Creating a new brand is exciting and transformative for your business – done at the right time it can bring new audiences and incredible opportunities. But when do you know it’s time to rebrand?
The team at Aligned Design Co. have come up with some key signs that it might be time to think about revamping your brand.
1. If you’ve noticed your brand is looking a bit inconsistent or patchy online
Perhaps your brand’s identity is a bit haphazard – and struggles to properly represent your business because of a lack of consistency?
So start again. There’s no shame in restarting the brand identity process to regain focus and take control of your brand so you feel a sense of direction. Your brand should be a strong representation of your business’s values. That means staying consistent and up to date across all channels and collateral.
A big reason brands lose their way online is because they don’t have a set of clear brand guidelines to follow. With a considered and deeply resonant brand identity design (complete with beautiful brand guidelines) it becomes effortless to look and feel consistent across all your platforms.
2. Your social grid doesn’t look cohesive and something feels off with your website
Once you’re out there, you have to stand out. It’s all too easy to wander off track and find that your Instagram feed no longer has that curated vibe, or that your website doesn’t excite you anymore. And if you feel ‘meh’ about your online presence, so will your potential customers.
If you’re going to build recognition and trust, you need a clear vision. That often means going back to the very reasons you started your business, why it makes you excited to get up in the morning, and why it should get your customers fizzing with anticipation to buy from you. A brand identity built from that place is one that will re-energise and supercharge your online presence.
3. You need to create new assets as your business grows – and you don’t have a strong set of guidelines to follow so it feels really difficult
Wanting to get some new business cards printed or create some packaging for a new product in your line – but when the designer asks for your brand guidelines you just stare back at them?
If so, you’re lacking the basis of a truly strong brand. Without failsafe brand guidelines, logo formats and colour schemes to fall back on, you run the risk of either delaying the creation of new branded assets, or creating something off-brand and incohesive.
With a rebrand, your design studio will present you with a strong set of guidelines that form the foundation of any branded assets, website or templates going forwards. Need a newsletter designing? Follow the brand guidelines. Need a product stand creating? Go to the brand guidelines to find the correct colour codes and fonts to give to the designer.
4. Your business is growing but you know it could take off if your brand was telling a compelling story
The key to an incredibly strong brand is identifying the story and values behind the brand and then communicating them through everything you do. It’s crucial as a business to be authentic and honest with your customers.
Humans are emotional beings and creating a connection on the emotional level is incredibly powerful.
Take Kiehl’s for example, possibly one of the oldest skincare brands on the market. What first started as a small family apothecary is now a hugely successful worldwide brand. 168 years later, Kiehl’s is delivering skincare products based on the original promise – choosing the very best natural ingredients for their products. These values shine through their packaging and design – right down to the old-world apothecary feel they create when you walk into any Kiehl’s store.
Are you feeling like your brand is ready to grow, but you’re struggling to make clear to your audience what the mission of your brand is right from the beginning? It’s time to do some deep-dive brand strategy work – and it could be time for a whole rebrand to reconnect your product with your story.
5. You’re pitching to retailers and/or investors and you need some amazing visuals to capture their attention
Visually thoughtful content and products are extremely attractive to customers and investors alike. You may have seen the amount of products pitched in the Dragon’s Den that are turned away because the packaging is dull and doesn’t stand out in a market of similar looking products.
You want to be feeling confident and armed with an amazing brand and visuals when heading into a pitch. And using visuals to support your brand in a pitch can make your brand feel relatable and understandable – as well as catching the eyes of potential investors.
We recently completed an entire brand transformation for our wonderful clients, Clarity Blend. They wanted to start pitching to retailers, but knew that their product wasn’t quite resonating as much as they wanted it to.
Veronika Vasileva, Founder, says “Working with Aligned Design Co. has truly been one of the best decisions for our business. Since the rebrand only 8 months ago, we are now in a completely different place – with close to 100 stockists, having launched on some of the largest retail platforms and featured in over 20 magazines.”
To chat to us about rebranding and how we can achieve transformations just like this one, please get in touch.