Never ask a barber if you need a rebrand?
The question of whether you should ask a barber if you need a haircut, has a short, definitive answer: "Never!"
But what if your brand is feeling a little dated? Or never got the attention it warranted in those chaotic startup days? Or your offering has changed over the years? Or you competitors have?
"Never ask a designer if you need a rebrand" doesn't roll off the tongue quite the same.
If you run a business, and have worked with an advertising or design agency or consultant, there is almost zero chance that the topic of a rebrand hasn't come up — and often early in the relationship. This may sound like nothing more than the over-zealous barber chomping at the bit. But for the majority of small and medium businesses, a rebrand is often a good idea, worthy of serious consideration.
There have been some high profile rebrands that saw a lot of attention in the trade press — Cadbury, the news broke, spent £1 million on a minor logo tweak (and global packaging restage, but let's not get in the way of an outrageous headline).
Perhaps most famously (in marketing circles at least), GAP did a 6-day about-turn, when their new logo wasn't as warmly received as anticipated.
There is no shortage of similar examples. So, with big brands getting their costly attempts right as much as wrong, you'd be excused for asking whether this is something that's worth your time and effort. The short answer is, probably. Some counter points:
YOU'RE PROBABLY NOT CADBURY. OR GAP. OR NIKE.
If you're competing in billion dollar industries on the global stage then this blog post probably isn't where you're going for marketing advice. But if you're one of the thousands of established small and medium businesses, doing pretty well, in an arena that isn't quite the US$140 Billion chocolate market, then a rebrand likely represents an outsized opportunity for your brand.
YOUR COMPETITORS ARE PROBABLY NOT CADBURY. OR GAP. OR NIKE.
The real opportunity for the many successful SMBs/SMEs that don't have dedicated marketing departments, is that, for the most part, their competitors don't either. When many businesses are started, rightly or wrongly, a brand strategy and identity can be found on the back of the to do list. And there it stays. Long-term brand building (especially while your competitors aren't) has long been shown to be a key driver of pricing power. Who doesn't want to grow revenue without competing on price?
THE OPPORTUNITIES OUTWEIGH THE APPARENT RISKS.
If we assume you have a well-run business with satisfied customers, a new brand identity isn't going to send them running to your competitor. One real benefit of a rebrand though, is to appear more modern, efficient, professional (insert relevant adjective here) than your competitors do to NEW prospects.
When you're looking for a new barber, and Barber A and Barber B present themselves on opposite street corners, their first impression absolutely matters — for the very same reason you're heading to a barber yourself. A brand identity becomes shorthand for what you can expect from their offering. Expertise, value, customer experience, and so much more is communicated — intentionally or not — through a brand’s visual expression.
Who’s more likely to get your business? Where would you be happier paying more?
THEY UNCOVER HIDDEN OPPORTUNITIES.
A rigorous research and discovery process is likely to reveal many adjacent opportunities. Competitor weaknesses, international innovations ripe for local adoption, process inefficiencies, talent attraction strategies — all are regularly uncovered during comprehensive rebranding exercises.
THEY DON'T COST £1 MILLION.
While it's true that you get what you pay for, these numbers end up in headlines for a reason; they're outliers (and probably exaggerated too). Get the strategy and execution right and the one-off cost will pale in comparison to the ongoing increase in prospect conversions and other associated benefits. In an ideal world — scope dependent — a (good) designer and a (good) strategist working with a (single) decision maker, could get through a comprehensive rebrand in as little as 8 to 12 weeks.
THE RIGHT STRATEGIC AND DESIGN PARTNER IS VITAL.
It may seem obvious, but not all brand practitioners (or barbers) are created equal! There are two kinds of consultants who operate in this space: Accomplished ex-agency people with experience working on brands of all shapes and sizes. They've seen and solved your challenge many times over. Then there are those who have only ever consulted. They've read a few case studies a few times over. Be wary of the latter, they're easier to find.
None of this is to suggest that a rebrand should be taken lightly — quite the opposite. There are many more considerations to take into account before deciding one way or the other. But if you haven't given your brand a second thought for years — and it doesn't look like your competitors have either — find a brand consultant you click with and trust, and get down to taking free money off your competitor's table.