It was time for a brand refresh…and here’s why

By Jessica Alex

As someone who has been in the branding and marketing field for quite some time, I knew it was time for my own brand to have a little refresh.

You may be asking, what is a brand refresh?

A brand refresh predominantly includes updating your brand’s visual elements, however it can include creating updated messaging.

(In a brand refresh, what remains the same is your brand’s core identity and values.)

Due to my consistency over the years, I did a good job of building brand recognition with my audience, however in shifting my target audience I knew that the direction my brand was going outgrew the brand colours and fonts I had been using.

My brand at the time screamed, “Where are all my female solopreneurs at?” and I needed it to say, “Conscious and wellness brands, let’s work together.” I knew there was a disconnect, but sometimes you get so used to sticking to what you are familiar with.

And that, my friends, can be detrimental for a brand. Just as humans evolve, so do brands. For example, your target audience can outgrow your current branding, and now what you offer is disjointed with what your audience sees. When it comes to your branding, what your target audience sees matters. It’s either going to invite them in, or have them running in the other direction, or continue to scroll right past your brand.

Even if your core values align with your target audience, your brand visuals play a role in how your brand is initially perceived. In other words, first impressions matter. But so do second impressions (i.e. they liked what they saw the first time, but are you doing enough to make them stick around?).

A brand refresh can be that zap into your business when things feel a little stale. When the message isn’t resonating anymore, or your audience just isn’t interested anymore.

Making the transition from female solopreneurs to small-to-medium brands meant I needed to switch things up. I thought to myself, if I was a small-to-medium conscious or wellness brand, what would we want to see from our potential marketing agency?

I tried to keep the look my online audience had become accustomed to, but the messaging wasn’t fitting with the brand visuals. It started to feel like trying to fit a square peg in a round hole. It wasn’t working, and I had to put on my own marketing and branding hat and finally make the necessary changes.

Upon announcing and launching this “new look,” I felt the benefits almost immediately.

Now, changing some colours and a few fonts won’t necessarily make all the problems go away, especially if something is amiss at its core. Your brand needs to be built on a solid foundation, and if it’s not, more needs to be done. A complete re-strategization or a rebrand may be what’s needed.

However, if your core is in a good place, and your strategy is set, like me, you may just need a few tweaks and updates to tie everything neatly together.

Does your brand need a refresh?

Here are 3 common reasons why a brand may be in need of a refresh.

Your brand feels outdated

Perhaps you launched your brand a few years ago, and needs to be revamped to keep up to the current times. You may decide to update your logo or refresh your brand colours. You may even conclude that your brand can keep the same colour, but the hue or tone needs to change. For instance, my brand colours were always blue, white and green, but in my refresh I changed the tones from bright to muted. I also added in tan to the family.

I also updated the fonts that I was using. I went from using a sans serif font (Raleway Heavy) for my headers to using a serif font (Temeraire Display Black).

You have changes to your target audience

Maybe you’ve changed your target audience, or your target audience has grown and you want to grow with it. A refresh can help you connect or reconnect with your target audience.

You need to stand out again

Perhaps when you started you stood out, but now with a crowded place and people doing what you did 3-5 years ago, it’s now time to switch it up and re-differentiate your brand again.