7 signs you need to redesign your branding

Have you been looking at your brand identity and wondering if it needs a little facelift?

You know it’s important to have consistent branding, but first you need to get the look right. So how do you know if you need to change your branding or if you should just stick with what you have and stay consistent? There are a few signs you can look out for that signal it may be time to make some big changes to your branding, and perhaps give it a complete refresh.

1. You Feel Ashamed of Your Brand Identity

If you don’t feel confident about your branding. If it makes you feel ashamed and it prevents you from showing up, sharing your business or seeking opportunities then it might be time to rebrand. Your brand shouldn’t be holding you back, but give you confidence and make you proud of your business not ashamed of it.  When you get your branding right and it elevates your business and gives you confidence so you can pursue all your business goals and dreams.

If you find yourself hesitant to share your website or hand out that business card, then it may be a clear sign that brand shame has set in and you need to make a change.

2. Your Brand Design Isn't Communicating Anything

Your brand graphics and visuals need to be communicating a message to the world about who you are , what you have to offer and who it is for. This helps you attract the right people and gets them excited about your offers and your brand. If your branding was just thrown together so you ‘have something’ or it just looks pretty with no real thought behind it then it’s time to rebrand and create a style that communicates the right message.

The whole point of brand design is to communicate a message visually. So if your brand says nothing, is unclear or confusing or even sending the wrong message it needs work.

3. You have outgrown your Branding

Businesses change and pivot over time. And as your business evolves and you gain more clarity about the brand you want to be building and who you are serving and how. You may find yourself outgrowing your branding. It no longer reflects the business you are creating or have. It becomes a reflection of the past and creates disconnect for your audience and isn’t fully representing how amazing your business is right now or what it is all about. As you gain clarity in your business you may also need to rebrand to bring your branding inline with your vision. It’s common that your business will evolve a lot in the early months and years as you figure things out, so don’t feel bad about making a lot of changes early on. As you gain experience you will get clearer about your brand and be able to create a brand identity that you can stay consistent with for longer.

4. You just did a Poor Job of Branding to Begin with.

You did a poor job of it. Perhaps you had no idea what you were doing or used a cheap pre-made logo. A poorly put together identity isn’t going to make you feel too great about your brand and it isn't going to reflect your true talent and capabilities. It can turn people off before they have a chance to get to know your business better and can be cheapening your brand. Don't let your branding pull you down. Branding should enable your work to shine and help people get that good first impression so they want to get to know more about your business. If you threw together something just to get by, but your business is now growing and you need to uplevel to something more proffessional its time for a transformational re-design.

5. It isn’t positioning your Brand Correctly.

Following from the last point about cheapening your brand. If your branding isn’t positioning your brand correctly in the marketplace, it can make it very hard for you to charge appropriate pricing or get the opportunities you want. If you want people to value what you have to offer you need an identity that reflects that value and professionalism. Your branding needs to reflect what people can expect from the business If it doesn't do that, it needs to be elevated and refined so it will build trust.

6. Your Brand just Doesn’t Stand Out.

It could be that you look too similar to a lot of other businesses in your industry or you have just been filling popular trends and common styles and you feel like your brand just blends in and feels bland. Your brand needs to stand out and show how you are different. It doesn’t have to be dramatically new and different but you also don’t want it to just blend in. So if could easily be confused as someone else’s than it might be time for a rebrand.

7. You didn’t lay down clear Brand Foundations before Approaching your Brand Design.

It’s hard to create a stand out compelling brand identity that communicates the right things to the right people without clear foundations. Foundations give you clarity and direction to base your brand visuals on, without it your branding is lost and directionless. These foundations include things like a clear niche, clear offers, a mission, a brand story, differentiation and positioning, values, a why, knowing your ideal audience and the purpose of your business.

As your business grows and you gain more clarity about the brand you want to build, you can then translate that into your brand identity.

Ready to Elevate Your Branding and Update the Design?

Grab the free PDF ‘The 4 Step Process to go from Vision to Visuals'

4 Steps to go from Vision to visuals
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