I remember working with a fast growing EdTech scale-up where everyone in the upper management all agreed on one thing: “Our look & feel isn’t where it should be, especially compared to competitors”. Although I *loved* the alignment on that specific hurdle, I also noticed the CEO’s jumping to conclusions as to what should be done about that. He stated that they’d need a design refresh; a nice pattern,... some color updates; cosmetic changes. They had grown substantially over the past few years and their organization vision and mission had shifted in the meantime. On top of that they were on the brink of expanding their business into a new country as a market. And thus,... they needed a new dash of paint; a design refresh. Or weren’t they?! What if I told you they were actually in need of a rebrand. In this post I’d like to share four signs that can help you identify whether you are in need of a rebrand or brand refresh, rather than just a design refresh.
1. Your mission, vision or values have shifted
You might have already spotted the first sign in the intro. Our client’s vision and specifically their mission had shifted. And that’s a completely natural development, especially for organizations who’ve found-product market fit. In no way does it mean you are no longer purpose or vision driven. Perhaps your values have developed over time to match your culture and/or social norms. Or maybe your mission — the way you set out to achieve your vision or fulfill your purpose — has shifted. For example through adapting to industry or technological changes. With such fundamental strategic changes should come brand realignment.
2. Your audience has changed or expanded
Another giveaway is a change or expansion in your audience. One evident way to increase revenue as you’re scaling up is to penetrate new markets. Perhaps you’re widening your audience. And in reality nine out of ten times this means segmenting your audience based on demographics. Perhaps you notice how your B2B platform could also benefit professionals in a related industry with small tweaks. Or maybe there was untapped potential in an age group different from the audience you initially tailored to.
Some scale-ups even shift audiences completely due to an expected increase in MRR from paying customers in a different market or audience segment. Whichever is the case it’s key to emphasize that your brand identity should resonate (dare I say ‘stick’?) with either your wider audience, be tailored to specific audiences or a new audience all together.
3. Your brand (personality) feels outdated
A third sign you should be seriously considering a rebrand or brand refresh over a cosmetic design update is when your look & feel have outgrown your ambitions. This sounds similar to sign 1, but it’s different in a way that in this case your mission and vision might still be equally true and relevant, it’s no longer in line with your product offering. And that by itself is not necessarily a sign you need a rebrand. But it's definitely a clue that you should look beyond the mere aesthetics. Especially because you will want to be able to distinguish your organization through more than just a color palette that looks trendy at the moment. Because in that case you will find yourself playing catch up with competitors rather than building a relationship with your audience; something that is done through standing for something. You will want it to be part of a strategy,... a brand strategy.
Additional tip
One very often overlooked benefit of a rebrand you won’t be able to achieve with a design refresh is getting buy-in from people in your organization. If a cosmetic update is done and a strong brand identity is missing I can guarantee you that choices will be made based on personal preference. Not that there’s anything wrong with that per se. But moving forward in a growing organization, you are going to need your team to get behind the aesthetic decisions that have been made. And as branding is closely tied to story telling; the more superficial these decisions were, the harder it will be to get people to get behind visual updates.
