People don’t just want to be consumers of brands anymore; they want to join them, feel a part of them and endorse them. This means that brand and brand strategy are two of the most valuable assets to the success of any business. Launching, establishing and reinforcing a business and brand requires a combination of creativity, logic and passion to achieve brand prominence, recognition and influence.

A successful brand strategy requires constant management, monitoring and adjustment. When a business is growing and evolving, the brand and how it is perceived changes with it.

Here are five signs your business may need a rebrand:

1) Align with a new mission
Since the business started, the original mission, vision or direction of the business may have been outgrown. Consider Amazon, beginning as an online book retailer; the company evolved to selling a wide variety of consumer goods and services. This change to the company’s DNA directly led to a rebrand that encompassed their new direction. Changes in direction, morals, and values benefit when accompanied by a rebrand to communicate the new company to its audience.

2) Increase engagement
Decreased or plateaued engagement with your audience will quickly lead to reduced sales and market share to competitors. Over time, businesses are prone to becoming stale and lose sight of the importance of their branding. Consequently, brands can lose momentum both externally and also internally. A rebrand can help to better engage current customers while attracting new interest and attention.

3) Stay ahead of a competitive market 
The market and constantly evolving and never stands still. From trends and customer preferences to micro and macroeconomic factors, the world around you and your business is constantly changing. The process of rebounding can help identify or reinstate a business’ strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, while comparing to the competition in the market or sector. Discovering where improvements can be made and applied is vital to staying ahead of the competition. If continuous improvement is not sought, a business is destined to fall behind. A rebrand can be the kickstarter to a business’ next strategic manoeuvre.

4) Attract a broader audience
Over time the growth of a business will slow if new audiences are not attracted the brand. Discovering and engaging new audiences will help customer bases grow. Businesses increasingly have abilities and access to expand their audience both nationally or internationally, with the increased diversity requiring additional thought to the rebrand process and launches of new products or services.

5) Redefine the brand identity 
It is easy for a business to develop a reputation for being outdated or no longer relevant in modern markets. A rebrand can help to revive and grow customer communities while reinvigorating the values and principles that lie at the core of the business.

“It takes years to build up a reputation while it takes minutes to destroy it” – Warren Buffet

A brand and its image is not simply just a logo on a website, product or publication. It is a key indicator of business performance and the direction of the business’ journey going forward. If a brand is not thriving and continuing to grow then it is likely that the business as a whole is underperforming. Revitalising a brand can breathe new life into business strategies while supporting new phases of growth and prosperity.

If a business is experiencing a lack of growth and continuity, or is struggling to engage with existing and new audiences, it’s time to assess and re-evaluate the brand strategy.