Rebrand or refresh? How to tell which one your firm needs

Most firms that ask for a rebrand need a refresh, and a few that ask for a refresh need a rebrand. The difference matters because a rebrand costs more, takes longer and carries more risk: to search rankings, to referral recognition and to the team’s sense of who the firm is.

The difference

• A refresh keeps your name, your positioning and what you are known for. It updates how the brand looks and sounds: the logo, colors, type, photography and the words you use to describe your services.
• A rebrand changes the positioning itself: who you serve, what you are known for and how you differ from competitors. It often includes a new name.

Signs you need a refresh

• Clients and referral partners describe you accurately, but your website and materials look dated next to competitors.
• Your logo does not work at small sizes, on dark backgrounds or on social media.
• Different people and vendors produce materials that look like they come from different companies.
• The message is right but wordy: it takes a paragraph to say what you do.

Signs you need a rebrand

• You have moved upmarket, and the brand still speaks to the clients you used to serve.
• A merger or acquisition joined two names, two looks and two reputations.
• A new service line has outgrown the brand, or confuses buyers of your core service.
• One part of the business needs to stand on its own, with its own name and domain.
• Your name is hard to spell, easy to confuse with a competitor, or tied to a founder who has left.

Five questions to answer first

1. Who are your best clients, and would they describe you the way your website does?
2. What do you want to be known for in three years, and does the current brand support it?
3. What would a new name cost you in search rankings, reviews and referral recognition?
4. Which assets would have to change: website, signage, documents, profiles, email addresses?
5. Who inside the firm has to agree, and who has to live with the result?

If the answers point to the same clients and the same promise, you need a refresh. If they point somewhere new, you need a rebrand.

Brand separation: the third option

Sometimes the brand is fine and one line of business is the problem. When a firm sells unrelated services under one name and one website, each service competes with the others for attention and for search rankings. Moving one line into its own brand and domain can fix both.

Planman Health Insurance is an example. Health insurance was one of seven product lines on a shared financial services website. After it moved to its own domain, with its own website and social channels, its Google position went from 80th to 33rd in three months.

Protect what you have built

A rebrand does not have to cost you rankings or referrals. Before launch, map every old URL to its new home with a permanent redirect, update your Google Business Profile, directory listings and social profiles, and, if the domain changes, use Search Console’s Change of Address tool. Tell clients and referral partners about the change before they notice it themselves.