a visual refresh is what most companies seem to do when they say they are branding or rebranding. The structure of the business stays the same, and the audience stays the same, but the external visuals such as brochures, websites, logos, uniforms, and storefronts change.
My absolute favorite thing is helping people figure out if they need a refresh or a rebrand. So often the two get mixed up. I think that has a lot to do with the popular idea that branding is all about the colors, logos, text, and the rest of the visual parts of a business — That’s not true.
A brand actually has 6 different pieces, some internal and others that are external, that include
- Voice: what you say, how you say it
- Identity: what everything looks like, your visual elements
- Promise: What should they expect from you
- Values: what are the driving principles and beliefs of the business, why do you do this
- Targeting: who you sell to
- Positioning: how the audience perceives you vs. how you want them to perceive you
In short, branding is mostly about building your business’s reputation and setting the business up to attract the right customers. Doing this involves creating a business and offers that are unique and competitive enough to be noticed and remembered in a positive way thus granting it the ability to turn people into clients. Figuring out how to do this is what I help people do because there is no one-size-fits-all “branding” that everyone can use.
Obviously, you want a brand that looks as good as the product works and you want one that evolves with your business as times change, but think of the visual parts of your brand like clothes.
When someone changes their outside appearance. They’re still the same person, but in different clothes that’s more like a refresh. Now, if the person decides to get really healthy and their mindset about stuff completely shifts along with changing their outside appearance then that would be more like a rebrand.
So, the question to always ask when the topic of a rebrand comes up is “Are we changing the structure of our business? Are we trying to separate ourselves from our reputation?” If the answer to both of these is no then chances are higher that you want to do a refresh!
Alright, that’s all I got this week! Now go be amazing!
Ooo, yeah one more thing…If you need your logo redone and you want to see how I can help check out my legendary logo program ‘cuz yeah…I can make you look good!