Your brand is so much more than just a logo and colour palette. It’s the core identity of your business: a collection of the values, ideals, characteristics and personality of your brand reduced to a single set of recognisable standards.

Rebranding isn’t a strategy you should pursue just because it “seems like a good idea” or because “everyone is doing it”. If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it.

So, when is a good time to rebrand? Here are 5 indicators:

1. Update the Look

Out with the old and in with the new. Design trends tend to change quickly and in the span of a decade or two, the fonts, colours and shapes that seemed cool at the time, could be laughed at in the modern era as nostalgic leftovers.

2. Competitive Advantage

Is your competition growing but you’re not? Companies often react to losing market share or decreasing sales by rebranding. A well planned and executed rebrand can enable your company to out-brand your competition and excite new customers.

3. New Demographic

An effective brand is one that’s created specifically for one target audience; this is what makes a brand relevant and relatable. If you decide your company is going to target a new demographic, your brand will have to evolve along those lines as well.

4. Time for Consistency

Your brand can become a mishmash of assets if you’re not careful. If you lack visual and verbal consistency from using incongruent logos, typography, colour palettes, imagery, messages and tone of voice, your brand is suffering from Schizophrenia. Good thing there are meds for that.

5. Business has Changed

Many businesses tweak their business models, change or add new services and products to stay competitive and profitable. If you used to do X but now you do X and Y, it might be time to rebrand.