“What is a brand image?” you may be wondering. It’s how your brand is generally perceived by the general public. More importantly, what constitutes as a compelling or boring brand image? Boring brands are those that are too similar to everything else in the market, lacking in a unique selling point, and don’t offer anything fresh or new in their niche. Building a brand is a complex, ongoing process that continues as long as you are in business. Building a reputable brand that is memorable, attention-grabbing, authentic, and reliable, is an even more difficult task. Find out if your brand image is considered bland or unappealing by audiences and navigate your way through setting up a fresh new brand positioning strategy in this article, directly from Digilite’s branding specialists.
Signs That Your Branding is Outdated
The first step to establishing a successful brand transformation is objectively identifying when you have a “boring brand”. It can be difficult to do a little introspection, but it’s necessary if you want to kickstart an effective rebranding campaign.
Here are a few tell-tale signs to look out for if you’re unsure:
- You haven’t made any major branding changes, updated your logo, or launched a rebranding campaign in the past 7–10 years. There’s a good chance that elements of your brand are outdated and aren’t up-to-date with current design trends and market demands.
- Your website analytics and insights indicate that you have low user traffic, high bounce rates, and short viewing times. Whether it’s always been considerably low or you realize it’s in a steady decline, people aren’t interacting with your content as much as you would like.
- You run into too many other brands that are identical to yours. This indicates that you don’t have a stand-out or unique brand identity and are just blending into the crowd.
- Your current brand doesn’t represent your values, vision, and mission. Businesses are created to last a lifetime, ideally, but your values and vision may change over time. That’s why all elements of your brand need to reflect the latest course of action to avoid miscommunication.
How to Do Rebranding the Right Way
Embarking on a rebranding project requires a lot of in-depth planning and research. After all, you don’t want to launch a rebranding campaign once every year or two either, because that won’t give you enough time to become established among the masses. Let’s take a look at a few professional tips to guide you in the process of creating your brand positioning strategy. Let’s dive right in.
1. Pick a Bold Brand Color
If you pay close attention to some of the biggest brand names out there, you’ll realize that they’re playing the “color game.” What is that exactly? Brands are claiming a signature color that will be connected to their brand identity every time people see that color. It can also work in the form of color combinations as well. Just think of McDonald’s signature yellow and red combo, the rich orange of Hermès, the cool blue of Tiffany & Co., and so on! When new brands emerge in the market and utilize those colors in their branding, it will be difficult for them to compete with such popular brand identities. To increase your chances of being an avid player in the color game, you need to think beyond classic color combos like just black and white or a color like navy blue that is overused.
Digi-Tip: Create a killer brand book that encompasses all elements of your brand, setting it in stone for any future employees to refer to.
2. Invest in the User Experience
You may have heard from different sources that the website is the face of your brand in the modern market — and that’s true. Your website encapsulates all aspects of your brand and is like your business card in the online world. For that reason, it’s vital to take the user experience in mind. If your website is a maze that users get lost in, loads slowly, has broken visuals, is not well-constructed, and is not mobile-friendly, you need to rework your website. As you can see, a lot can go wrong. Any one of those can repel users from your website, and brand entirely, in a matter of seconds. The best user experience is one where every detail is taken into consideration, but it’s seamless to the user.
3. Adjust Your Brand Voice
The voice and tone of communication from your brand to your audience is also an integral part of your brand identity. It can vary not only from company to company but also from industry to industry. For example, an accounting or law firm may have a formal and stern brand voice. In comparison, a makeup or clothing brand may go for more of a playful and informal brand voice in their social media, website content, newsletters, and so on. It would be a rare occurrence if a law firm used a playful brand voice while a makeup brand kept its tone of voice too serious and formal. Even if your niche calls for a more professional and formal tone of voice, always remember to maintain the human touch and not sound too distant.
4. Get Rid of the Stock Photos
Low-quality images, videos, and visuals can repel people from your brand’s website, social media accounts, and any other place on the Internet. If you have the resources to invest in original photography, opt for it instead. Even a one-time photoshoot with your office and staff will be enough to use as versatile content for months on end. Stock images are often cost-effective ways for businesses to acquire images and they aren’t necessarily bad, but if you want to take your brand to the next level, then producing all (and we mean all) your content from scratch will help immensely.
5. Incorporate Abstract and Unconventional Elements
Design nonetheless plays an important role when building a brand. The colors, shapes, and imagery all impact how audiences perceive a brand. Certainly, one of your branding goals should be to incorporate a design that people can’t peel their eyes away from. If you really want to stand out with your branding, you need to have the courage to incorporate abstract, unconventional, and unique visuals in your branding. It can either be a hit or a miss, but if you are working alongside an experienced designer, the chances are they will be able to deliver a brand image that is one-of-a-kind but not jarring.
Digilite’s branding services offer A to Z of all things related to branding. Get in touch with us today to discuss your unique brand identity.
