An important part of your business identity, rebranding is an instant way to update the look and feel of your offerings, reconnect with your original mission and motivation, or rethink your messaging entirely. Vitality Editor, Becci Vallis, looks at a plan of action.
Your branding is the first thing both existing and potential new clients will see and there’s no denying they will judge you on it – remember, first impressions count. The thing is, when you’re immersed in your business and dealing with day-to-day demands it often gets forgotten about. But it absolutely shouldn’t – especially if you’re active on social media channels like Instagram and Facebook - the virtual shop windows to your business.
Don’t be put off by price either, it can be a costly affair if you’re scrapping everything and going back to the drawing board, but a logo redesign or colour palette change can be an affordable adaptation that you’ll quickly see the benefits from. And think about it as if you were buying an outfit and weighing up the ‘cost per wear’ value for money. It might eat up some of your cash flow initially but if it brings in new clients, motivates your staff and encourages positive reviews for your business, it will be totally worth it.
WHERE TO START
Before you change or alter anything you need to take a deep dive into your current branding. Do an audit of what is and isn’t working – ask clients, friends, family, other local businesses what they think and understand you might need to put on a thick skin while you wait for feedback. Surveymonkey is a quick and easy option to set up or use the question tools on Instagram to get a wider reach of what people’s opinions are.
If you have staff, get them involved too. Ask them to define what your brand’s positioning, mission, vision and brand values are – if you have newer employees, it will be interesting to find out if you’re all on the same page or if the impression of the business has changed and evolved since you first set it up.
“For anyone rebranding my advice would be to plan well ahead and ensure that you have a clear vision for your new brand identity,” explains Kristina Sikorskaja, marketing manager at Banya No1 who has recently rebranded their salons in line with the businesses’ 10th anniversary and opening of their third salon. “This includes gathering feedback from various employees and stakeholders to ensure that your vision aligns with your company's values and goals. We were also influenced by insights from a client questionnaire which directed the vision for our visual identity.”
You then need to check in with your own key messaging. As a service industry you will be used to adapting to clients’ wants and needs so the branding and logo you initially started out with might not fit with your brand’s DNA any longer. And depending on when you launched, people’s priorities as a customer may have changed. For example, how sustainable, eco-friendly, socially responsible and ethical you and your supplies are as well as whether your company feels inclusive regardless of gender, race or age are all things to consider and will make your business appeal to a wider audience.
THE REDESIGN
When you’re rebranding, it could just be a logo alteration or a colour or font change, but the crucial thing is to keep it consistent.
“To guarantee that our new brand identity works across all aspects of our business, we have taken a holistic approach,” continues Kristina. “We understand that branding goes beyond just visual identity, so we have made sure that our branding guidelines cover all aspects of our business, from social media to advertising, letterheads, uniforms, branded products and more. This is also reflected in our bricks and mortar offerings - as we continue to expand both locally and internationally, it's important to ensure consistency across all our locations and have a unifying message that reflects the quality and uniqueness of our service – an exhilarating thermal experience that rejuvenates the body and mind – which we have polished thanks to the rebranding exercise.”
The easiest way to align everything is by using the same colour palettes across all of your marketing materials and if you use any filters for your social media, keep those the same too. In an ideal world it would also be beneficial to steer clear from stock images or anything too generic that could be used by other businesses as this will help keep your content and branding authentic. Another useful question to ask yourself is - if your clients looked at your Instagram or marketing materials and see it’s your salon would they know it was your business without looking at the name?
“It takes a bit of work to go through social media channels and your website to update the new logo and colour scheme but you have to remember that the colour, scent, music – everything you use all represents you, what services you offer and the experience your clients will have,” says Diana Jenner, who has rebranded her salon, Orchids Retreat on more than one occasion. “By creating a brand, it is easy for clients to identify you and the services you offer. We continued our rebranded theme throughout the business, from new towel colours and new uniforms to match the colour palette right through to the interior and exterior signage.”
ASK FOR HELP
If you don’t feel confident or comfortable doing a rebrand yourself, enlist a creative agency or designer. “We collaborated with two different creative agencies – one helped us to put together a revised brand promise by conducting comprehensive market research, while the other rolled out the visual part. During the planning process, we focused on creating a brand identity that accurately represents who we are today and where we're headed in the future. Our new logo is a modern and dynamic take on the previous design, capturing the essence of our brand – a blend of tradition and innovation,” continues Kristina.
Diana also handed over the design aspect of her rebrand. “We delegated to a graphic designer who we sat down with, chatted to for about an hour and then he came back with some images and colours. He refreshed everything and then I just updated the colour scheme in the salon and updated the signage which we also outsourced to a professional.”
Just don’t get too carried away, a refresh can work just as well as a rebrand and a simple tweak to modernise your logo and ensure it feels more current might be all you need. Anything too fancy or ‘out there’ has the risk of becoming ‘dated’ in the long run. Remember – you still want to remain recognisable.
WHEN TO DO IT
You don’t need to have an occasion to rebrand but if you’re moving premises, expanding, thinking about changing your menu or have a special birthday or anniversary coming up, it acts as a good hook as all eyes will be on you and your business anyway.
“Our previous identity served us well during the early stages of our company's growth, but as we continued to evolve and expand, we realised it was time for a change. With our 10th anniversary approaching, we saw it as the perfect opportunity to rebrand and give our company a fresh new look that better reflects our current identity and aspirations,” explains Kristina.
For Diana, she wanted to change her branding, look and feel of the salon from a coastal bespoke retreat towards a more upmarket aesthetic that reflected the new services she would be offering: “We wanted to turn our rural retreat into an industry leader which required a fresher appearance that would allow us to enter a more competitive market.”
WHAT NOT TO DO
It can be quite overwhelming knowing where to start but that’s why it helps to have a plan in place of what you want to change and why. Having that underlying mission statement will keep you anchored to your overall goals and reasons for rebranding.
It’s also important not to be influenced by your competition. You know your audience, you know what you’re good at and you are the expert in your field so keep reminding yourself that what works for someone else might not work for you. And vice versa, so you need to differentiate yourself in order to stand out.
Remember that today, authenticity from brands and services that clients spend money on is incredibly crucial too so you need to make sure your values are set in stone and that you and your employees feel confident with them as this will help to truly reflect the business.
GET FEEDBACK
Before you unveil your new logo or branding, it’s worth checking in for some feedback, whether it’s with current clients, employees or friends. You want people to not only feel like they’re having a say in your business and show them that their opinion matters, they will be able to see whether your new identity sits with the services that you offer.
“Since unveiling our new brand identity, we have received positive feedback from our clients. They have noticed the changes and have commented on the modern and dynamic look of our new logo. Overall, the response has been very positive, with clients expressing that the new identity accurately reflects the quality and uniqueness of our service. We are thrilled that our clients have embraced the rebranding and look forward to continuing to provide them with exceptional experiences under our new identity,” says Kristina.
BE BUDGET-FRIENDLY
Finally, don’t disregard a rebrand because of cash flow. “The costs can be minimal,” assures Diana. “If you already know what you’d like you can put a job advert on websites like Fivver and they will create your logo for £20 – just make sure you ask for the colour codes so you can match everything else. If you’re working with a graphic designer it might cost £200-250 and then there are printing costs to consider but again, these are competitive so just make sure you ask for a few quotes before you sign on the dotted line.”
With the pros outweighing the cons, rebranding certainly isn’t something that should be skimmed over. An introduction to you and your business, getting it right could allow you to bring in more revenue, as well as help boost your customer base with both existing and new clients-in-waiting.