Strategic branding helps your audience recognize you as the right solution. Innovative companies rebrand when necessary because they know that quality design allows their business to resonate with their audience. 

Businesses that aren’t able to connect with customers never reach their growth potential.

Look out for these 5 things to know if it is time to make the shift.

1. You’re having trouble standing out from the competition.

Is your ideal demographic passing you up because they don’t trust you are the right solution? Are people able to recognize how you are different from the competition?

The problem could be that your offer feels too generic or similar to your market peers. When brands don’t have significant differentiating factors, they become commodities where the only value differentiator is the price. Competing on price causes the vicious cycle of the race to the bottom, but the one who ‘wins’ doesn’t really win, do they?

“In a crowded marketplace, fitting in is a failure. In a busy marketplace, not standing out is the same as being invisible.” -Seth Godin

How do you stand out in a competitive market? 

Stop competing on the same factors as everyone else.

Being different and hyper-focused on the problem you solve and the results you provide tells prospects why they should choose you.

Infuse your unique advantage into the very essence of your brand; everything you say and do for your customers should make your difference clearly understood.

Get clear on:

1. Why does/should this brand exist?
2. Who do you help specifically?
3. Why should they care?
4. Why should they choose you?

2. You want to raise your prices.

You’re looking to reposition your company in the marketplace, and you want to appeal to new customers. You’ll want to shed your ‘good enough for now’ DIY solution and go for something more professional and refined.

• When people aren’t readily able to recognize your value, you’ll find yourself having to oversell. And, that doesn’t create an atmosphere where you can charge your value.

Not being correctly valued for your market stunts business growth. I’ll talk more in a later post about why lower your prices are hurting your clients.

A note on the charge your worth debate:

You don’t want to charge your worth; you want to charge your value. Your worth is limitless, but your value is relative to the problem you solve, your position in the market, and the results you provide.

The goal of a refined image is to create a perception of quality, but you also want to be of quality. 😉

3. You’ve outgrown your original mission, or your current brand doesn’t represent the new products and services you offer.

If your vision has changed, do an alignment check to see if you’re communicating the new direction with clarity and consistency.

Your mission and vision are core pillars that inform everything about your business. When your vision changes, it is a good idea to refresh your audience touch-points: your strategy, messaging, and visual image.

You may have reached a point where your current strategies cannot take you any further. Bigger goals will require you to shift your market appeal.

Is the current market perception serving your new direction? Identify where the discrepancies are? Have core brand values and voice gotten lost due to your brand’s evolution?

4. You’re embarrassed by your brand, and it doesn’t represent the message and value you provide.

Is your current brand hurting the reputation that you want to build?

When a brand is unrefined, inconsistent, or outdated, what signal does that send to potential customers? More established brands may get away with this because they’ve already built trust and dependability with the marketplace.

As small business owners, if we are to compete, we need to make sure our presence is polished. People hate to admit it, but customers do judge a book by its cover, and first impressions can make or break the market’s view of you.

You may be good at what you do, but if your brand image and presence don’t exude quality, then your market will have a hard time seeing that in you.

A rebrand could give you the clarity and presence to show up with confidence.

5. Your messaging is confusing and inconsistent.

An inconsistent brand creates confusion and mistrust about who you are, what your business stands for, and the value you can provide. That is because people don’t know what to expect from you, and you will continue to attract the ‘wrong’ type of client. 

A brand is more than just a logo and colors. It’s the story that people tell about who you are and what you do. Create a brand story that is simple, repeatable, and compelling.

 clarify and refine your focus

When your brand communicates a clear message aligned with your brand values and shows up recognizably, your audience begins their journey of knowing, liking, and trusting you. 

A strategic brand identity will increase the value perception of your brand and allows you to attract better quality customers. You know the ones who value what you do and are excited to work with you. The ones who don’t need ‘overly convincing’ because they’ve already convinced themselves that they want to work with you.

What feels out of place? What needs to be refined so that your message is consistent?

Tools like a brand style guide will allow you to build cohesiveness and that yummy brand recognition that we are all striving for.

Rebranding is not a silver bullet to heal all business challenges. But, if you find yourself suffering from the symptoms mentioned above, it may be time to rebrand your small business.