Life changes and your brand should fit with the changes happening around you.

Change is inevitable. Progress is optional. ~ Tony Robbins

As human beings, we’re not static, and we’re not supposed to be.  As a brand {a living, breathing entity}, it is very important to understand when you have become stagnant and need to evolve.  Let’s use Madonna as a quick, well-known, extreme example: Madonna sets trends, leads, and then when everyone else starts copying her, she pulls back to gain perspective and figure out the next chapter. When she feels she is ready, she pops back with a new, reinvented look and refreshed brand energy.

Has her core brand essence changed from when she started?  No. Her brand has evolved…thus adding a new layer of depth and therefore brand value.

How do you know if your brand is ready to evolve?

Scenario 1: You wake up and go on autopilot responding to everyone else’s demands. At the end of the day, you wonder where the day went.

You feel like you are spinning your wheels and can’t seem to get ahead or caught up.

Scenario 2: No one is doing what you want or paying attention to you, so you keep saying: “People just don’t ‘get me’ or ‘get it’…if only…blah, blah, blah.”

You feel like people just don’t understand or appreciate you and your efforts.

If one of those scenarios describes your current “situation”…then congratulations, you are ready to evolve your brand!

As your branding guide, I’ll point out the 3 biggest landmines to avoid, along with the consequences that I see when people rebrand (myself included!) and rewards. Remember, when you are going through a branding evolution {a.k.a. reinvention, rebranding or repackaging}, it is very important to step back and scale down for a while, so you aren’t in danger of going backwards or becoming stuck, which will stunt your growth!

Landmine 1: Announcing that you are going to rebrand along with an expected finish date

▪       You will miss the deadline no matter how smart or how hard you try;
▪       then you’ll waste your time trying to explain why and figure out another date;
▪       people will quickly lose interest and wonder about your credibility.

Landmine 2: Trying to keep up with business as usual

▪       You will compromise the customer experience that you currently deliver;
▪       then you’ll waste your time explaining why you couldn’t perform to expected standards;
▪       you will lose customers, referrals and potential future business.

Landmine 3: Just putting new designs or adding video to a stale brand without doing an in-depth internal audit

▪       You will continually be changing things and doubting yourself;
▪       then you’ll spend your time wondering why you started this process;
▪       you will cause mass frustration, along with wasting precious time, energy and money.

Rewards: Increased clarity, focus, brand value and overall better bottom-line results.
Positive brand equity building is about giving, not getting. 

When you are “in transition” keep in mind that you are not in the right place to give because you must know who you are and where you want to go next before you are ready to give again.

The key to success: It is okay to say “no.”

If you don’t say “no” to others and “yes” to yourself, you will hurt others and yourself by causing brand damage since your brand value is based on the value of your contributions. Choose courage, embrace change, push out of your comfort zone, and you will see a positive brand evolution along with increased brand value.

Life changes and your brand should fit with the changes happening around you.

If you want to learn more about branding, visit Kathy’s “What is Branding?” video series here!