What's best for your business?
Your brand is much more than just a name. It’s the story you tell. It’s the experience. It’s the emotion you create. It’s the expectations you set. But no matter how iconic your brand is, it's once humble beginnings were influenced by a variety of factors at the time it was created. Examples include design standards and trends, business persona, products/services, and your competitors. Well, as your business grows, shifts in its offerings, and is ready to drive more sales, it's crucial your brand reflects your most current value proposition and business goals.
Let’s face it, change is hard. Change is scary. You’ve worked hard to build up your brand identity. It has played an important role in the consumer decision-making, market performance, marketing mix, and your brand equity. So how do you retain the integrity of your current brand, but take it to the next level? Simple, a brand ‘makeover’, or otherwise known as brand refresh. In fact, all businesses should seriously consider a refresh every five years.
A brand refresh is a less dramatic approach, allowing your current brand to take on small shifts of what’s already been successful and resonates most with your consumer. Through simple changes in messaging, updating colors or graphics, or simplifying the entire look and feel can give your business that new and improved cohesive brand experience for your consumer.
Ruttger’s Birchmont Lodge is a local favorite in Bemidji, MN and has been around since 1915! After the new owners took over in 2017, they were ready for a brand refresh that would appeal to a younger audience and target the next generation of customers. After defining their target audience, we were able to create a new modern logo. We took their outdated website and designed a more unique modern one. We built the website in WordPress to allow for the most options in growth and easy editing.
As branding refreshes are so common, why in the world would a business want to consider a name change? There are a few relevant reasons:
- Name no longer reflects the business
- Name is confusing, hard to spell or speak
- Business merger has occurred
- Major changes in products, services or offerings
- Target market has changed
- Bad press
- New ownership
A perfect example of a business needing a name change comes from Midnight Sun. When we started with Midnight Sun they had a longer name, Midnight Sun Pools ‘n Spas. Even though it was more descriptive, it was a mouthful. There were several variations people would refer to, which doesn’t give a strong brand presence, especially in a business where referrals are very important!
After our strategy session for marketing goals, we decided to shorten the name and design a new logo! The new brand is very high-end yet gives a feel of the experience – social, fun, relaxing, entertainment. Evolve developed a new brand, rolled out a campaign theme and created a new ecommerce site.
So whether you have an established brand, ready for a refresh, or your business goals have changed and it's time to rebrand—we are your creative team experts! We help entrepreneurs, solopreneurs, and bigger corporations by creating strategic and creative logos, and your entire brand identity. Click here to learn more and see more of our branding work!