Whatever sector you work in, you should reassess your brand’s values every now and then and look to keep your communications fresh, if only to make sure that you are keeping up with changes in your markets and staying ahead of the competition.
All successful companies revisit their brand and communications periodically, even the world’s household names, but reinvigorating your brand doesn’t necessarily mean you have to start from the very beginning, it simply means that you should look at the market, assess where you stand in it and where you want to be, and make adjustments as necessary.
If you’re happy with your company’s big idea, vision and personality, these things can remain the foundations of what you’re doing, but the implementation of your brand should be refreshed to keep things on track and ensure it remains relevant to your target audience.
Also, if your communications remain the same for years and years, you run the risk of appearing staid and old-fashioned, plus your communications will lose impact over time as people become over-familiar with your visual presentation.
Evolution or revolution
An important question when undertaking any reassessment of your brand is whether to go for small, incremental changes as a refresher, or to plump for a major overhaul of your company’s or product’s image.
Broadly speaking, evolution is preferable if you are already in a strong position with a solid customer base and you just need to keep up with a growing or developing market. Revolution, on the other hand, might be more appropriate if your customer base is in decline, the market has changed substantially since the inception of your current brand or you have no point of difference from your competitors.
To work through these kinds of questions it’s a good idea to consider hiring an external brand consultant to look at the current state of your company and explore possibilities for developing your brand. The word ‘consultant’ might conjure up pretentiousness and high fees, but this should not be the case. Choose someone who appreciates your needs and talks in plain English, without wrapping the process up in mystique. They will be able to ask the right questions to assess your situation and make suggestions from an objective standpoint.