Rebranding a Company: 10 Signs its Time for Your Business to Update its Look
Like anyone who has started their own agency ( or business for that matter), my partner and I give everything we have to the business and have so since day 1. And as such, I am aware of the difficult decision to make a change. While we haven't reached that bridge yet, circumstances can arise that will force you to seek out a new look for your company in order for it to survive or thrive well in the market.
Most people have the mentality that the brand of a company consists only of a logo and name. On the contrary, because there is more to a company’s brand than just its name and logo.
An outdated image, new management, and international growth are some of the reasons that may indicated the need to rebrand a company. If it has been a while since your business look was designed, it may be time to take another look. Here are a few signs that should tell you its time for rebranding a company.
When Your Company Name Or Logo Don’t Reflect Your Vision Anymore
One thing is for sure, the world keeps on changing. For your business to thrive you need to adapt and change right along with it. Your business name could have sounded like a great idea five or so years back but now it might not reflect your brand anymore.
This could be the case because your business name could be outdated or maybe society and its cultural changes have contributed to the alteration of the meaning of your brand's name or logo. Whatever the reason is, don’t let it be a burden that will slow your business down in any way.
Embarrassed Of Your Own Business Card
If you find yourself in a situation where you are ashamed to give out your business card or share your website with new people or customers, this is clear evidence that your company is outdated and needs a rebrand. There are so many interesting and clever ways to design a business card that will impress folks. Many times it is the first real piece of communication about your company someone may have.
If you feel that your website address needs a disclaimer or your business card is a little cringe-worthy, boring or stale, well, maybe these are some valid signs your company could benefit from some rebranding.
Be Different From Competitors
You simply can't ignore your competition. You need to take a look at other businesses and compare yourself because they might provide insights as to where you can make changes in your business. This can be the change you need in the process of rebranding. reluctance to adapt to new times has always been one of the company killers.
Change In Business Model
Each company is built on a set of values and objectives but due to unpredicted changes in our world these objectives can transform with time. They could be facilitated by technological variations or unforeseen market opportunities in the market.
The changes experienced in your business models can change your company’s brand. If you find yourself falling victim to this situation, don't shove it aside. Make sure you take necessary measures to rebrand your company.
Outgrowing Your Brand
Scaling is one of the problems experienced in business. In order to compete highly with rival brands, you need to change your old name and logo in order to meet the current needs of the market. Check our article on brand positioning to help you strategize your business for a better market share.
If Your Company Is Undergoing Through a Merger
Sometimes it can be difficult to find the right fit for a new company’s brand to adjust from the parent company. It’s a good opportunity to change your brand when your business is undergoing a merger. And that's because you’ll be able to represent new strategies and objectives of your new company to your users. Failure to change a brand in an acquisition or merger can cause confusion due to poor brand alignment. This will wreak havoc on both brands involved in the merger.
Changing Or Expanding Your Geographical Location
Companies often experience growth in the market and they start to expand. This will force them to relocate to a better location or open another branch in another area to facilitate the expansion of their services. Once your business starts to experience this kind of change, you need to rebrand your company for national and international significance.
Lack Of Attraction For Top Talent
All upper echelon talent wants to associate with top company brands. If your company can’t recruit great employees to boost your business to another level, it’s clear that your brand services are outdated. This could be because of subpar trade standards or clinging to old and outdated market morals. Rebrand your company not only for the sake of the current employees but also for future employees too.
Connection With New Customers
There will always be new generations to utilize their capital in the market. Your company can only satisfy their needs by adapting to the needs and requirements of each generation. Rebranding is a way to recreate your business in order to meet the goals of these new audiences.
A good company is the one that is able to adapt with time and meet its customer's needs. This is because no one is interested in purchasing commodities or services that were previously associated with our parents.
Difficulty In Raising Your Prices
If you’re experiencing problems with fixing your brand's products and service prices in the market despite the high prices of materials, you should try rebranding your business You see, sometimes the way to boost your company’s business is through changing the minds of those you serve.
Rebranding could help to reshape your business and change your customer's perspectives about your products and services. This will in return help you raise the prices of your services accordingly.
Rebranding A Company Helps To Gain Better Chances In The Market
An effective and suitable brand is something difficult for any company to pin down. It’s also important to note that a powerful and sustainable branding is also something that consumers can’t fail to spot. So if you have any strong reason to change the general outlook of your business, take all the essential measures to do it.
Rebranding a company in good time will bring in more capital and help avoid losing customers and employees. Be sure to contact us if you need to redesign your package or forge a new eye-catching brand identity for your business. We'd love to work together.
The Hottest Packaging Trends You'll Want To Follow
I must admit, I have at times (in fact even over the Thanksgiving holiday) purchased a product specifically because I liked the packaging. How many of us have done that before? Hopefully I'm not the only one raising his or her hand. But just peruse any alcohol store or college apartment and you will understand something about packaging. When the contents of a product have an intrinsic but subjective value packaging can certainly be the one extra factor that seals the deal.
