Lots of business owners focus on getting started with the bare minimum. When it comes to branding it shows. I this episode, Chad and Paul talk about 4 times your brand needs help. If you are just starting out, take the time and build your brand well. You’ll make a lot more money and spend less on marketing. If you did not put the work in from the beginning, there has never been a better time to create a better foundation for your brand.

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Paul:

All right. Plenty of time.

Chad:

Yeah. Paul, how you doing, man?

Paul:

Chad, I’m doing fantastic.

Chad:

Good.

Paul:

I’m going to do something different this episode. I’m going to see if I can get through it without coughing my head off.

Chad:

Man, that’d be a miracle, wouldn’t it?

Paul:

Having an intermission.

Chad:

Yeah.

Paul:

An unplanned intermission.

Chad:

That was hilarious. Yeah, man, you got to do what you got to do.

Paul:

The real question is though, who watched the YouTube video long enough to see that happen?

Chad:

I don’t know. That’s a good question. I’d love to know. I think somebody did, because I saw a comment on there about whether it was COVID or the flu bug.

Paul:

Oh, that’s right.

Chad:

So somebody did.

Paul:

At least one. We got that down. We got that down. So you have a topic today that you want to talk about, and it is surrounding brand evolving? Can a brand evolve? Does a brand evolve?

Chad:

That’s an interesting question.

Paul:

Yeah. I’m not sure how I feel about that. I’ve seen some clients where they’re like oh, we got to change your logo every four or five years. I’m like, I’m not sure how I feel about that. I mean, Pepsi has changed their logo before, but not dramatically.

Chad:

Yeah. I mean, they’ve made some changes. I mean, there are times when I think it is necessary. The biggest thing, I think, is that a lot of businesses will just put everything to bed. The website’s been completed. They’ve got their manifesto, they’ve got their color fonts, they’ve got their logo and everything, and they just put it to bed, and they operate for a good eight to 10 years, sometimes longer. And they just think that hey, we’ve done it. It’s been accomplished. And they may be following that brand, and they may be expressing it very consistently across every department and all of their outreach and everything. But over time, things change. There could, technology changes. I mean, there may be times where you might need to modernize it based on new technology, which could involve your colors and your website, at some point in time, needs to be updated potentially.

Paul:

So you’ve got four things here that we can go through. So I think you’ve already started on the first one.

Chad:

Yeah, that’s the first one.

Paul:

Repositioning or reshifting, I think I see where you’re going with this because I think a lot of people will do certain things they feel checks the box, but it’s not really strategic and it’s not really a brand. And then they do some, they actually try to position. Is this is what, you’re going with that.

Chad:

Yeah. Well, sometimes you have to shift to appeal to maybe a new target audience. Maybe some things have changed within the organization. You might want to differentiate yourself from competitors in a way to stand out more. So yeah, there are those times when you need to go back and revisit that.

Paul:

So would you say that’s a brand evolving or is that a brand going back and doing the work they should have done to begin with?

Chad:

That’s a great question. It just depends. I mean, if you are trying to, so let’s say you have a competitor that comes on the scene and they’re starting to look like you. They’re trying to mimic you a little bit. Yeah. I mean, I could see where you might need to make some changes and it could simply come from just not addressing it and doing it right the first time. I mean, I’m not saying that it’s not. And then you also have, there are times when you could be expanding into new markets, especially from an international standpoint.

Paul:

Yeah. Okay. So that’s an interesting point there.

Chad:

Yeah. I mean, you’ve got different culture, you’ve got different language, and at that point you have to go back through and probably change some of your messaging to resonate with that culture. And you need to go back and revisit that at that point.

Paul:

So that makes me think of a recent episode we had with Sergio Terrez, and he was talking a lot about that, the way that the Hispanic community is poorly marketed to because businesses just don’t understand the culture. They think that Google Translate is enough and it’s just not. And that also reminds me of another brand that is based in Japan, and they have just a different way that, they actually have some mascots that are different than they would ever have in any other country.

Chad:

Yeah. Is that Daikin?

