How You Can Avoid These Branding Mistakes I Made
In the last month, I made the delicate decision to rebrand my company One Nine Pro. Now, I use the word “delicate” because this is a process and decision that should never be taken lightly.
I wanted to share with you why I rebranded and made this enormous step for my business because I have a hunch that there are other business owners who are contemplating this same thing. Hopefully, I can help you decide whether or not it’s right for you.
I also hope to impart some wisdom by sharing the branding mistakes I made so that you can avoid them!
Background
Believe it or not, even though the primary focus of my business is graphic design and web development, I actually started One Nine Pro as music production company. Then it was called One Nine Productions. I was recording and producing instrumental tracks, or “beats”, for artists to use.
Over time though, through my own little ventures, I began to develop skills in design and building websites. I figured, why not add these on as services to my business? Eventually, this was what became the main focus.
I began to think about the possibility of rebranding my company so that it reflected this major shift. My company was also about to start offering publishing services for authors. It needed a name and a brand image that was broader than just production.
So, I decided to make it simple. I shortened the name to One Nine Pro, with “Pro” being a subtle change from “Productions”, but implying that we offered “professional” services. This way I would have three main branches of the business: One Nine Pro Design, One Nine Pro Production, and One Nine Pro Publishing.
So I went through the rebranding process. I designed a new logo, built a brand new website, changed color schemes, etc. And maybe you’re thinking, “Ok, end of story…” But this was actually over a year ago since I did this rebrand… yet here I am doing it again!
Don’t Make These Branding Mistakes
The truth is you shouldn’t have to rebrand significantly for at least five years within your company (and I’ll explain why in a moment). So, why am I rebranding again after only a year? Because I made these primary mistakes, that you should avoid…
(Now I want to be clear that the process of branding is much more than just designing a logo. However, for the purpose of this post, I’m going to focus on the logo design aspect.)
1. Don’t Be Too Trendy.
Your goal should be to design a logo that is timeless. This means not just going with whatever the latest design trends are because trends come and go.
You may love your logo design now, but will you love it 2 years from now? Will your logo stand out amidst all the other brands that follow that same trend?
This is the very mistake I made with my first rebrand. I designed something that I loved at first, but it did not stand the test of time. Already after a year, I was ready to change it.
2. Don’t Half Do It.
In addition to trying to be trendy, I wasn’t all in.
What I mean by that is I tried to keep some similarities with my previous music production logo. My first logo had a logo mark element of a sound wave – obviously, this had to go since I no longer offered just music production services. But the element that I kept when I rebranded was the font.
This was at a point when I was redefining my company. Because of that, this was not the time to hold back. I think I was afraid to change too much in an effort to keep some sense of brand recognition. But that was a mistake in my case because I really hadn’t developed much brand recognition up to that point.
This was my opportunity to completely reshape things and create a logo that would be unique and timeless. Between trying to be trendy, but still trying to hold on to parts of the old logo, the end result was just ok. It wasn’t something I was willing to stick with for the next 5 to 10 years.
If you’ve been in business for a long time and you have build brand recognition, it may make sense to make only subtle changes just to freshen things up, but the point is that you need to do this very intentionally. Know exactly why you are doing it!