A business should rebrand when the way it looks and sounds no longer matches what it does or who it serves, and the mismatch is costing it customers. Boredom with the old logo is not a reason. A new service line, a new kind of customer, a merger, a name that causes confusion, or a look that makes a good business seem out of date are.
A refresh or a full rebrand
Most businesses need less than they think. A refresh keeps the name and the core of the logo and tidies everything around them: cleaner type, a tighter set of colors, updated photos and a website that matches. Customers still recognize you, and nothing you have built up is lost. A full rebrand changes the name, the mark or both, and is worth its cost only when the old identity is actively holding the business back.
Either way, a rebrand is a change customers have to notice and accept. The signs, the vehicles, the profiles and the website all have to change together, or for a while you look like two businesses.
Signs it may be time
- You now sell something your name or look does not suggest, and customers are surprised you offer it.
- You are aiming at bigger or different customers, and your materials look like they belong to a smaller business.
- People confuse your name with another business, or cannot spell it to search for you.
- Your logo and colors date the business to the year they were made.
- Two businesses have merged, and customers still meet two names and two looks.
How 76 Design Solutions solves it
76 Design Solutions handles refreshes and rebrands as brand identity work: the logo and its variants, a color palette with values, typography, usage rules and tone of voice, written into one guideline document, and refreshed every few years as the business grows. See 76designsolutions.com/branding-marketing.
If the website is where the new look should show first, start with the Website Plan and Homepage Mockup from 76 Design Solutions: a page plan and a homepage mockup for desktop and phone, built on your logo and colors, delivered within 5 business days for $49.99. The full $49.99 is credited toward a Small Business Website build, and the credit does not expire.