Branding Refocus.
A logo or identity is just a small part of the overall branding of a business or product. It’s often the most recognisable device used to communicate with target audiences; this sometimes means that a logo is often the only element that a lot of businesses concentrate on when re-focusing a brand.
A brand is the sum of all of the touch-points that come into contact with current or potential customers. These touch-points include the logo, stationery, marketing material and websites, business premises, vehicles and even how your staff communicate with your customer base. In short, your brand is the much bigger picture, but the logo is on the front line.
When considering a brand refocus its is essential that you undertake customer analysis and concentrate on brand value creation. The difference between a rebrand and a brand refocus, is that a refocus develops the existing brand rather than a complete brand change, which is considered a rebrand There are two main reason for a company to initiate a brand re-focus, these are:
A change in company strategy.
Target audiences, positioning and market share can all change during a product or companies lifecycle. What was once highly effective may now hold your company back, which means it’s branding needs to be updated to reach new target audiences.
If you find yourself in this position, a brand audit may prove a worthwhile exercise.
Reflecting a change in the type of products that you sell.
It could be that when starting out, your business offered a particular type of product or service and a brand was built around that, even its name might reflect this. But as you business grows, its product line and aspirations can grow too, which means its branding may need to be revisited to reflect these changes.
The brand re-focus can breath new life into a existing company or product, this can apply to young companies in rapidly changing markets or established companies looking to inject new interest into a product range or service.
Its often the case that a company chooses to rebrand instead of refocus their brand, some of the major brands in the world like Coke, Microsoft and Pepsi have chosen to refocus their brands over the years as markets change rather than full rebrands.
Choosing between a rebrand or a re-focus, you need to consider the following:
- Why are you thinking about updating your brand?
- What scale of brand changes are you considering?
- What changes (if any) have happened at your business recently that may affect your brand?
- Have you compiled any research? Looking at, your competitors, the market that your business operates
in, target audiences and technological advances, all of which may affect your business now and in the future.
Answers to these questions will help you choose which route to take.
Ultimately a brand refocus can help you commercialise your products and services into you existing markets by breathing new life into them or tweaking them slightly to open up greater, larger markets with more revenue potential.