Best ways to modernize your brand
Each brand needs to be updated occasionally. Even well-established brands have benefited from rebranding. Think Google, Microsoft, Starbucks, and many others that have slightly changed their style over the years. Sometimes it is necessary to do some modern adjustments. Here are some things to keep in mind before coming up with a rebranding strategy.
A presentation about the product The nice thing about adopting a modern branding technique is that it usually doesn’t require a company to change the product or service it offers. Sometimes it is better not to alter the original offer. This can deter loyal customers, who for most businesses, are the most profitable. That is why the modern brand is more about the presentation than the product or service itself.
The brand for a competitive advantage
One of the best things a business can do when deciding if it needs a rebrand is to take a look. What are competitors currently experimenting with? If they are changing their brand strategies to adapt to the changing market, sometimes this is a sign that you should too.
Additionally, a modern approach to branding can be a way to gain an edge in a competitive marketplace. Do what other brands aren’t doing. Or, do what they’re doing, but better. Finding an innovative way to differentiate yourself from the competition is one of the best ways to sustain growth.
Maintain the company’s legacy
One of the most challenging hurdles of rebranding is finding a way to drive growth without losing your established identity. Sandeep Dahiya of Entrepreneur explains the importance of knowing his brand values. For a smooth and secure transition to a new brand strategy, companies must stay true to their roots.
Take Wendy’s Food Chain, for example. As a fast food company, it would have been a leap, and probably quite a splash, for them to jump on the health trend. A vegan or paleo menu is too far from your original value proposition and your customers’ expectations. So instead they found a way to modernize and stay true to their established identity by marketing ‘fresh, never frozen beef’. The company successfully used customer insights to make a slight change to its brand. The result was a new, contemporary brand that still aligned with its values.
Digital problem solving
Keeping up with the times can seem daunting. Consumers have instant digital access to the latest trends. But so do companies. Thanks to the digital age, it’s easier than ever to hear what customers want and need. Using market data and insights, companies can listen to their audience and make informed decisions about their brand strategy.
How to modernize your brand
There is no one size fits all modern brand. How you choose to tweak your marketing strategy will largely depend on your audience. Think about who they are and where they are located on and offline. Then think about how you want the company to be perceived and the associations you want to build with your brand. After that, you should have a clearer idea about which of the following approaches is best for your brand.
Go Digital
Many brands are going digital with their marketing. But before you jump on the bandwagon, it’s important to understand that there’s more than one way to ‘go digital’.
The most common way is to establish an online presence through advertising, blogging, and social media. Done right, providing your audience with the content they crave on the platform they prefer can be an effective tactic. However, this approach is becoming easier to master, which means that everyone is doing it. Beware that it’s easy to get lost among the thousands of other brands vying for consumers’ attention online.
Another method of going digital is a clever technological twist on traditional marketing. It’s essentially device-targeted promotional marketing. Businesses can display their name, logo, contact information, and other attributes on electronic accessories such as portable phone chargers, microfiber screen-cleaning stickers, and wallet pockets. The idea is that since people spend so much time looking at their devices, placing a tick right next to their screen optimizes the exposure.
Not only are branded accessories more unique, but they are also more likely to get noticed than a social media ad. Consumers often activate mental filters to block the digital marketing they see on their phones and computers. However, when they take their eyes off the screen, they turn off these filters and open up to offline promotions. The result is that promotional items are considered more serious than typical digital advertisements.
Both online and offline tactics help signal the tech experience to consumers. Also, creating an association between technology and branding gives brands a modern feel.
Rethink your logo
Even America’s favorite brands have updated their logos to keep up. Often minor font adjustments to a brand name or higher saturation of a color logo are needed. Sometimes it’s not wise to completely overhaul a company’s logo, as it can make the brand unrecognizable to customers.
Instead, keep key elements that are relevant to your brand and offering, like symbolic shapes and characters. This helps clarify your brand, even amid other marketing changes.
If you’re going for a more modern aesthetic for your logo, remember that less is more. In a market teeming with decorative logos, simple designs stand out from the crowd. Uncomplicated designs are simple and give consumers a clear idea of your brand’s style. In addition, the minimalist design communicates to consumers that a brand is high-end. According to Fast Company’s Mark McNeilly, it’s the ultimate mark of sophistication.
One final note on logo makeovers: modern does not mean trendy. If you try to keep up with the latest design trends, you’ll redo your logo every two months. Trends change too fast. Aim for the timeless, not the trendy. These are the types of logos that endure, resisting obsolescence at all times.
Humanize your brand
Consumers no longer like it when companies hide behind big names and logos. They want a more human, less corporate feel from their favorite brands. That’s why one of the most revolutionary, yet simplest ways to modernize is to put a face on your brand.
For large companies, this may mean CEOs and other leaders taking a new approach to public relations. A recent trend has been for CEOs of large companies to take an active role on social media by directly promoting and discussing product launches and brand development. Done right, it can add a new level of transparency and authenticity to your company image. a company by revealing the visionaries behind the brand.
Smaller businesses can also add a human element to their brand. Attending trade shows and hosting pop-up stores are great opportunities to interact with a face-to-face audience. More than just collecting feedback and improving customer service, these interactions are key to putting a face to a brand. They help a brand feel likable instead of distant.
If stepping into the spotlight doesn’t feel right for your particular brand, consider enlisting influencers to promote your product. For an especially modern approach, opt for real people over celebrity endorsements. Consumers are more likely to trust someone relatable rather than famous. Take the cosmetics brand Glossier, for example. They adopted a strategy to ‘treat everyone like an influencer’ by posting real customers trying their products on Instagram. With over two million followers, this influencer strategy has proven quite successful in helping them engage their audience.
A modern approach to branding does not require a complete overhaul of the company’s logo and marketing strategy. All it takes is listening and connecting with customers. Go where your customers are ( on their phones). Clean up your logo. And get out from behind the corporate mask. These strategies can help your brand stand out from the competition without sacrificing its core principles.