Boxes and colors and bags wrap up the plastic and glass containers for trips home. High-end scotches come in lined wooden boxes screaming class and refinement.
Vodkas and schnapps, popular with faster drinkers, feature shaped bottles and colorful arrays. Alcohol packaging trends lead the market in finding new ways to dress up old products. Suffice it to say, I'm a sucker for great packaging.
That's why, in my opinion, understanding the emerging trends of packaging can make the difference. Do you want your items rotting on or flying off the shelves?
Emerging Packaging Trends
Of course, creative packaging isn't new. Boutique industries and gifts industries have been fighting these battles for a while. Other industries didn't care. They were able to dominate or saturate a particular region and their packaging didn't need to be anything more than functional.
Packaging does more than serve as a container to deliver the goods inside. Packaging serves a purpose in establishing your brand and engaging customers. It does so by mixing the right material with the right impact.
Purpose
Packaging serves three major purposes to a customer.
- House the objects inside.
- Provide or indicate status.
- Market through brand positioning.
Brand positioning focuses your product packaging from ancillary to necessary. You want your customer to be of the mindset that they aren't buying an item but The Item.
Trending
Making brand packaging trend is about glomming onto the most potent of marketing: named brand recognition.
Unboxing
A newer trend pushing popular packaging designs is the unboxing potential. People love to unwrap and reveal the contents of packaging. Unboxing has emerged as a whole world of anticipation and fun. Making packaging that presents well in an unboxing means tons of views and shares. So now that you have an idea of the end goal of packaging, here's the big question. How the heck do I achieve these goals?
Materials
Considering the material shapes the product messaging. Increasingly, consumers crave packaging that functions well and leaves less damage. Recyclable and upcycle ready packaging get noted and praised. Innovative use of materials and 'less is more' philosophies garner accolades.
Papers
Wooden boxes, cardboard wrappers, and paper constraints make great packaging. Wood is renewable (though it takes energy from other sources). Paper packaging also recycles efficiently.
Paper materials work best when they accent the products inside. Since paper isn't often transparent, cutouts and previews are recommended. These designs provide a little taste of the contents inside.
Laser cutting logos into the packaging provides an old-world flair. Laser cutting is also a great way to create interactive packaging that becomes puzzles or games.
Minimalist designs and DIY looks pop better on paper products than plastic.
Plastics
Plastic wins in terms of durability and longevity but loses in overall appeal. Many consumers also have it out for plastic thanks to the floating garbage islands.
That said, dedicated industries make strides in plastics recycling and upcycling programs.
Plastics provide useful ways of making form-fitting contents with injection molding processes. This makes it easy to keep products from sustaining damage and, in the case of multiple components, can be designed as a storage or carry case.
Think of any given tool case. The packaging that sells the product also contains and transports the product.
Plastic products make large text easy to read and unusual shapes easy to form. Don't settle for a box when an oval, dinosaur or recreated sarcophagus can house the goods.
Impact
Part of what you will select in a material is for geared toward the impact you desire. With so much jockeying for position in store shelves, an eye-catching package can seal the deal.
You also want to find a trend that matches the desires and expectations of the target consumer. You don't want to sell baby shampoo in a hand-tooled wooden box or a set of knives in a pop out Day-Glo plastic case.
Colors
You already know that color theory and the psychology of color are important. Consider also, that tone has an effect in packaging. Bright and bold color appeal to the youth while down-played pastels attract older audiences.
Simple contrasts command respect and offer a quiet superiority. Garish jumbles of colors invoke youth and enthusiasm in their chaos.
Loose design elements lend themselves to color. Precision lines and angular shapes do better in monochrome.
Pick a color scheme that matches your audience but avoid looking like a competitor. Stand out by being precise.
Minimalism
Mark Twain famously intoned, "I didn't have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead." So too, minimalism takes a lot of time and effort to look simple and uncomplicated. This constantly rediscovered 'trend' in packaging makes sense. People want the packaging to do its job and expect to receive what is advertised. A simple external package sells a promise to uncomplicate stressful lives.
The internal components, though, keep any number of pieces and parts free of damage and easy to remove.
Minimalism in the unboxing era also provides a nice slight of hand for designers. Audiences (future consumers) love to see how many things can emerge from an otherwise unassuming box.
Vintage
The post-modern 21st-century world also loves a good harkening. We love to be reminded of simpler times. Products with a heritage or traditional sensibility make us feel part of a wider world.
Obsequious lettering and simple color contrasts advertise well and boast readability.
Combine a vintage design with some typography know-how to build your brand into a collectible. How often have you seen a t-shirt with a logo for a product that has nothing to do with shirts? That is the power of typography at work.