Paul:

Yeah, Daikin. That’s the one. That’s the one. I guess that’s the second point. So new territories.

Chad:

Yeah. So when you say mascots, they’ve got, so it’s something that is really… I guess when you say mascots, that’s more known in Japan than it would be in the US or any other parts of the country.

Paul:

I can’t remember exactly what that mascot is or that icon or whatever it is in Japan. But I know that, I believe it was last year and I think they’ve rolled this out by now, they developed a butterfly for the United States, because that fits more. Obviously in Japan, I only know this because of my teenage daughters, but anime is just different there than it is here.

Chad:

How it’s expressed?

Paul:

Yeah, exactly. So again, maybe like this brand evolution, or is it brand expression? Different places need-

Chad:

Different parts of the world. It just needs to be expressed differently, something that resonates more with the culture.

Paul:

And they could probably get that wrong pretty quickly. Going back to what Sergio was saying about just the Hispanic community. A lot of people get that wrong really quick.

Chad:

Yeah, yeah. Well, I mean like he was saying there’s different ways of speaking the language, and if you don’t get it right, it’s not going to resonate. You’re not going to reach them in a way that they’re going to remember you or feel your message or understand you in a way that they want to do business with you.

Paul:

In a way, he’d make you look like an idiot.

Chad:

Yeah, right. Exactly. Yeah, I enjoyed having Sergio on. That was really some good information that a lot of businesses tend to forget about.

Paul:

Absolutely.

Chad:

I think they try to do it from a way that, like he said, just pull someone in who speaks Spanish, and maybe it’s someone in the office or something. It’s not done in a way that just really resonates.

Paul:

Yeah, there’s a big difference between, and we said in that episode, I have a degree in Spanish, but it’s been a long time since I’ve actually spoken in Spanish on a consistent level.

Chad:

I was trying to get you to speak it around here a while back, and it’s like well, I don’t know. Let me kind of go back and think about this a little bit. I need to brush up here.

Paul:

Let’s go to Veracruz. I’ll order for all of us in Spanish.

Chad:

Tamales.

Paul:

We will eat like kings. We’ll eat like kings.

Chad:

Okay,

Paul:

So we’ve got reposition, reshift. We’ve got expansion into new territories that we’ve talked about. So the next point is a brand refresh. Tell me what and when does a brand need a refresh?

Chad:

Well, I mean, technology changes over time. So you’ve got to keep up with that, with the modern technology. And again, it could be that your colors don’t match up with who you are anymore. It could be that, obviously the website, I mean you’ve got to go back and you cannot just, you know this, we can’t just build it. It can be as robust as you want it to be originally. But you can’t just say, okay, well that’s done and let’s just move on, and 10 years go by and this site is just hasn’t been addressed, updated, or anything. I mean, you can’t. That’s not smart.

Paul:

And that really is something that I would say the vast majority of businesses right now suffer from is it’s the checkbox, we’ve got the website. And you talk about going back and making sure your colors represent you now. Those types of things are really, again, going back, they probably weren’t done well the first time around, and then you check these boxes and these days, if you’re not addressing your website and doing something proactive every single month to add some-

Chad:

What about just content?

Paul:

Just something to make it alive. You’re going to be dinged on your authority score. Now, of course, Lisa can talk a lot more than that than we can, but it is one of those things that, yeah, check a box. We’ve got a website. We built it 15 years ago. It’s pretty good. We’re fine.

Chad:

That’s great. Yeah. I mean, it works.

Paul:

Or does it?

Chad:

Well, I mean, it’s functional in their minds, but at the end of the day, it’s not really functioning the way it needs to be.

Paul:

Missing out on a lot of opportunities.

Chad:

Missing a lot of opportunities. And I think a lot of this is, again, business leaders, owners, get so busy doing what they do day in, day out and providing for their customers. It’s easy to forget.

Paul:

Of course it is.

Chad:

I mean, you’ve gone in your house before and hit your TV and you had to maybe update an app. I mean, those things are prompting you to do that, but your website’s not going to send you anything and say hey Paul, hey Chad, it’s time to reboot this thing. It’s just not hitting you in the face.

