Rebranding and Refining Your Brand – What’s the Difference?

Rebranding your brand. Refining your brand.

They both sound the same, don’t they? Well, they aren’t. Proper branding is vital to any business’s success. And with time, you’ll eventually get to a point where you have to determine the direction you want your brand to head to.

You may have outgrown your brand, or something about it just doesn’t seem to click anymore. So, what do you do next – rebrand or refine your brand? Not sure? Don’t fret; we have your back. This article will look at both choices in detail, giving you better insight into the one your company needs most. Read on!

Whether rebranding or refining a brand, having a mood board or strategy board can help narrow in on your ideal client and expectations.

Differences Between Rebranding and Refining Your Brand

Before delving into details, below are a few differences between rebranding and refining your brand. A rebrand includes:

  • Overhauling your company’s whole image
  • Establishing your business in a different market
  • Designing a new business background
  • Creating a new personality

Refining your brand, on the other hand, entails:

  • Updating your company slogan
  • Tweaking your current logo or design
  • Employing a new font
  • Refreshing marketing materials
  • Changing your color pallet

Next, we’ll proceed to help you, once and for all, understand the thin line between “rebrand” and “refine” in this context while also throwing in a few tips that will help you discover which approach best suits your business. So, let’s get into it already, shall we?

Rebranding

In the simplest of terms, a rebrand is a total reworking of your brand. It’s essentially an utter stop and alteration of the business’s look, feel, and direction.

Harvest Investment Consultant’s previous logo prior to Harford Designs redesign.
Harvest Investment Consultant’s 2022 logo redesign by Harford Designs.

Typically, rebranding has one primary goal – influencing your client’s perception of what your business offers. That entails revitalizing your brand to make it alluring to the current needs of a customer or even a new clientele.

Several reasons may influence a brand to change its image. For one, you may decide to reposition the business to display a change in focus to your customers. You may also be looking to outdo your competition, expand your business scope, or venture into a new market.

In most cases, companies consider rebranding when:

  • Old marketing strategies don’t seem to work
  • The audience is changing
  • A desire to market new products and services arises
  • The competition is evolving
  • The current identity is outdated
  • Industry expectations appear to be changing
Sage Thyme Solutions Website Brand Inspiration
Sage Thyme Solutions branding inspiration board.

Refining Your Brand

Unlike rebranding, refining your brand happens at a relatively smaller scale. It entails slight tweaks to how your business presents itself and interacts with its customers.

Typically, a brand refresh involves changing your customer support standards, cleaning up your website copy, and taking note of your audience’s feedback. Unfortunately, the difference in performance may take a while to show, as these tweaks tend to occur relatively slowly.

That said, an excellent strategy to refine your brand is less risky than a complete overhaul, and if done right, it can still deliver the required results. A few scenarios you can use to gauge whether your brand needs refining can include:

  • Your brand doesn’t quite reflect who you are and what you offer
  • Your logos and color schemes are inconsistent
  • Your logo is outdated
  • Your business is growing
  • Your audience has changed
Harvest Investment Consultant’s new branding guide ensures consistency across all digital and print materials.

Rebranding or Refining Your Brand: Which is Right for You?

With new demands, innovations, and tastes, the world is constantly evolving, and eventually, every brand will have to change. However, the extent to which that happens, and the magnitude of the decisions you ought to make, entirely depends on you.

Refining your brand is excellent when looking to build upon and improve a brand that’s essentially robust already – something a few changes will achieve. With rebranding, everything changes, despite offering the same services or selling the same products.

With all the above information, we are confident that you’ll come down to the right decision for your business. However, if you are still unsure which best suits you, reach out to us at Harford Designs and schedule a consultation.

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