whole. Most of all, ensure you have a reason behind any changes. When you introduce your new identity to customers, they’re more likely to respond with understanding.
4. Understand Refresh vs. Rebrand
A lot of companies confuse the different between a brand refresh and a rebrand. What’s the difference? Let’s take a closer look at these definitions:
Refresh: A brand refresh is like an update to your branding. It could include tweaking your logo, colors, fonts, and so on. These are noticeable changes, but they’re not groundbreaking.
Rebrand: On the other hand, a brand rebrand is when you completely build a new identity from scratch. You create a new custom logo, and everything is completely original.
Which is right for you? There is no one-size-fits-all. To start, take inventory of what you think needs to change. Every brand should refresh design elements every few years to fit current trends and aesthetic changes. However, rebrands should be done much less frequently.
5. Update Your Print Materials
Your refresh shouldn’t only affect your online and digital materials. While this is a great first step, don’t underestimate the power of print marketing. Creating new print tools for your brand helps you get the word out about these changes, and it can also get customers re-engaged.
From business cards to stickers, make sure your print materials reflect all of your new changes. It’s no good if your business cards don’t match your website, for example. You want everything to stay consistent across platforms.
6. Create a Brand Guide
Lastly, take the time to build a new brand guide for your brand refresh. While it’s easy to feel passionate about your changes right after the launch, you want to keep this momentum going much longer. To make your refresh stick, create resources and guides for other team members to use in the future.
As we said about, consistency is important to keeping your users engaged. Make sure everyone understands how to stay true to your new guidelines. The simpler it is to replicate your story, tone, and branding, the easier it is for your entire team.
Share Your New Changes
Ultimately, it’s important that your branding reflects the current state of your business. Like individuals, companies also change over time. It’s okay if your past branding no longer reflects your goals. This means it might be time for a brand refresh.
Luckily, with these easy tips above, it’s possible to transform your brand without completely overhauling your existing design. Like with all things, less is sometimes more. It’s inspiring just how refreshing a few small changes can be!