Having a brand identity that perfectly fits the character of your business is an essential asset of success. It defines how your audience perceives your business and makes sure your customers remember you, and therefore heightens the chance of them returning. Successful businesses go through the process of rebranding for myriad reasons. They might grow internationally and need to make sure their business speaks to a bigger market and audience, or their overall design is simply outdated. In short, it’s essential for a business’ growth to continuously improve their brand identity in order to stay relevant. Here are 7 reasons why you should consider rebranding your business.

1. Growth requires change

If your business is doing well and growth is on its way, you might want to consider some design changes. Often, growth goes hand in hand with the broadening of your target audience, and a refreshed brand identity design has the ability to reach new customers. For example, if your business is growing so well it’s ready for the international market, your brand has to be formed in such a way that it speaks to different cultures and audiences.

2. New management, new focus, new design

Sometimes, it’s big changes within the company that require a rebrand. If your business has a change of management, it is important that the brand identity stays aligned with these changes. After all, a brand’s design forms the business card of a company, and should therefore perfectly reflect the character of that business, including the character of the team representing it. Usually, a new management comes along with a renewed focus and direction within the company. It’s this new direction that can benefit greatly from a rebranding. Since a brand’s design is a reflection of the identity of a company, including its directions, focus and objectives, it’s essential for the design of a business to adapt to these changes and stay aligned with the focus of this new management.

3. Markets change

Just like a business itself, markets change, grow, and mature. Perhaps your target audience has shifted over the years, and it’s time for your branding to adapt to the changes in your audience and market. When your company enters a new market, perhaps because of a new product line or an extension of services, rebranding is a good idea. Take, for example, Apple, which started out at Apple Computer, but had to rebrand once extending to the smartphone and tablet market. Not only do brands often extend their expertise to multiple markets, markets also change on their own. For example, whereas Google once started out as a playful and bubbly “Google!”, the industry itself became much more mature and formal over the years. This caused Google to adapt their logo to a much more modern and clean style.

4. Keep up with the trends

Changes in design trends are probably the most important reasons to give your brand a refreshed look. Design trends are changing quickly, and before you know it, the fronts, colors and shapes you used for your last rebrand suddenly become out of tune with current trends. Usually, rebranding because of outdated design elements only involves updating surface-level changes, like a change of colours, fonts, or reshaping your logo. As a business, it’s important to be aware of the rapid change of design trends, and have your website and logo prepared for minor changes if needed. Easily adaptable features can save you a lot of time and effort in the future, when adapting to new trends and tweaking your design elements.

5. Technology is moving forward

Technological innovations can be a reason to rebrand your company, especially if you like to show your audience your business is up-to-date with the latest technological advancements. Think of, for example, animated or interactive elements on your website. The so-called gamification of certain functionalities or features on websites and applications has become a big trend for businesses over the past few years. Not only does it stimulate your audience to interact with your content, it’s also a great way to set your brand apart from competitors. Take, for example, Google’s homepage, which often integrates interactive features in its ‘Google’ logo, like small games, some historical information or fun facts packed in a nice animation.

6. Stay ahead of competitors

Rebranding can be a valuable strategy to stay ahead of your competitors. If a new company emerges within the same industry, with a surprisingly similar brand design as yours, users may become confused as to which business they should put their attention to. In that case, rebranding your business might be a good idea in order to differentiate yourself from the crowd.

7. There is always room for improvement

A business is never “perfect”, there is always room for improvement. Keeping a close eye on your web traffic and other essential metrics, you can continuously make minor changes to your design to test out what effect that has on the success of your business. Following the principles of Growth Hacking, testing and analysing are the best ways to discover where there's a need for improvement. Especially if you’re not sure what elements of your brand need a refreshment, tracking small changes can help you identify what features need more attention in the process of rebranding.

Keep in mind that, besides continuous improvements, a steady and consistent look and feel are also essential if you want to retain your audience. Google has always been using the same colours, standard fonts, and consistent logo styles. This way, users always know they’re working with Google, which they’ve been doing for years. So, if you consider a rebrand, keep in mind that continuously redesigning your entire logo or brand colours might not result in the growth you’re looking for.

So, what now?

After reading all these reasons to rebrand your business, you might have figured out that your business is ready for rebranding. But changing the look and feel of your brand can be a challenge if you don’t know where to begin. Here are some things to keep in mind when beginning your rebranding journey:

Identify your goals: Like any other business strategy, it’s important to have a clear insight into what exactly it is you want to accomplish. You need to identify your current problem, and find out what you can do in order to define a fitting solution. Are you trying to let your brand stand out from the crowd or differentiate from a competitor? Are you trying to reach a different target audience besides your current audience? What elements should you focus on to achieve these objectives?

Find a professional: Once your objectives are clear, it’s time for action. If you’re not familiar with UI/UX design or graphic design, it might be a good idea to consider finding a digital partner who can help you with the rebranding process. They can help you with the idea conceptualization and the creation of wireframes and mockups.

Market your change: When your rebranding is done and live, make sure to define a marketing strategy to tell everyone about your new look. Make use of your social media channels to reach a broad audience, and don’t hesitate to tell them about your new brand. Like the design process, you can also find a digital partner to help you with the marketing of your new brand. Even before the launch of your new design, you can already make use of the waiting process to trigger your audience. Announcing upcoming changes increases the curiosity factor and makes sure your customers are excited and aware of your design changes when the time is there.

Need a hand?

Our UI/UX designers at Lizard Global are always up-to-date with the latest trends and advancements in web- and app design, and they know exactly how to rebrand your business in such a way that it perfectly fits the unique identity of you and your company. Once we’ve defined a brand new design for your business, our commercial team defines a solid strategy to put your new brand identity in the spotlight it deserves.

Can you use a little guidance through the process of rebranding your business? Lizard Global gladly lends a hand. Contact us on our social media channels or via our website, and let’s get to work!