Your brand is your business’ most valuable asset. All business decisions are made from the foundation of your brand identity. From time to time, it may be necessary to overhaul your brand. But rebranding can be a big investment. It isn’t just about how much you pay your brand designer, but also can include costs to implement the new branding across all your customer touch points. All too often the little red flags from a brand that has run its course can get lost in the hustle and bustle of keeping up with everything else you do to keep your business running successfully.

So, how do you know if it’s time or even necessary for rebrand?

To help, I’ve put together a short list of my top five signs that I use to determine if your old branding may be holding you back and if it’s time to overhaul your brand.

1. Your brand no longer reflects your business model. 

This could mean that:

• Your services or products have changed.
• Your vision and strategy has evolved over time.
• Your name no longer reflects your mission.

2. Your brand is outdated.

This could mean that:

• You’re embarrassed to hand out your business card or website.
• The trends in the market have changed and you haven’t.
• You’re failing to differentiate yourself from the competition.

3. You’re trying to connect with a new target audience.

This could mean that:

• You want to tap into a new demographic
• Your website, social media or brick-and-mortar traffic is dwindling.
• Your sales leads have become less ideal.  In other words, the people coming into your shop are not the people you want to be selling to or are not likely to buy from you.

4. You’re struggling to grow.

This could mean that:

• You feel stuck and are not reaching those “next level” goals
• You’re struggling to increase prices and/or sales

5. You need to change your image.

This could mean that:

• You need to shake off a poor reputation.
• You want to improve consumer perception.
• You plan to change your business model, including your products/services, strategy, vision, and mission.

Even the strongest brands have a shelf life. It’s important to know that the strength of your business lies in its ability to adapt to changes in the market, shifts in social-culture, current events, evolving priorities of customers, and many other forces across the world. A brand can really only be considered current for a maximum of five to ten years, maybe even less for creative industries where visual appearance is even more important. Becoming familiar with the list above should help you to understand when a rebrand your business is necessary.