Stuck In A Rut? 6 Tips For Businesses That Don’t Know What To Do Next With Their Brand

If you need some brand inspiration, here's where to start!

Suddenly nothing is working. You aren’t getting the clicks, or the likes, and you aren’t converting traffic into sales. What was working a few months ago isn’t anymore and you are getting that dreaded feeling that your brand identity is stale and has lost all its energy. Pretty much every business will face this scenario at some point in their existence, and whether it’s to a higher or lesser degree depends on how fast you spot the issue and how quickly you respond.

A business should always be alert in thinking about how it is coming across as a brand, and if you are feeling tired then you probably look tired too. But this doesn’t necessarily require a complete re-brand of the business, however you do need to act quickly before the problem manifests itself further into the business and affects products, staff and suppliers, so before you spiral into a position where you start to lose control, consider some of these tips for refreshing your brand.

1. Is your target market still the same?

Only you know who you are specifically targeting, but it is possible that the market has evolved in the last few years and perhaps you haven’t noticed? Fashions change, people change, ways of communicating change and new products or services arrive on the market. You might need to adapt and you can do that through your branding in a way that suits the current needs of your target audience. So think about what you have been saying and how you have been saying it, and think about whether that’s what people still want to hear and connect with.

2. Offer something new

If you think your branding is still largely okay, you can instead change people’s perception of it or bring attention to it in a different way. So bring something new to the market. This might be a new advertising campaign, a new range of discounts, a sale, or a new customer loyalty scheme with benefits. Or you could choose this time to introduce a new product, or bring back an old one that was popular?

3. Refresh the brand

Of course this is the most obvious solution and possibly the most influential, but it has to be done right. When you first designed your brand it should have been in your mind that you would need to change it over the years and allow it to evolve, so if you did this well there should be scope to tweak it and expand it to bring it back to life and allow it the longevity you first envisaged. This could just be changing the font of all your content, tweaking the logo design, introducing new colours to your schemes across your website design and social media. Fashions and tastes change and it is no great shock that you need to fall in line with those every now and again, and that doesn’t mean you need to rip everything up and start again. Stay true to your original message.

4. Remind people of your message

Your original success could well be aligned with your original message and the idea behind your branding. It is possible this has become lost or confused, so you can refine it or make people aware of it again, so say something publicly in a social media campaign and coordinate it with website blog content or advertising. Tell your story again, take a stand on something – a social issue for example if it fits your brand – make a statement that is true to your message. People are often looking to someone to speak for them and this creates connection and loyalty, so this is a great way to remind people of your message.

5. Refine your communications

If people hear the same voice every day they can grow tired of it and eventually take no notice. The same can be said for how a business communicates. You might think your social media style is pretty good, but is it working? Have you measured its success? Consider changing your social media voice by injecting more visuals, creating videos, adding a little more creativity, humour and personality. Talk more about social issues if it suits your brand. Do it in a measured way, but changing how you communicate can alter and refresh people’s perception of you.

6. Audit your content

If you are deciding to change direction a little, then everything that is visible needs to be about where you are going, rather than where you have been, so delete outdated blog articles, old images, discontinue old products or services and mend any bugs or errors on your website. This may even speed up your website and help it load faster. But none of this old content speaks about your new direction and is just tired and wasted content and there’s no shame in admitting that.

You can combine one or more of these tips to create a strategic plan to refresh your brand and decide where to go with it next. It is also worth running new ideas past your employees and colleagues or a focus group to gauge what the perception is. Don’t do anything too drastic, but also don’t be afraid to admit that your original branding concept has run its course, because it is a tried and tested notion that customers seeing a new direction will in turn renew their interest. If you need help with refreshing your brand identity then contact Rebus today.