Remington BeggIn the last 3 weeks, I have heard from prospects saying “we need to rebrand” more times than I can count! It’s a trending theme right now. Whatever you were doing in 2019 may not have been working.
Leads are down, sales are down, spirits are down. So, you want to buy a new outfit or sorts and spruce up your current theme to make an impact for 2020.
Is that the right thing to do? Should you maybe be looking into WHY things aren’t working?
UMMM... YES!
When I hear, "we need a rebrand" my mind goes to 3 things:
- Are you talking about your visual brand, ie logo, colors, website?
- Are you talking about the products and services your offer?
- Or are you talking about the voice, tone and content of your company?
It can very well be 1 or all of the above areas!
The key to making change is to understand where you are , where you want to be and then back into what changes should be made to help you make the most impact for 2020!
So without further ado- let’s dive right into what you need to ask yourself before you jump on the rebrand train.
What is Our Visual Brand?
Visual Brand is your future customers' first impression of your organization.
What are you saying to them? Are you cheery and bright? Are you serious and dark? Do your colors properly communicate the emotional effect you are looking to draw out? Or, did you just pick purple because it’s your favorite color? (yeah, its my fav too!)
Taking the time to really dive into not only color, but the lines and effects on your site—how your website interacts with its visitors—is critical. All of these things carry great importance in not only attracting the right kind of customer, but in telling your story right from the get go; even before they decide they want to work with you!
It's also a sales tool. Yes, your website should have an overall experience to it that guides a prospect on the right journey. Educate them with great content along the way, until they are ready to make the decision to buy.
Not sure the difference between a brand and a logo? Read this.
What is Our Voice?
When is the last time you really read everything you have put out into the universe? I don’t know about you, but the way I communicate, the words I use and the tone I employ has certainly changed over the last few years let alone the last 10 years.
We get so caught up in the day to day of our businesses that we don’t always take a step back to see if our tone of voice, and the way we communicate to our future customers matches who we are as a company and how we want to be seen.
We often see companies talking “me, I, we” and not “you, yours”—meaning all they do is talk about themselves and not how or why they help their customers.
Not only is it about sharing the how and the why of your business, but the tone in how you get it across. Are you meant to be playful and sweet, sincere and kind, or serious and factual? Every business has a different image and purpose in this world and your tone should match that for your business.
When it doesn’t, you can easily confuse or scare off a potential great new customer. Our emotions guide most of our decision making and the content you put on your website has to elicit the right ones to move buyers through their journey with your organization.
What Products and Services Do We Offer?
Are you about to launch the next BIG THING? Kudos! You are probably asking yourself, "How does this product and service fit in with the rest? Should it be added to our current site or does it deserve its own microsite?"
Those are great questions! New branches of your business are so exciting and tend to happen, often in the beginning of a new year.
With that launch you need to take into consideration how your future buyers will perceive that message. You do not want to make your more tenured products and services look like the ugly duckling.
Plus you can’t change your tone on just one product page either.
You must take a step back and look at the overall goal of what you as an entire organization stand for and then weave in this new offering.
That might be a full visual or voice rebrand. And that is okay. Just be sure to stay consistent with your messaging across all platforms and all products so the consumer can intake it all in smoother fashion.
Perhaps the intended outcomes of your marketing efforts aren’t going as planned for 2019. But a quick decision to just make HUGE changes to your visual brand, voice or products isn’t the right move either. You need to take the time to dive into the data as it stands and really discover who your buyers are and perhaps where your “brand” went wrong on communicating to them.
How might you do that deep dive?
Working with an agency like ours of course!
We take the time with all our clients to really understand, through a specific discovery process where you may have misstepped, or where you are kicking ass and need to dig in further. We have brand experts on staff, in both visual and voice arenas to uncover where we might be able to optimize your current brand and really get 2020 moving in a strong direction!
