Breathe new life into
your brand.
BRAND REFRESH SERVICES
A brand refresh builds on what’s already working for you.
Are you considering a brand refresh for your business or nonprofit? Does your current brand accurately represent who you are, who you serve, and where you’re going next?
Contrary to a total rebrand, a brand refresh is more about building on what’s already working for you. It’s aligning your identity, message, and positioning with your business while preserving your brand equity and the elements your customers already know and recognize. Look at it as more like a tune-up than of an overhaul.
Step2 Branding and Design can retool your identity and refine your messaging to reaffirm your brand promise and strengthen your market positioning. Our team can help ensure that you’re well-positioned against your competitors while remaining in synch with your consumers.
Not sure if you need a brand refresh or a total rebrand? Read our Brand Refresh vs. Rebrand FAQs below to help you understand the difference and what’s best for your business.
Here’s how we make your brand refresh easy:
- We LISTEN to your challenges, concerns, and aspirations
- We LEARN about your business and current positioning
- We EVALUATE your competition and identify your distinguishers
- We DETERMINE the scope of work
- We PROPOSE with no hidden costs or surprises
- We EXECUTE while keeping you involved every step of the way
- We DELIVER the new assets and can help migrate the old ones
Already have an internal marketing team or agency?
No problem. We can collaborate, advise, or direct them. Early stage, start-up, or nonprofit? Contact us for special rates.
WHY YOU MIGHT WANT TO CONSIDER A BRAND REFRESH FOR YOUR BUSINESS
NEW DIRECTION
If your organization has new goals for the year, new products or services, or even new leadership, a brand refresh can help signal that evolution externally and build team buy-in and momentum internally.
NEW BUSINESS GROWTH
If your business is growing, congratulations! It’s important that your brand positioning grows with it. If you’re offering more products or services, or broadening your target market, your current brand messaging may no longer be telling the right story. This is your chance to elevate your message to provide more latitude that allows growth without compromising your brand.
RELEVANCE
If your customers are evolving, a brand refresh can help you refine your messaging to align with their expectations and remain relevant in their minds. If you have new competitors or you find they’re reinvesting in their marketing, that’s an opportunity to uncover new ways to distinguish your business from theirs. If your website is outdated, that’s a good reason to revisit how it’s built and determine if it’s working it’s hardest for you.
RECONNECTION
A refreshed logo and identity, retooled messaging, or a new website can create renewed interest and give existing customers a reason to take notice and re-engage. And it might just make your competitors a bit nervous.
MAKE A STRONGER FIRST IMPRESSION
Like the old saying goes, “You never get a second chance to make a first impression.” If you’re looking to attract new customers, employees, investors, or partners, a professional and contemporary brand refresh can build confidence, add credibility to your business, and establish trust with them.
CONSISTENCY
A brand refresh can bring your website, social media, packaging, signage, sales materials, and other consumer touchpoints into alignment with each other.
Brand Refresh vs. Rebrand: FAQs for Business Owners
Many businesses eventually reach a point where their identity, messaging, website, or market positioning no longer reflect where their business is or where it’s heading. If you’re currently wondering whether your business needs a total rebrand or more of a brand refresh, you’re not alone.
But how do you know whether you need some strategic retooling or a complete redo?
Below are some of the most common questions business owners ask about a brand refresh vs. rebrand. We’re addressing when to refresh your brand, when to rebrand, what each can look like, and how to determine the right approach for your business.
If you’re still unsure about which tactic suits you best, our team can help you sort it all out and determine the right path to take.
What is the difference between a brand refresh and a rebrand?
A brand refresh modernizes and retools the business’ marketing while preserving its core brand identity. A rebrand is a total reset of the underlying strategy where a business’ positioning, messaging, visual identity, audience, or overall direction are redefined from the ground up.
Look at a brand refresh as a natural evolution and a rebrand as more like a revolution.
How do I know if my business needs a brand refresh?
A brand refresh may be right for your business if your brand is fundamentally working but feels outdated, inconsistent, or disconnected from your current market.
Common indicators that you may need a brand refresh include:
- Your logo or visual identity are outdated
- Your website no longer represents where your business is today and where it’s headed
- Your market positioning is not consistently aligned across all channels
- Your messaging feels unclear, outdated, or too narrow for an expanding audience
- Your business is experiencing growth, but your branding isn’t following suit
- Your competitors are investing more in their marketing and beginning to tap into your market share
- You still like your brand’s core positioning but want more professionalism and polish in the way you promote your business
How do I know if I need a complete rebrand?
A complete rebrand may be needed when something fundamental about your business has changed.
A rebrand is typically needed for any number of reasons, including:
- Wrong market perceptions
- New or expanded product/service offerings
- New business opportunities
- New company philosophy, values, or vision
- Merger or acquisition
- The value of your company is measured only by the sum of its tangible assets
- Evolving/expanding consumer needs
- New competitors in the marketplace
- Negative online reviews
- Confusion in the marketplace
- Narrow brand strategy
- Expansion into new regions
- Recruitment needs
If your problem is how others perceive your business and what you stand for, instead of the look-and-feel of your marketing, a rebrand may be the better solution. Learn more about the difference between a rebrand and a redesign.
