Is Your Branding Having a Mid-Life Crisis?

Just as in life, our brands can reach a state of “mid-life crisis”. You look at your business one day and feel like everything is wrong, outdated, unappealing, and that your cherished ideal clients and leads are going to run off with the 22 year old neighbor.

Your brand is the outward representation of your business. Using images, words, phrases, and concepts, your brand speaks volumes to people in the blink of an eye. It’s any and all of the following: your logo, tagline, Twitter ID name, headshot, business name, program names, style of communication, energetic connection and more.

For some entrepreneurs, your brand may require a little cosmetic touch up. Nothing drastic, maybe update a tagline or clean up the look of a website. In life, it would be like getting a new lipstick shade, or one of those “Old Guys Rule” t-shirts. Everyone needs to look at their branding and messaging and make sure it’s still turning heads.

For others, it may call for a full-on brand facelift. The concept of the brand stays more or less the same, but the logo gets updated, the look and feel get a nip and tuck, new phrases and images are used to add lift and vitality to sagging parts. People say “Wow!” when they see you. It’s not as obvious as say, Mickey Rourke’s facelift, but it definitely adds freshness.

On the extreme end is total reinvention. This happens a lot, it’s when you realize you’re living in the wrong brand completely. You may even be living in the wrong business. Recently I ran into a professional musician who no longer wanted to be known for his music, but rather his coaching. OK, that’s a big change and requires totally reinventing yourself, what people know you for, and what value you deliver. That’s a lot of work, but for many business owners is akin to breaking free from the chains of brand bondage.

So how do you know if you need a slight touch up, a full on procedure, or a radical intervention?

Here are some points to ponder:
    1.    Do you still feel excited about the way your branding represents your business?
    2.    Are you attracting ideal clients and well matched leads?
    3.    Has it been more than 5 years since you had a new headshot?
    4.    Is your tagline appearing outdated or overused? Does it follow a tired template?
    5.    Are new leads finding you and easily resonating with what you have to offer? Do the messages you have connect with them?
    6.    Are you Web 2.0 sexy? Are you proficiently using Facebook, Twitter, etc to market your message?