Every entrepreneur knows that the process of revitalizing their business, mostly when its performance stalls, can be just as complex and demanding as getting their business ideas off the ground.

Most times entrepreneurs fail at updating their brands, and this often leads to huge losses, and maybe even the death of their business.

So, what’s the best way to pivot your business, expand your services, and reinvent your brand in the minds of customers? The answer lies in branding, and to do this effectively, you need to take off your managerial mindset and embrace your entrepreneurial spirit.

Tropicana’s Failed Rebrand

The 2009 rebrand of PepsiCo’s Tropicana was a colossal failure that shook Tropicana, cost the brand over $33 million in losses, and gave competitors like Minute Maid, Tree Ripe, and Florida’s Natural an incredible boost in sales.

What went wrong? During the rebrand, Tropicana made the error of changing the design of their packages from one that customers loved and were already familiar with, to another that was bland and generic.

Tropicana’s failure is one example that captures the effects poorly executed brand updates could have on a business.

Customers Pay Attention To Branding

According to the Integer Group, 77% of shoppers choose to buy products based on the brand name, highlighting how much people care about branding. Therefore, invest time in establishing your brand and ensuring it stands out as a trusted source of high quality.

Follow These 5 Easy Steps While Updating Your Brand

No brand should remain stagnant. Brand updates help a business adapt to the changes in the market, keeping their customers interested.

However, keep in mind that a full rebrand can be a great way to turn your business around, but it can also be risky. So, make sure to check things out first, even if you think it’s the right moment to refresh your brand, before diving in.

And speaking of rebranding, here are five easy steps to help you update your brand without spending unnecessary effort, time, and money.

Have A Strong Reason For Rebrand

Remember the old saying, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it?” Well, trends, or the desire for a cosmetic makeover shouldn’t drive your motivation to get your brand updated.

Why? Let’s consider Gap’s 2010 logo rebrand, which ended up becoming a badly timed manifestation of Gap’s disconnect from market realities. The failed rebrand exposed the fact that Gap was losing its touch, and sure enough, it faced unrelenting attacks on social media.

Here are a few things that should influence your need for a rebrand.

  • Standing out in your industry.
  • Creating a better brand image.
  • Reaching new customer demographics.
  • Modernizing your out-of-date brand.
  • Responding to customer feedback.
  • After an acquisition or merger.

Now, after identifying these needs, the next step is to harmonize them with your brand’s core values, vision, and mission. This would serve as a guideline for updating your brand. This way, you’d ensure your efforts are in line with your brand’s personality.

Use Empowering Visual Identities

Your brand’s visual identity—not to be confused with your brand’s identity—is your brand’s soul, and also the easiest place to begin your rebranding.

The goal of your visual identity is to align the message your brand’s identity communicates with the needs of your audience, and it does this by using:

When done right, your visual identity conveys your brand’s personality, values, and mission, without using words.

Update Your Brand’s Messages

“Just do it,” “Open Happiness,” and “Diamonds are Forever” are all excellent brand messages. And recently, KFC rebranded its 64-year-old slogan; “Finger-Lickin’ good,” because of public health concerns.

Your brand’s message should give voice to your brand’s identity and visual elements while communicating your values to your customers.

Although rebranding your brand’s message would maximize your brand potential, make sure your message is authentic, rooted in substance, and not trends. A good way to ensure this is to always carry out audience testing on all your potential brand messages.

Your brand’s logo is like your totem, a symbol of your ever-changing personality and role in your industry, so make sure it reflects this.

Brands like Google, JCPenny, Starbucks, Domino, Slack, etc. have been very active in tweaking their logo to respond to the changes in the market.

Remember that rebranding logos can be very tricky, especially when you’re changing your niche, or dealing with a new audience, so go about it carefully by investing in relevant tests and research.

Fun Fact: Mastercard’s logo has undergone six rebrands since it was started in 1966.

Use ‘Plus’ To Show Exclusivity

There’s a growing trend among consumers to desire, not just the best quality, but also exclusive services loaded with special perks and features.

Now, instead of spending millions in overhauling your brand’s name, logos, designs, and identity, an easier path would just be adding a plus to your brand name. As simple as it sounds, adding a plus instantly tells your audience that exciting improvements have been made.

And this route has been explored by brands like Apple News+, Apple TV+, Disney+, ESPN+, Google+, and Paramount+.

Follow Best Practices

Rebranding, whether big or small, is a critical process that shouldn’t be taken lightly. And that’s why it’s necessary that you carry out extensive research, tests, apply best practices, and vet everything for future viability.

Remember, your rebrand journey should be born out of necessity. It must come from a strong definition of your brand’s purpose, vision, mission, and values, not just because it’s trendy and you feel like doing it.