Some business leaders are hesitant to change their branding.
Others are too quick to make big changes.
Who is right?
The best answer probably comes somewhere in the middle. The best leaders seem to be those that are always looking to make little tweaks and improvements to their branding.
Not just for the sake of change, though, but to better communicate what the brand has to offer customers.
What Is A Brand Tune-Up?
In the sense we’re discussing here, a brand tune-up would be anything that communicates what your brand offers to customers.
That might include:
- Logo
- Graphics
- Slogans and mantras
- Website
- Company values
- And more…
How do you know if your brand needs a tune-up?
Here are a few tips.
Self-Analysis
Self awareness is big for our personal lives. But it’s just as important for businesses. It’s not always about analyzing the market or the competition. Understanding yourself is critical to success.
I’ve read a number of business biographies. And most successful people were obsessed with analyzing their own businesses. If you also follow sports you’ll see that the best teams are obsessed with the same thing. They focus mostly on themselves and not on the other teams.
When it comes to branding, it’s important to know who you are as a company. What you stand for. What you want and why you want it. Who the people are. How things have changed and how they haven’t changed.
With a good understanding of your organization you can more clearly see if changes to the branding need to happen.
Customer Perception
Once you understand yourself it’s time to go to your customers to see how they perceive you. In the past this might have involved focus groups and surveys. And those can still work great.
But you can gain even more insight today with things like social media. People regularly share their opinions on Twitter, Instagram and even on forums like Reddit.
Now, obviously it depends on the size of your organization. The smaller you are the more creative you’ll need to get.
But it’s honestly not that difficult. You can talk to people in person. Ask they why they chose your company. Ask them if they have feedback. And watch their actions. Watch for repeat customers. Look at those that leave.
Many times a customer will leave because they wanted something that they didn’t realize the business offered. Maybe it’s an auto shop. A customer brings in their car for new brakes and mentions that they just got the oil changed across the street at the quick lube because they didn’t realize the auto shop also offered oil changes.
Things like that can often be fixed with branding.
Brevity
I struggled to find the right word for this and I think the best one is brevity.
By this I mean finding the balance of saying who you are and what you offer in the fewest words possible.
The more unnecessary words you share the more potential issues there are with confusion with the customer.
But obviously if you don’t communicate enough you’re going to lose customers.
This is a constant battle, but the most brands are the ones that are always looking to make their branding simple while also effectively communicating who they are and what they offer.
Final Thoughts
A brand tune-up is usually necessary for most organizations. But it’s not just about changing the logo and updating the website. It’s about understanding yourself. Once you know that a designer and writer can help communicate the correct message. And you can provide the right feedback throughout the process to know if the tune-up is working.