Paul:

I mean, it’s like how we tell you it’s time to get a new computer, Chad.

Chad:

It is time.

Paul:

You’ve had it for 20 years now.

Chad:

I’ve had it for a while. It’s time, but I’ll tell you, man, I’m one of those as long as it’s still working effectively.

Paul:

But I think that we probably could get something. We could put that Mac, we could send it to Apple and they could put it in their museum, and we might get so something out of it. I mean, that would be pretty cool.

Chad:

It’s older, but we’re exaggerating a little. Hey, listen, it cuts on.

Paul:

Yes, it does.

Chad:

It does everything that I need it to do. Now, there are some things that I probably need to, and it’s time, but in terms of it’s functional-

Paul:

It does come on.

Chad:

It does. It comes on. But again, it’s the same type of thing though, isn’t it? It’s working. So you can see where someone could say hey man, I’ve got this site. I’ve got this brand, everything.

Paul:

That has actually turned out to be a better analogy than I thought, but it is working, but mine works a lot faster than yours.

Chad:

Well, sure. Okay. Then we go back to how a brand evolves over time, how it needs to be at least revisited.

Paul:

Kept up with.

Chad:

I’m not saying every 10 years you need to do a total brand change. No, not at all. But you’ve got to be cognizant of that brand and what’s going on with it, because it needs to be revisited. And just to take a look and say hey, where are we with this?

Paul:

Yeah, absolutely.

Chad:

It’s been 10 years and we’ve grown, et cetera. And then there’s also times where, and this is the one that probably most people don’t want to talk about, but this probably could be considered really the most important one. And that is you start getting a lot of negative perceptions about a brand.

Paul:

Oh yeah, for sure.

Chad:

Or negative feedback. At some point it’s probably prudent to at least consider.

Paul:

And that brings us to the fourth point that you had in this is listening to feedback. Was that just external feedback, like customers, or is this internal feedback or what level is this?

Chad:

It could be both, but mainly external. Yeah, negative feedback in terms of from the customer’s view that they just haven’t had good experiences, whatever the case may be. And it may be time to go back and revisit it.

Paul:

Could that also land in the bucket of it wasn’t done well to begin with?

Chad:

Again, yeah, it could be for sure.

Paul:

That really ties back in to some degree what we spoke about last week.

Chad:

But it could be customer service, like we talked about last week. It could be just things that they’ve gotten a bad reputation for not living up to the promises that they’ve made. And at some point, it is probably a good time to maybe consider going back in and just doing a rebrand. Now, here’s the thing though, and you know this and we’ve talked about this so much, before you do it, before you make that decision to do a rebrand or make any major changes to your brand, you have to be very methodical about that. You’ve got to do research. You’ve got to make sure that you go through and think it through.

Paul:

Absolutely.

Chad:

Because a big decision, and you don’t want to leave behind the current customers that you have that are satisfied with your product or brand. So yeah, I think the moral to the story is there’s a lot of things that could potentially call for some rebranding or some changes of the brand. It’s very important to make sure you think all that through very well before you do it. But at the core of this, you can’t just throw it in there, be done with it, and just walk away from it.

Paul:

Yeah. Really, it needs to be thoughtful. You need to do the work. I mean, there’s some work that goes to getting it done right the first time.

Chad:

And really, I think that’s probably part of the moral of the story is that if it’s done the right way the first time, there really shouldn’t be a need to go back and do a total rebrand. Of course we know that a website has got to be updated at times, and you need to add content, and there’s some things that you need to do with that. But unless you’re going into international market or things of that nature. And the customer feedback, if you’ve got negative customer feedback, you’ve got more issues to solve.

Paul:

Without a doubt.

Chad:

Just rebranding it is not going to solve those problems.

Paul:

And I was thinking about that, that’s a heck of a bandaid to try to put on some serious problems.

Chad:

Yeah. Oh, no doubt. I don’t even know if it’ll work unless you go in from the ground up and get that thing situated in the right way.

Paul:

Well, you have to change names.

Chad:

Yeah, there’s a lot to that.

