Is it time for a brand health check?

When something feels slightly off with your brand, it is often a sign that closer attention is needed. In this blog, our founder Collette shares how a brand health check can help you step back, see clearly, and decide what will best support your organisation’s strategy and next steps.

Just like we do, every so often your brand needs a health check. In your health check, you’ll be told about your physical and mental health and fitness, whether you’re at higher risk for certain medical conditions and ways you can improve your overall wellbeing. 

When it comes to your brand it’s not that different. A brand health check looks at how fit for purpose your brand is to deliver the organisation’s strategy and goals. It looks at the risks to your brand - and the risks your brand is posing to the wider organisation and your external reputation.  And it also identified opportunities to develop, strengthen and build your brand.

Often the problem is not that everything is broken, but that the things that are not working are blocking the brand’s clarity and effectiveness.

This is usually where we are able to help most.

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But how do you know it’s time for a brand health check?

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When some of our clients come to us, it’s because their brand is in a bit of a state. 
The brand equivalent of aching all over, experiencing really severe symptoms and frankly about to shut down.  Their health check is well overdue - and their brand has been left without care for too long.  

When that’s the case, we can, of course, help.  However it requires significant intervention and investment.  And as it’s usually been a few years since their brand has had any love, investment is overdue.

Sometimes we are contacted by organisations who have just completed brand work - as part of a campaign, or website development. But their brand has immediately experienced a resurgence of prior symptoms or the symptoms have even become worse. 

And this is usually because the brand work has been done as an afterthought or bolt-on to another piece of work by people who are not brand experts. For example, the digital or PR agency. (these examples aren’t hypothetical but based on true events). 

We can help here too - by looking at the brand work that has been done through the lens of brand strategy and identifying gaps or elements that are not fit for purpose. Then providing the relevant tools, templates and fixes. Like updated brand guidelines or messaging. Or tweaking visual elements of the brand so they work together more cohesively.  
Or anti-racism, equity and accessibility support to embed directly into the brand.

(Or a bit of all of the above).

It almost never requires a full rebrand to address - which is a good thing because in this case, the organisation has already invested in brand work - just not where they needed to.

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When is the right time for a brand health check?

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A regular brand health check helps you stay on top of any issues, before they become problems that undermine your wider organisation or external reputation.  

We usually recommend that organisations look at their brand every 12-18 months. 
This could be by doing an audit, a guidelines update or refresh or reviewing your templates and tools to make sure nothing’s missing.  

If you’re experiencing brand health issues and you’re overdue for a check up, don’t delay getting the support you need!  

Why not schedule an appointment with us here at Brand by Me? We’re ready to help.

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