Also, if you hate the overuse of certain typefaces, get outside of the papyrus and comic-sans horrorscape with a fresh take on lettering.
Get Creative
With these tips and packaging trends, you have what you need to edge out potential shelf-mates. Design and marketing go hand-in-hand and it takes a lot of information to stay ahead of the competition.
Contact us for details on how you can apply design to all of your business functions.
Top 7 Brand Positioning Tips for Your Product or Service
Last year over $190 billion was spent on advertising in the United States. When approaching a branding campaign for your business, this dollar amount may make you feel like a tiny drop in an enormous ocean.
But don't get discouraged just yet. There are still ways you can stand out.
A brand isn't just a logo or tagline. It's the overall perception of a product and company in the consumer's mind.
It's also the way a person remembers your product, and the reason they come back over and over.
Changing the perception people have of you seems like a daunting task. However, there are ways you can change your brand positioning to increase exposure and refine the way consumers see you.
Let's look at 7 tactics to help get you where you want to be.
1. Understand Your Target Audience
Before you get started on your branding campaign, you have to know exactly who you're trying to reach. It doesn't make sense to move forward without this information.
However, it's not good enough to know the basics about your customers. You need to go further.
You need to find out what your audience's interests are. What products do they use and what activities do they engage in? All this helps you create a persona for your brand and appropriately position yourself.
Social media is a great way to gather this kind of information. What does your customer like on Facebook? What are they tweeting about? You can also use surveys to gather more detailed information on customer behavior.
2. Establish a Voice for Your Brand
A big part of good brand positioning is establishing a voice or persona for your company. This is the personality your brand displays to the public, so put a lot of thought into it. Ask yourself how you want a person to feel when they see one of your ads.
A great thing about creating a voice is that you have the freedom to sound any way you want. Obviously, the persona you create depends heavily on your target audience, but you have room to be creative.
When thinking about your voice, consider your business philosophy. What principles do you hold dear and how are they woven into your business operations?
What type of person works for you? What do your logo and website say about your business? All these elements should be aligned with a common voice so you create a solid persona and vibe throughout your brand.
3. Your Product's History
It's a good idea to use your primary, core product to establish your brand's reputation. This is likely the product that was the foundation of your business in the beginning.
A great brand positioning tactic is to tell a story about this product. This helps form a bond with your target audience. It also creates a connection that a consumer feels every time they think of you.
If you have a long history in the industry, telling your story helps establish trust and longevity. This results in better customer loyalty.
Your story also makes your business newsworthy. You'll get exposure through social media when people have something to learn about your brand.
4. Create a Good Tagline
A good tagline works to create a vision of your product for your customers and boost your brand positioning. A tagline needs to remain in-line with your overall voice and get across a concise but impactful message to people.
Remember to always keep your tagline short and to the point. When thinking about a tagline, ask yourself what your brand and company stand for. This goes back to your business philosophy.
You should also consider the purpose your product serves and why a consumer needs it. All these things help define what you need people to know when they see your tagline.
5. Know Your Competitors
If you're going to compete in an overwhelming marketing environment, it's essential you know what your competitors are doing with their own brand positioning. Knowing what other businesses in your industry are doing also spawns new ideas.
Once you identify who your top competitors are, look at their branding and write a list of strengths and weaknesses. This way you can get a clear picture of what they're doing better than you.
You should also take a detailed look at your competitor's product. How is it different than yours? Are there things you offer that they can't and vice versa?
If you see differences or advantages in your product, highlight those elements in your marketing campaign.
6. Emotionally Connect with Consumers
When a person connects emotionally to a product or brand, they're more likely to buy it. You need to find a trigger and use it to evoke an emotional response through your advertising.
A website and blog is a great place to do this. You can use engaging content to create an emotional connection and also form a little mystery surrounding your product.
Create blog articles that don't just promote your brand, but inform and engage your audience. Talk about lifestyles and ideas that your target audience will connect with. This shows them that you're not just about selling a product.
When a person connects with content on your site, blog or on social media, this engagement sticks with them. The next time they think about or see your product, this emotional response returns.
7. Consistency
Brand positioning suffers when a consumer receives a different message about your product from different sources. This goes back to threading your voice through every element of your marketing campaign.
You absolutely must be consistent with your message if you want to avoid confusing the consumer. Your product will cease being compelling and any connection a consumer once had will be severed.
Everything from the content on your site to your logo, to customer service, needs to be aligned. Doing so not only forms a long-lasting connection, it also instills trust in your customers.
Get Noticed with Strong Brand Positioning
Whether you're creating a new brand from scratch or want to refine an existing identity, correctly positioning yourself is essential for higher conversion. In today's highly-competitive marketing landscape, you can't afford to blend in. You have to stand out.
EraserFarm is an agency driven by unbiased, human emotion and provides a wide range of advertising solutions in the Tampa area and beyond. Contact us today to learn more.
