You don’t need a rebrand, you need strategy

Why your brand needs strategy before it needs design

When your brand starts letting you down—or you're feeling like you want to throw the entire thing down the garbage chute and set it on fire so you can start again with a clean slate—you might think it's time for a rebrand. That silent voice of judgment and ick gets louder and louder until you can't take it anymore.

So you get to work. You start thinking about colours, typography, maybe even sketching out a new logo. Great! Love that enthusiasm! But before you go any further: have you actually thought about who your audience is? Have you checked out what your competition looks like? Have you figured out your business values and what your customers are actually looking for when they find you?

Have you thought it through? Really thought it through and not just taken the easy fun way to design-town?

"But why do I need all that? My brand is all about vibes and a good time!"

(I know yours isn't, but stay with me on this very crude example.)

Because you don't want to be doing this whole process again in a year, do you?

Brand strategy isn't just a buzzword designers like to throw around. It's the thinking that makes sure your business attracts the right people—and actually keeps them. Your brand strategy figures out who your target audience is and how they line up with your values. It maps your competition so your brand doesn't get lost in a sea of lookalikes. It defines how you talk to your customers and even (the fun bits) what aesthetic direction your new brand should actually take.

If you skip all of that and jump straight into design, you're just making something shiny and new that'll burst like a bubble the second your business evolves again. A beautiful house without a foundation is going to collapse eventually. (That's a weird metaphor, I know. But it gets the point across, doesn't it?)

So what should you figure out before you touch any design software?

Who are you as a business?

Not what you sell, who you are! As the caterpillar in Alice in Wonderland so bluntly puts it: “ Who are youuuu?” What do you stand for? What do your customers get from you that they can't get anywhere else? If you can't answer this clearly, your brand won't be able to either. And if your brand can't communicate it, your customers definitely won't figure it out on their own.

Your competition and the industry you're in.

You need to know what's already out there. What does the rest of your industry look like visually? Where does everyone else sit in terms of pricing, tone, personality? Not because you want to copy them, but because you need to know where your space is on this map, so you can make it your own. If your brand blends in with everyone else's, you're invisible.

Your target audience and who you actually want buying from you.

Let me get this through to your brain: THIS CAN NOT BE “EVERYONE”. Not "men aged 25–45." You need MORE. The specific people whose problems you solve and who are willing to pay for the way you solve them. What are they looking for? What puts them off? What do they dream about? (That might go to far and be slightly intrusive, but you get the specificity of this right?) What makes them trust a brand enough to hit "buy" or send an enquiry? If you don't know this, you're designing in the dark without night goggles.

How you talk to people.

Your brand voice is the personality behind every word on your website, every Instagram caption, every email. Are you formal or casual? Straight-talking or playful? This should come from your values and your audience, not from whatever felt right on a Tuesday afternoon or somebody else is doing. How you speak to people is instantly remembered and in just a couple of seconds people will figure you out.

What your brand should look and feel like.

Notice this one comes last on this list. Because once you know who you are, who your audience is, what your competition looks like, and how you speak — the visual direction becomes so much easier to figure out. No more scrolling Pinterest for hours to find the right vibes and style (I know, I’m taking away your Pinterest time). Colours, typography, imagery, packaging: all of these should be informed by the strategy work you've already done. When they are, they work. When they're not, you end up with something pretty that doesn't actually do anything for your business or your clients.

Not sure where you stand right now?

I made a FREE Brand Reality Check that walks you through the basics. FREEEEE!

It takes about 15 minutes, it's honest (sometimes a little awkward because it’s so honest), and it'll show you where the gaps are. YES THE GAPS! So you know what to fix before you spend any money on design—and we love a thrifty girly.