Dear Dave:

Our company has had the same look and feel to our marketing materials for years. Is that reason enough to make a change?

Signed,

Familiarity Breeds Contempt

Dear FBC:

I’ve seen otherwise intelligent and accomplished marketing professionals overhaul—at significant expense—a company’s entire marketing collateral set, even the logo, simply because they became tired with the way it looks. The reasoning is always that the market is sick of the same old look and feel and it’s time to “freshen things up.”

But I can guarantee that marketers exposed to the branding and design on a daily basis get bored with the look and feel long before customers and prospects do. There’s only one reason to change the visual look of your marketing: if it doesn’t work in the marketplace.

How do you know if it’s working or not? You can conduct research with customers and prospects to get their feedback. You can compare yourself to what competitors are doing or other leading companies in your industry. If your company is changing significantly, either through a strategy shift or merger/acquisition, then your marketing look may need to change to accommodate a new market positioning. But even in this case, the only reason to change is if your current graphic identity doesn’t reflect your company’s position in the market.

Rather than spending unnecessarily to change your marketing look and feel, focus resources and energy on getting your brand exposed to more potential customers and generating new and qualified leads for your sales team. Nothing looks as fresh and exciting as positive results on your marketing investments.

For Klein Marketing, I’m Dave