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I'm Finola Howard, Business Growth strategist with a joyful heart, and your host of the your truth shared podcast, I believe that every business has a story to tell, because that's how the market decides whether to buy or not, and your story has to resonate with who you are and with the people you want to serve. And this podcast is about helping you reach the market in a way that feels right to you. So if you're an entrepreneur with a dream you want to make real, then this is the podcast for you, because great marketing is your truth shared.
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And in this episode, I asked the question, how do you know when it's time for a brand refresh? I explore the difference between a brand refresh and a complete rebrand, and I share with you the journey I took for my own recent brand refresh and why I felt it was necessary.
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I've been involved in brand positioning, strategy and development for most of my career. It's a powerful space, because it's about uncovering the essence of a person or an organization and translating that into an identity that has purpose, meaning and a sense of humanity. Most of all, that sense of humanity is critical in today's society, because people now identify with brands as a reflection of their own beliefs and values. They need to feel the humanness of the brand before they trust it. They're also asking the question, what does spending money with this brand say about me? Now that has become a movable feast, as you can imagine, because everything changes. The brand you love today may not be the brand you love tomorrow, and that is an enormous shift in perspective in the marketplace. It requires brands to prove that they are who they say they are on an ongoing basis.
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Nike's dream crazy ad featured Colin copernic is case and point here. He's the NFL quarterback that refused to stand for the pre game national anthem in protests at racial injustice in 2016
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his closing statement in the ad is believe in something, even if it means sacrificing everything, and it was felt by everyone who watched it. And to this day, he still hasn't competed in the NFL Since 2016
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but Nike believed in this cause because it aligned with their values, those human values Nike made copernic The face of their campaign, celebrating the 30th anniversary of their JUST DO IT slogan, and in doing so, they gave copernic a platform. It was a risk. It could have gone either way. In fact, their stocks took a 3% dip early on, with a $4 billion loss. People were actually burning Nike socks and sneakers almost immediately when this came out,
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but Nike decided to stand shoulder to shoulder with copernic and others who share their values and ultimately paid off because their stock hit a record high up over 36% for the year, and nearly 5% since the ads launch.
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This is human.
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This is growth.
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Nike took that risk, albeit calculated.
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They had an opportunity to grow as a brand and deepen their relationship with their primary audience, and it paid off. They proved their humanness by backing their values, and in doing so, they grew
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because growth doesn't come from mindless actions. It comes from how you choose to live up to your purpose, your mission, your vision and your values and your business evolves as each of these deepen and are realized with every step you take to get closer to achieving them. As you grow, you are, in effect, becoming more of who you already are and your purpose mission, vision and values may be the same. They're just more clearly felt and articulated.
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But what that can mean is that how your brand looks and sounds needs to come into alignment with this richer, more aligned version of you,
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and this is when you know you need a brand refresh. Let's kind of talk about the differences between a brand refresh and a rebrand. So a refresh is when you're changing things like your logo, your font, your color palette, maybe even your brand slogan or or maybe even a tweak in your writing style. It's not an actual change in identity or even your strategy. It's a change in how you're.
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Business is expressed visually.
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A rebrand on the other side directly impacts your brand positioning in the marketplace. Your brand values, the brand guidelines you have in the business and your purpose, mission and vision statements. This is where the thinking behind the brand doesn't hold a clear road map for your growth. If you can't see the road map, then you need a rebrand, and it's important to know the difference.
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At the end of April this year, I published my first book, what if Joy was how you measured success and the money proved you right? It is a book I was called to write because it tapped into the conversations I've had with so many business owners who knew their business had the potential for more but couldn't quite unlock it. It was a familiar conversation I'd been having for 25 years and more, and formed the cornerstone of a lot of my work.
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I knew the patterns for business growth, and I knew the blocks of success, I'd been mapping them all my professional life. More than that, I'd been figuring out ways to overcome those blocks for all of my clients, and it was time to share these insights in a way that could reach more people. I also wanted to show people that you can grow a business that is both profitable and joyful. In fact, it's actually more efficient if you do
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and so I wrote the book,
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and the process of writing this book changed me
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in sharing what I'd learned about unlocking your potential for success, I'd actually let go of my own remaining blocks. So take a moment to imagine that take a moment to feel the weight of your own baggage, because we all have it.
