All brands start as babies.
Your business entered the world (read Marketplace) as a tiny baby, eyes open to all that was ahead of you. You got your first logo, designed by that cousin with Photoshop, and paid someone (probably not very much!) to mock up a website for you.
Great, done. You are ready to grow!
Your business goes through childhood, you get some flyers printed here and and run a facebook ad there… You are getting older and maturing in the work you do.
By the time you are ready for high school, you are thinking, these baby clothes (logo, templates website, one off flyer) no longer fit the big kid I am now… I think my brand image needs to grow up with me.
This is when most established businesses look to refresh their brand identity. To reflect and bring their image up to date and move them forward.
What does “growing up” in brand terms look like?
- Research. Identifying distinctive assets your audience know you for. Maybe it is colour, a graphic, an element of your logo?
- Refresh. Your logo or brand mark might need some new clothes that fit it better. This often looks like a tidy up of the logo image or typography and often involves refining.
- Build. Building out your brand tool kit to ensure your assets are protected but developed enough for you to grow into the future. Your toolkit might include: colours, typography, templates, graphics, tone, soundbites, video style, photography etc.
We all want our brand image to grow with us. We don’t expect to lose our identity, but we also don’t expect to be wearing baby clothes as a teenager. If you think your brand is finding it is still trying to fit into baby clothes, look for a design consultant that understands and respects brand growth.
