You Have 0.05 Seconds to Make an Impact!
First impressions are made in seconds and often online.
Your brand identity is more than just a logo or a colour palette; it’s how your business communicates, builds trust, and creates an emotional connection.
But what happens when your brand stops working for you?
Why your brand identity matters more than ever
What worked for your brand five or even two years ago might not be working today. Customer expectations change, markets evolve, and your competition gets smarter. If your brand identity hasn’t kept up, it could be quietly holding your business back.
How to know if your brand is hurting your business
You don’t stand out anymore
Does your social media presence look the same as your competition? Do people walk past your stands at expos without a second glance?
It’s easy to fall into the trap of looking and sounding just like every other brand in the industry. What was once a bold or distinctive identity can fade into the background as trends shift.
In a crowded market, it’s not just about catching attention — it’s about staying memorable. A strong, distinctive brand helps you stay top of mind with your audience, long after the first impression.
Visual elements feel dated or inconsistent
You have just 50 milliseconds (0.05 seconds) to make the right impression with your website. (Lindgaard et al., 2006)
What do you want the first impression of your brand to be? Well, you have a fraction of a second to make it, meaning the immediate visuals of your website are integral to how your business is perceived.
As your business adopts new technologies and embraces new social media platforms, your visuals may not quite fit — literally. Each platform has its own sizing specifications, meaning your once polished visuals look clunky and unprofessional.
It’s also important to consider the longevity of the visual elements in your brand. Does your logo, font, and brand colours feel out of touch with the trajectory of your brand?
Brand messaging no longer reflects what you do
As your business and services evolve, whether you’ve expanded, specialised, or completely changed direction, your messaging needs to evolve too.
Sticking with old messaging after your services have changed confuses your audience. If your message doesn’t clearly state who you help, how, and why it matters, you’re inviting hesitation.
Your team can’t explain your brand
Your team are your greatest assets. They have the potential to be the best advocates for your brand — but only if they can explain your brand.
It’s safe to say that if your internal team are confused about your brand’s mission, vision, values, and offering, then your consumers will be too.
Team buy-in for your brand brings benefits for your business, including:
- Greater sense of belonging for employees and a greater commitment to the company.
- Stronger company outcomes as employees are invested in the collective success of the brand.
- Better employee engagement.
If your team find explaining your brand difficult, it may be time to consider refreshing your messaging.
You’re struggling to attract the right audience
Is your brand aligned with your target audience?
If you find your inbound traffic has dipped, engagement on socials has slowed, and your leads feel disengaged, it’s time to revisit your audience personas. By figuring out exactly who your products or services are aimed at, you can refine the way you present your offering.
Refined’s Top Tip: We love the free HubSpot Buyer Persona tool to humanise your audience, and pin down their challenges, and what’s important to them.
How to evolve your branding
At some point, most businesses will refresh elements of their branding — from their values and visuals to their messaging.
Here’s how to start evolving your branding to better reflect your goals and target audience.
Get a brand audit
A strong brand isn’t just about good design — it’s about ensuring every aspect of your identity resonates with your target audience.
Brand audits take a deep dive into your brand’s messaging, visuals, and market presence to ensure consistency and relevance in your industry.
Start strategising
With the insights from your brand audit, you can start to plan how you will refresh your business identity, align with new goals, and stay competitive.
Our Rebrand Checklist is a great place to start.
Go back to your roots
Think back to why you started your business. What message did you want to portray? What values did your brand hold?
Sometimes, looking back is a great way to refresh your messaging. And that’s exactly what O2 Business has done with their latest campaign, which focuses on connecting customers with the exciting moments in life and reinforcing the brand as ‘Essential For Living’.
‘The new brand platform revisits the brand’s founding message from 2002, positioning it as an enabler of life’s greatest moments. It emphasises the excitement and rewards that O2 offers, with a renewed focus on emotional, real-world connections and putting customers back at the heart of unforgettable experiences.’ (Howard, 2025)
Do you need help telling your brand story?
Let Refined Marketing help you shine – get in touch with our team to see how we can help at letstalk@refinedmarketing.co.uk
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Reference
Howard, H. (2025, March 28). Essential for Living: O2 revisits founding ethos for new brand platform – Virgin Media O2. Virgin Media O2. https://news.virginmediao2.co.uk/essential-for-living-o2-revisits-founding-ethos-for-new-brand-platform/
Lindgaard, G., Fernandes, G., Dudek, C., & Brown, J. (2006). Attention web designers: You have 50 milliseconds to make a good first impression! Behaviour and Information Technology, 25(2), 115–126. https://doi.org/10.1080/01449290500330448
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