You may be among the many, many people that believe a brand reinvention is only needed when everything else fails. Well, you should get your facts right! Though is quite obvious that a reinvention is the only way out for an almost broke company, pretty much every business out there will benefit from a partial or total reinvention in one point or the other. Rebranding is one of the key to success, especially today when everything and everyone is constantly changing.
Should you do it, though? If you haven’t changed for a while, then most definitely. A fresher approach to what your small business actually is can help you reach your true audience and finally start the elusive way to the top. Does that mean that you have to throw out all your brand is about now? Not precisely. It’s just a matter of knowing what to change and how to do it. Fortunately, we’ve made a list to help you with that (you can thank us later).
1 – Strip your brand from BS and find what it is about
AKA create a story for your business. We’re not talking about writing a fable here – we’re just talking about identifying the core of your company, its values and mission. You can ask yourself “What do I want my business to be?” and you’ll be taking a step closer to finding out. It’s not an easy task, mind you, but is almost mandatory if you’re to bring your company into 2016.
Knowing who you are will help you refine the colors you use, the tone in which you talk, the images you use – you get the point. Want an example? We’ve recently worked with the guys from Senda Athletics. They manufacture soccer balls (amazing soccer balls, actually) and they give back in all the phases of their business. They are sweatshop free and they help organizations working to improve lives through sports. It’s a message of giving back to the community, that’s what they are and they let you know it in all of their pages.
Browse through Senda’s site and you’ll understand what we mean with “a story for your business”. It defines you and with, it defines everything related to your brand.
2 – Get a new look
Nothing says “renovation” more than a new image. It’s like a haircut for your site, though less ridiculous. You can go the whole way and get a new logo, new images for your spots, new icons, profile pics and everything in between or you can simply change a few images on your site. Even the smallest of changes in this department can do a lot for your brand and how everyone views it.
You can use stock photos in a creative way, use old photos and get them in rotation, or take new ones to add to your site. Anything goes here provided that the images you choose make sense with the story you’ve defined for your brand.
In fact, while you’re working on a new web design, check your color palette too. We aren’t saying you need to pick new colors but given how Internet now loves saturated tones, perhaps you can use the same color but in a stronger hue. Nothing screams “outdated!” more than an old color palette. Dare to change the colors you’ve been using for a lifetime but keep it simple.
3 – Say more with less
Look, reading is an amazing thing to do – just not in the Internet and especially not in a product/service website such as yours. No one has time to read that 1000-word wall of text you are using in your about. Having tons of text in your site will seriously harm your business. We’re living in a visual society that craves images, gifs, videos, icons and taglines. Yes, taglines, small text snippets that summarize that wall of text you are using right now.
So, it’s time to cut down the amount of text you have on your site and transform it into something else. Long explanations about how you work can be turned into graphics, your bio can be a funny and short video and your company’s mission can be mutated into a single line of text. You know what those Facebook pics of Albert Einstein say – “if you can’t explain it simply you don’t understand it well enough.” Explain your company, your benefits, your story in the simplest of ways. If you can’t do it, then it’s time to go back to the first step of this list.
By no means we’re encouraging to get rid of all your text. Just be honest about the essential info you want and need to present in text and make something different with everything that can’t be labeled as vital.
4 – Contact the trendy side inside of you
Not long ago we gave you a small and simple advice – embrace new tools. Given the insane amount of them that keep popping around the Web, just following that advice should give you enough to do. But if you want a more concrete suggestion, here’s one – follow a trend. Use the platform everyone is talking about in the disposable way everyone is doing it.
Don’t take your brand so seriously, use these trends to laugh at yourself and to engage with your audience in a more human level. Laugh about how much you hate Mondays, how pumped you are because your team is heading for the Super Bowl or show how proud you are about finally purchasing your new coffee machine. Humanizing your brand with disposable content might seem silly, but people love it. Find a trendy way to present it and you’ll be all set to engage on a whole new level.
You are the only one that knows if your business need a reinvention right now. Chances are you’re going to have to think about one in the future. So, if you don’t need these tips right now, don’t worry. Just bookmark them and keep them close, because you’ll definitely want to have them around when that time comes.
Feature photo credit: ** RCB ** via Visualhunt / CC BY
