You’ve carefully picked out your brand colors, fonts, shapes and more. Maybe you’ve even had a logo designed to spec.
And at first, it’s easy to stand behind your brand. You like the choices you’ve made. You feel the elements you’ve selected accurately reflect your business and the market you’re looking to serve.
But something strange happens. After a while, you begin to feel bored with your brand identity.
You see your competitors update their website design and suddenly your fresh logo looks outdated by comparison.
Is it time to follow suit and call upon a graphic designer to whip up a new design? Don’t be so hasty. It’s best to think of your branding like a marriage commitment and here’s why.Your Logo Isn’t For You
Your logo signifies the relationship that exists between you and your customers.
Your customers have come to identify with your branding. When you change it without warning, and without asking for feedback, they could feel confused or betrayed.
Your logo is seen by your customers everywhere. They see it on your flyers and brochures, your website, your products, your packaging and so on. They become familiar with it and begin to identify your product or service with it.
It’s easy to think of your logo as being yours, but as you build your customer base, it becomes theirs.
Just like in a marriage, your life is not your own anymore. It belongs equally to your partner.
Ask First Before Acting
When you’re single, you answer to yourself. When you’re married, you need to involve your partner in important decisions.
In early 2011, Starbucks announced a change to their logo, removing the words “Starbucks” and “coffee” from it. Fans were in an outrage.
Many businesses make decisions about their branding and marketing without first talking to their audience.
Do you know what makes your company unique? Your most loyal customers do, so survey them and ask for their opinion before making unwarranted changes to your brand.
It’s Unnecessary to Change Your Branding Just Because the Market is Changing
The truth is the market changes every day.
Businesses sometimes feel the need to adapt based on shifts they see in the market.
It is a good idea to stay up-to-date with changes in your industry and the needs of your customer.
But if you adapted your branding every time you saw something new coming, you would be endlessly reworking your identity.
When the market changes, does what you stand for as a company change? Do your values change?
It shouldn’t. Therefore, your brand doesn’t need to change every time the market does.
In marriage, many things will change around you and your partner, but your consistency with each other and your values make your bond strong. Wanting to change on every whim can drive each of you crazy.
Don’t Change Your Brand – Find New Ways to Serve Your Customers
In marriage, change is important, but you look for ways to help each other without compromising yourself.
Andrew Vesey, co-founder of Vesey Creative says to: “Monitor your brand values in relation to your marketing message. Then, find new products or services that fill wants and needs, in line with your current values.”
If you want to shift with the market, create new products and services to serve your customers. You don’t need to change your brand.
What do you value you most? Your values should guide your branding, not the other way around.
Focus on the Right Things
Marriage is not so much about monetary costs, but you are investing your entire future with another person. It’s obviously important to focus on the key aspects of marriage to make it successful. If each person goes into the marriage with a different vision it can require a huge use of time to realign things so both are on the same page.
How much does rebranding cost? This depends a lot on the size of your company, but according to HiveMind Studios, the average B2B company spends about 5% of revenues on marketing. In that context, the average rebranding initiative costs about 10% to 20% of the marketing budget.
In a business that makes $15 million and whose marketing budget is $750,000, the cost of rebranding would be anywhere from $75,000 to $150,000.
Rebranding initiatives can require a lot of capital and manpower – resources that could be better spent on new products and services to fill the gaps in your offers.
Creating new offers can also increase your revenue. Rebranding will just increase your expenses, and unless there’s a good reason to rebrand, it will not do much to grow your business.
Conclusion
Marriage is one of the most important commitments people make in life. Successful marriages possess certain key elements like proper self analysis and communication with your future partner.
For a business, creating a brand identity is similar to a marriage.
Once your brand is cemented in the minds of the people you’re serving, changing it carries certain risks.
Customers that used to identify with you may not want to buy from you anymore.
Customers who used to rely on your products and services may become confused about who you are. They may not recognize your business as being the same one that previously served them.
Additionally, you may receive an outpouring of negative feedback. This can be a publicity nightmare.
Remember to think of your branding like a marriage. Once you’ve made a commitment to it, you must uphold that commitment for the sake of your businesses.
Is there a branding challenge you’re trying to address? Schedule your free 60-minute marketing conversation now.
