Should you rebrand?

The cheaper things to try first

If enquiries are low, the problem is usually visibility, response time, reviews or the website converting badly. All four are cheaper to fix than a rebrand and all four produce faster results.

A new logo on a slow website with no reviews and an unanswered phone changes nothing at all.

• —Are you visible where your customers search?
• —Are enquiries answered within the hour?
• —Do you have more than ten reviews?
• —Does the website load fast and say what you do?
• —Have you asked customers why they chose you?

When a rebrand is genuinely right

The name limits you — it names a service you no longer lead with, or a town you have outgrown. The name is confusingly close to a competitor's. The business has genuinely changed what it does.

Or there is a reputational reason, which is a real and legitimate one, though it needs handling carefully rather than quietly.

What it costs beyond the design

Vehicle livery, signage, workwear, stationery, the website, your Google profile, directory listings, social accounts and every printed thing you have.

And a period where people who knew you no longer recognise you, which for a local business with word-of-mouth referrals is a real cost that nobody budgets for.

If you do it, keep the equity

Do not change the name and the look and the positioning at once unless you have to. Whatever recognition you have is worth keeping.

And redirect everything properly — old URLs, the Google profile, the directory listings. Rebrands routinely lose rankings because nobody handled the redirects.