Paul:

That’s a heck of a lift right there.

Chad:

It is.

Paul:

I don’t know. Maybe some people get to that point. They need that much of a drastic change.

Chad:

It could be.

Paul:

But for the most part, I mean, you’ve got people that are doing well, they’re getting by, but there are gaps. And it goes back to your computer versus my computer. Yours turns on.

Chad:

It does.

Paul:

And there’s a lot of people that turn on. They turn their lights on, they go to work, they’ve got a customer base.

Chad:

So are you saying it’s taken for granted?

Paul:

Yeah, absolutely. Well, and it’s the opportunity missed or the opportunities missed.

Chad:

Right.

Paul:

I think that is, because it goes back, it’s amazing how many people still have websites in this day and age. I literally saw a website, I was going to lunch the other day, for a restaurant that I could barely read their menu. There are just too many resources available to just check a box and leave it be. And your brand is one of those things. You cannot check that box. You need to constantly revisit it. And all four of these points are important because you should be aware of what’s going on all the time, and really making sure that you’re caring for that because that is your livelihood.

Chad:

Yes, it is. It’s very important. And it’s one of the most overlooked things that we see. Well, let me take that back. One of the most overlooked things that we see is the initial work that needs to be done the right way.

Paul:

A hundred percent.

Chad:

And just really doing it the right way.

Paul:

Having a good foundation, being thorough.

Chad:

That’s where it’s really missed, but it can also be done the right way and things change over time. So there’s several points to be made here, but yeah, great conversation.

Paul:

Absolutely. Well, this time, well we haven’t shut this thing off, so I don’t know if I made it through without coughing.

Chad:

We’ve got just a few more minutes. I think you can make it. I have faith in you, Paul.

Paul:

It’s not my fault. We’re in Augusta, Georgia.

Chad:

It’s 80 degrees today, close to it.

Paul:

What was it? Two and a half weeks ago? It was cold.

Chad:

Oh, man.

Paul:

Then we had a stretch of eighties, then it got really cold again. And the deer were moving, so of course we had to get out there then now it’s in the eighties again.

Chad:

The bucks were on the move.

Paul:

And apparently I can’t handle that.

Chad:

Are you feeling better?

Paul:

Yeah, I’d say about 80%.

Chad:

That’s good. That’s good.

Paul:

About 80%.

Chad:

Just more whiskey, man. I’m telling you, man, the whiskey is the best medicine. I don’t care what anybody tells you.

Paul:

I agree. I’m no stranger to that. But yeah, so I’ve made it through without a session of coughing and remission.

Chad:

Hallelujah.

Paul:

So this is good. All right. Well this is something, like all of this conversation and the conversation we had last week, and obviously the conversations that we’ll continue to have about this ,goes back to it’s just not that hard.

Chad:

No.

Paul:

It should not be. There’s just too many resources out there for people to get quality help to make sure that they are doing things well, building a good foundation on the front end for their branding, and then applying that and building on that and going forward rather than having to make mistakes. Gosh, we’re all going to make mistakes make, but there’s a lot that you can avoid making.

Chad:

We all are going to make mistakes, but having it done the right way. And there a lot of people think that three quarters, if you get three quarters of it right, then man, you’ve accomplished. No, you’ve got to have a hundred percent in order to get this thing right. Yeah, you do.

Paul:

I’m a big advocate of don’t make great the enemy of good, but get your brain done right.

Chad:

This one has got to be, I don’t agree. It’s got to be done right.

Paul:

Yeah. Get your brand done right.

Chad:

Yeah, for sure.

Paul:

It’ll save you a lot of headache, a lot of time and money. What is it? What’s the saying that people don’t ever have the money to do it right the first time, but they always have the money to fix it.

Chad:

Isn’t that right? It’s interesting how that works.

Paul:

Yep. Get it done right the first time.

Chad:

All right, well let’s get back to work.

Paul:

Okay. Let’s do it. Thanks man.

Chad:

Thank you.

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If you enjoyed this episode? Listen to 5 Ways to Market to the Hispanic Community that is mentioned in this episode.