Branding is everything in business. Your brand is what people say when you’re not in the room and it’s also what your customers think and feel about you, your products, and your services.
Branding could quite possibly be the most important part of your business as the essential role it plays in your marketing, sales and communication could be the difference between clients saying “yes” or “I need to think about it”.
Branding done well makes a business successful. A strong brand shows customers they can trust you to be good at what you do. It encompasses your value, your personality, and your reputation.
But is your brand working for you? Do you need to re-brand?
Re-branding is exciting, but of course it comes at a cost.
It’s always worth looking at your current brand and asking yourself whether you’re saying the right things with your messaging and visuals.
These key questions will help you to answer questions about where you are currently and how your brand works with that.
What we’d like to do is give you a little questionnaire to ask yourself, your team, or your board to decide whether you need a re-brand or not.
Although if you’re thinking you do, that gut instinct is probably right.
So… here you go…
Firstly: Collate everything you currently use to promote your products and services
This is really simple and it’s purely so that we can review them all. You’ve probably never done this, but you must. It’s a really useful and a really interesting exercise, especially as you’ll have added content over time, building in new pieces of your marketing as you needed them.
Put all of your marketing material or promotional items out on the desk in front of you and also review your website alongside these items.
Then, ask yourself these questions…
1. Is this material professionally representing my business?
Your branding and marketing is an extension of your business, and getting them right and making sure you’re sending out the right message is key. Look at all your marketing material and then think about your beliefs, visions, and goals. Also think about who you’re trying to attract and what you’re trying to say.
Does your marketing collateral do all this?
The chances are, over time you’ve lost your way a little. That’s normal. Think about which parts of your collateral need updating and why.
2. Is this material clearly articulating what we do?
Have you added in new products? Have you dropped any? Are you now working with completely different clients from the ones you were when you started or when you created this material? Have you found yourself a niche?
Again, this is really normal and part of business growth. It’s really part of the process and your marketing and branding simply needs to be updated to stay with you on your journey.
- Does your current brand represent what you’re trying to say?
- Is it articulating your message and explaining what you do now?
If it doesn’t, it should.
3. Is it representative of where you are now?
Your brand needs to represent you now, not you 5-10 years ago! It’s normal for a brand to fall behind as the business will naturally evolve and the systems, processes, people, and customers will too.
That’s why re-brands are needed. A brand can almost represent a moment in time and if you’ve ‘moved on’ since you created your brand then it’s probably time to move the brand with you.
4. Is there a clear call to action?
Looking specifically at your marketing material and then your website, are you asking the reader for the next action? So much of marketing is wasted because the consumer of the marketing doesn’t have a clear next step.
Look at your marketing with a critical eye and ask yourself some very important questions:
- What are you asking them to do next?
- Can prospective customers easily make contact with me if they want to place an order?
Having a clear Call To Action will make a huge difference to your enquiries. Tell people what you want them to do!
What does your brand say, and is it obvious enough?
5. Is the messaging clear, concise, and consistent?
Having all your messages on-brand is powerful. Ensuring that the content, theme, and tone of voice on your website relays perfectly on your leaflets, banners, business cars, proposals and more paints a really congruent picture and generates a powerful and memorable feeling for your prospects.
Keeping the message consistent on all platforms and all materials is what the big brands do really well and for a very big reason:
It forms one strong message rather than lots of conflicting ones.
- What’s your message?
- Who is it for?
- Do all of your marketing touchpoints tell it well?
6. Are all images, logos and graphics up-to-date and again, consistent?
The images, logos and graphics that form your visual brand have a powerful job to do and they need to be well positioned, in focus, vivid, and consistent no matter where you see them.
- Is your logo always top left for example?
- Are you using the right fonts on all materials?
- Are all your graphics up-to-date?
- Are any of your materials now looking out-of-place?
This is a really great audit of your brand and where it sits within your marketing, and chances are you’re spotting a few places with more than a little room for improvement already.
7. Are you proud of this material?
Interesting question that, isn’t it?
You should be proud of everything you put out there, and if you’ve never done this audit before you might be shocked at some of the branding you have out there.
That’s OK, this is also normal and part of a growing brand, but let’s make sure you fix it!
If you’re not proud of something you’ve created, for whatever reason, then it might well be time for a re-brand or at least a re-think of what you have in front of you right now.
If you’ve answered no to any of the above, perhaps it’s time to invest in a refresh or update of your sales and marketing materials…
We highly recommend you go away now and gather all your marketing collateral and all the places your brand appears and look at them with fresh eyes and ask some awkward questions.
Brands need to move with the business and over time they get left behind. As normal as this is, it’s important to recognise you’ve let this happen and make the right moves towards a more up-to-date, consistent and modern version of your brand.
Need help?
Ask us for a chat.
We love taking an existing brand and giving it a fresh look and feel. We’ll work with your current ethos and work out where you’re going and who with, to create the right brand, the right message and the right call to action!