You’ve never had a rebrand before
So, this applies to companies 5+ years old. If you’re still a relatively new company then a total rebrand may not be what you need, but a brand refresh wouldn’t harm. Whilst you’re still growing it’s the perfect opportunity to get a professional graphic designer to look at what you have, see what has worked so far and what hasn’t, then improve on it. Graphic design is one of our specialisms and we find that clients who rebrand after their first couple of years in business really have much more confidence and clarity in who they are. We love being able to amplify a semi-established brand’s personality even further and really solidify them in their industry.
You went free or cheap last time
If you’ve previously created your own branding on Canva (or even Word, yes this happens, we’ve seen it all!) or paid very little when establishing the origins of your brand, then it’s time to make an investment now you have traction and established growth. You’ve got more funds than when you first started and it’s time to dedicate a budget to something as important as professional branding. Our clients are often blown away by the response new branding receives, and how much it ultimately pays for itself!
You look too similar or too different
Positioning yourself in the market is difficult. You need to stand out but also be representative of your product via your colour scheme and design. It wouldn’t be appropriate to be an eco-friendly skincare company but have multi-coloured neon branding. However, going for a neutral cream might be something everyone else is doing, so you need to be smart and position yourself appropriately but also uniquely. We always find a balance and a place for our clients. It’s also important to note that what may have been a trending design, font or illustration for your business when it originated, might be old hat now and need a refresh.
You don’t have access to the vector files
Vector graphics can scale at high resolution to essentially unlimited sizes. So, your logo and branding can be added not only to social posts, business cards, and posters but also to huge billboards, exhibition stands, or any large-scale prints and still be super crisp. Many printing processes, including leaflets, can only work with vector file input. If you’ve used an online platform to design your own logo or gone to a company that is a little sneaky then they will not have provided you with the vector file as they will expect that you will go back to them to upscale your images and pay more. If you don’t have access to these files then it’s a huge stumbling block and you’ll definitely need to re-brand asap. With Canva you never own the rights to your own files, with us, we hand everything over.
Bounce-backs
This can either be from your website or social media. Your website might get clicks from search engines but if people are not buying, enquiring, or converting then something is putting them off and you can bet it’s not your product. As for social media, if you are running exposure ads to gain followers via a targeted campaign and it’s gaining a high number of impressions but a low number of followers then people are literally clicking on your profile and swiftly clicking off it because they don’t like what they see, definitely a sign that a rebrand is beckoning. When we analyse our clients’ statistics and see this kind of thing happening, we will always have a conversation with them about a rebrand.
Customer feedback
If you’re not sure it’s time to rebrand and feel biased towards or comfortable with your brand logo and design then, ask your customers. Offer an incentive-based survey where you can ask them important questions about your business. You can use the suggestions as ideas for amendments. You can ask them to rate your branding on a scale of 1-10 and even give recommendations on what they would like to see, this will give you ideas for a future rebrand.