Is a brand refresh the same as changing a logo?
This is a common misunderstanding of branding. Your brand is much more than your logo, which is only one part of your brand identity.
A brand refresh may include updating your:
- Logo, color palette, typography, photography, graphic elements, and brand guidelines
- Brand voice, messaging, and tagline or slogan
- Advertising and promotions
- Website and social media presence
- Marketing materials, including collateral, signage, and event displays
- Packaging and point-of purchase presence
A successful brand refresh will improve market perceptions and enhance the entire customer experience.
Does a rebrand require a new logo?
Not necessarily. A rebrand can involve a new logo or a retooling of it. That can be in the form of a simpler design, a change in font style, or expanded color palette. A logo change alone does not constitute a rebrand.
A comprehensive rebrand revisits and redefines the underlying marketing strategy from the ground up, including positioning, audience demographics and personas, competitive differentiation, messaging, voice and personality, and customer experience.
The logo and brand identity are one part of that strategy.
Will a brand refresh confuse my existing customers?
Typically, a brand refresh is designed to improve the way a business presents itself and signal something new to the consumers without compromising brand recognition, loyalty, and equity.
Retaining recognizable elements, like your business name, core elements of your identity, and your brand voice, can make the transition easier for existing customers. It can also be beneficial to undertake a phased approach to rolling out your brand refresh.
People generally don’t like surprises or radical changes overnight. That’s why it’s important to understand their emotional attachments to your business and clearly communicate before, during, and after the roll-out.
Will a rebrand confuse my customers?
A well-planned rebrand should create clarity rather than confusion. If it isn’t managed strategically and with a focus on the consumer, you run the risk of undermining their brand loyalty.
When rebranding, keep your customers in the loop. Explain what’s changing, why you’re changing it, and what it means for them. Also, be sure to let them know what’s not changing and how the new brand better reflects your business today and positions it for the future.
Should I rebrand if my business is doing well?
You don’t need to wait until your business is struggling to evaluate your brand. If your current brand is recognizable, differentiated, and aligned with your business strategy, a strategic brand refresh may be more appropriate than starting over.
What if my branding is inconsistent across my website and social media?
All customer touchpoints should feel like they belong to the same brand. That includes your website, social media, email marketing, printed materials, packaging, signage, and more. If your marketing efforts are spread across multiple vendors or company departments, or you don’t have a branding guide to keep things in check, you run the risk of creating inconsistencies and sending mixed messages. Inconsistent branding is a common reason businesses consider a brand refresh.
Should I rebrand because my competitors look more modern?
Your competitors’ activities can provide valuable market insights, as you can learn from both their successes and shortcomings. But your brand is not a cosmetic effort that simply copies your competition or emulates current industry trends. While it’s certainly important to look and sound like you belong, branding is also partly about differentiation.
Understand what your audience expects and what makes your business uniquely valuable in their minds. A good place to begin is by personally reaching out to your best customers and visiting your online reviews.
Evaluate your competition’s positioning to uncover opportunities to differentiate your business from theirs. Your goal isn’t to look like them. It’s to give customers a compelling reason to choose you instead.
Can I refresh my brand now and rebrand later?
You sure can. If your brand strategy is still on solid ground, a brand refresh can be a good short- or medium-term approach to breathing new life into it.
However, if you see fundamental changes in the horizon, like a different or expanded target audience, new service or product offerings, new industry/market trends, or the need for a change in positioning, it might be wiser to develop a longer-term strategy than invest in incremental steps.
How do I choose between a brand refresh and a rebrand?
If your strategy, audience, positioning, and core identity are still right, but your brand feels outdated, a brand refresh may be the right choice.
If your business, audience, positioning, offerings, or market perception have fundamentally changed, a rebrand may be the better option.
What is the biggest mistake businesses make when rebranding?
One of the biggest mistakes is adding a new paint job without repairing or rebuilding what lies underneath. Change for the sake of change without first addressing your core strategy may buy you some time, but it simply kicks bigger problems down the road and won’t necessarily make your business more relevant or differentiate it.
Brand Refresh vs. Rebrand: Which Is Right for My Business?
The right answer depends on the state of your business and if your current brand is falling short of where you want your business to be in five or ten years.
If your existing brand is strong, but needs to have new life breathed into it, a brand refresh is usually the better choice.
If your business is going through fundamental change, or your current brand is not in synch with who you are, your consumers, or what makes you a better choice than your competitors, a rebrand is generally the better choice.
A strategy that begins with asking yourself the difficult questions always comes first. It often helps to have an outside consultant to drive that conversation. Once you understand the problem and identify your long-term goals, you’ll be better informed to decide whether your business needs a refresh, a rebrand, or something in between.
Not sure where to begin with your brand refresh?
We can help you sort it all out. We’ll never propose more than you need or sell you a bill of goods. The conversation costs you nothing but a little bit of your time. We can do this together!