There are two terms that I’m hearing a lot of on social media which are Branding and Visual Refresh. Sometimes the poster explains the difference, but mostly I see the two terms used interchangeably, which in my opinion isn’t correct. There is actually a difference.
Branding
Branding refers to a company’s reputation. When a company brands or rebrands itself what it’s really doing is overhauling the internal ideology, audience, and strategy of the business in addition to the visual elements in hopes of changing its reputation with the public.
The reason a company might do this is for various reasons, but popular ones include a change in services or products, new ownership, a bad reputation, or desires to expand the business in a different way than what was desired before.
If you watch any of those HGTV house flipping shows, you’ll see the hosts take out almost the entire inside of the house and build it out in a new way that works better. The outside looks similar, but the inside is all new. This is how I think of branding and especially rebranding, the outside looks similar, but much of the internal strategy is new and different than before.
Visual Refresh
This is what most companies seem to do when they say they are branding or rebranding. The structure of the business stays the same, the audience stays the same, but the external visuals change.
When I say visuals, I’m referring to things such as business cards, brochures, websites, logos, and even uniforms and storefronts.
The reason a company goes for a visual refresh is that their business model and the audience is working for them, but they need to look more up to date.
To go along with my house example from above, A visual refresh would like making over a room in a house by painting the walls and changing the materials used for the floor and cabinets. The room looks the same, the layout is the same, but instead of feeling like it came straight out of the 1980s – it looks fresh and modern.
Neither way of doing things is wrong, it just really depends on how much and what kind of work the business really needs. If your reputation is good, then you might just need a refresh, but if it’s not that great or the business has expanded or pivoted recently a rebrand might be better. If you’re not sure which you need reach out to a brand specialist or visual marketing specialist who can guide you through the process!
By the way, you can get a FREE 30 minute 1:1 Getting to Know You Strategy Session full of tips tailored for your business to help you now. These are only scheduled through email, so if you want one, email me today! Let’s chat about how branding and design can get your business where you want it to be! Talk to you soon!