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Feel it, and feel how heavy it lies on your shoulders and the slow shuffle of doubt and indecision that it causes in your own growth.
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And then just imagine your hands opening wide and you just let go. You just let go of all that stuff. You let go of all the stuff that you'd thought was part of who you are, but really wasn't.
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Imagine the release. Imagine the lightness. Imagine the feeling of freedom and possibility,
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and in this new version of you,
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look around and imagine how you now face the world.
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Look at your brand, visuals, your voice, your language, they can feel like mere shadows of who you are.
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That's because they're no longer a true reflection of who you now are.
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And that's when you know you need a brand refresh. And that's when I knew I needed a brand refresh too.
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And I've had a few of them over the years, actually about five in the last 25 years, so that's one every five years. And
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the one thing that I can say to you about this is that each of those refreshes, and there's, I think there's been a rebrand in there as well, but they've each marked a moment of growth.
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And this is how I'd like you to think about brand refreshes. They're actually a celebration of the business you are becoming,
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and in reality, it is always a closer alignment with the original purpose of your business.
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It wasn't a mistake your old brand. It was just a reflection of who you were then, of who the business you were then.
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And so a refresh is that celebration.
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It has been in my case, anyway, and it was all the other times too.
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So let me share with you what this brand refresh looked like for me. Okay, in this iteration, I actually made the following choices
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the new brand is simpler and less fragmented, focusing on my core values and the purpose behind the business. Business, I've adopted a new brand color, and that's red, which aligns more closely with my own personality and my passion for my work. It's actually the same shade of red as the book cover, and that feels right to me.
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There's an, actually a section in the book where I tell that too much red story, in homage to the times when you are each of us told we are too much. There's actually no such thing as too much. Your too muchness is actually an indication of your own uniqueness,
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and I talk about this in the book as well.
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So in honor of my too muchness, I chose red for my brand this time round.
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I also took part in a 40 inspiring women over 40 initiative with professional photographer of the year, Tanya Crosby, to ground this brand reset. I.
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And I chose to embrace this expanded version of myself that clients have been reflecting back to me for years,
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but I think I hadn't fully embraced
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for so many years. Clients have talked about my work as much more than marketing, much more than a strategist, much more than a tactician, more than a marketing advisor and more than a coach,
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and so I chose to embrace the title of business growth strategist with a joyful heart,
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because I've always looked at the whole business with a long term perspective, one that embraced a more purposeful approach to business that leveraged people's inherent uniqueness to correctly position them in the marketplace for success, one that doesn't come at the expense of a life well lived, and one that is filled with joy, but one that has to be actioned to be realized.
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I chose also to overtly update the architecture of the business and the brand. So my books, blogs and podcasts are all held under the Finola Howard umbrella brand and domain name. My one to one work is reshaped to support clients for their entire growth journey using my proven PEV growth process, a process I had kept under the radar for so long. And that's positioning engine visibility, and I'll talk about that more in more detail in a later podcast.
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My marketing courses and growth membership are all held under the how great marketing works, domain and sub brand, and the result is a more streamlined and growth led operation, one that feels right and gives me room to grow even more. And of course, I've already laid plans for that too. So I invite you to take a look at the updated brand and website here at Finola howard.com
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which reflects this whole journey and might help you as you decide on yours. I also invite you to take a look at your own branding and ask yourself this question, do these brand visuals, architecture and website truly reflect my business and where I'm taking it? Is it time for a brand refresh or a rebrand to call in my next growth leap? Is it time to celebrate the growth you've achieved so far or shape a different future? And if you're not sure, then click on the link in the show notes for my refresh versus rebrand checklist. It'll help you get clarity on what you should do next, and reach out and let me know what you decide to do. Tell me your story, because I'd like to hear about your truth shared too. Have a great day.
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I hope you enjoyed that episode. Reach out and let me know your thoughts on this episode, and whether you are considering a brand refresh or a total rebrand. Do click on the link in the show notes to access my refresh versus rebrand checklist if you're still deciding. And if you'd like to support the show, please follow or subscribe on your chosen platform. It makes all the difference to the impact I'd love this podcast to have on the world, deeper conversations about the lived experiences of entrepreneurs in many different fields, stories that allow us to unlock the truth behind success at every stage, because every story brings value you
