Recently, I wrote about why branding your business is important, but what happens when your brand needs to change? Is it possible to change a brand? What kind of work is involved in that? Is it worth it? There are so many questions you may find yourself asking about rebranding, but perhaps most important is knowing when you should consider it. Here’s how to tell if your business is in need of a rebrand.

 
1. When the vision/mission for your business changes
   Let’s be honest, hindsight is always 20/20 and that’s true even for your business. What you thought you started your business for may not be what your business ends up being most successful with. For example, if you started a window and concrete company but your windows sell better, you may choose to focus solely on selling and installing windows–so if your company name is XYZ Windows & Concrete, you may choose to rebrand it to just XYZ Windows.

 

2. When your audience/clientele changes
   If there’s one thing that business owners know it’s that they can’t control the market. Let us say again that you are selling windows and a change in demand for concrete forces you to sell only concrete or go under, you may decide that the best option is to go with the flow of the current market. When the demand for your product or services changes, your brand should be able to pivot with it–and that may require rebranding.

 

3. When you feel like it’s time for an update
   Sometimes there’s no better reason to rebrand than just for an update. I love to use Dunkin’ Donuts as an example and how they recently rebranded themselves to just “Dunkin'”. While the company continues to sell donuts and their overall mission hasn’t actually changed much, the company still decided to drop the “donuts” from their name. While some may see this as an unnecessary change, sometimes brands just feel like they need to modernize their brand (and there’s nothing wrong with that!) Times change–and so do brands.