Brands have a shelf life. Brand refreshing needs to be done every three to seven years to stay relevant and desirable. Every so often, a vendor recognizes the need to refresh their brand. A brand refresh not only acknowledges the evolution of the business but it recognizes the necessity of change itself. Yet it begs the question, why must a brand be refreshed? Brand refreshing is done for two reasons; relevance and reflection.

Two Reasons For Brand Refreshing Your Food Truck

Relevance: Keep Your Food Truck Current

It is often suggested that a consistent brand is a strong brand. But to put this into context, that doesn’t mean that using the same logo, tagline and value proposition for five years is consistent.

No matter what industry you look at, established brands like Coca-Cola, Pepsi, McDonalds and Nike all go through regular updates. These updates don’t mean the brand has changed. These updates help keep the brand relevant. Brand updates must be built on the brand’s history, refresh it and keep moving forward.

Does your food truck brand need some refreshing to keep it relevant in your market? If the refreshed brand reinforces your food truck’s relevancy, with people getting excited again about your menu and mission, you’ve succeeded.

Reflection: Don’t Keep Your Businesses In Park

The second reason to refresh a brand is to reflect changes that take place in your business model. Your food truck isn’t the same as it was when you launched, it has evolved, changed and grown. As the services and capabilities of your truck evolve so too must your brand.

Food trucks that have made it big have updated their brands to reflect changes in their business models. This includes adding catering, franchising or opening a brick and mortar location. This can be as simple as removing the words “food truck” from your branding because you aren’t just a food truck company any longer.

Reflection is probably the most important reason for brand refreshing. Food trucks are evolving at an incredible pace today, and their brands have to keep pace. Otherwise the brand loses its meaning and impact on their target market.

Is Time To Refresh Your Brand?

The first part of answering this question is to take stock of your food truck brand’s freshness. Symptoms warning you it’s time to refresh your food truck brand include:

• If the market has grown but your business has not, warning bells should be going off.
• Marketing is falling flat. The purpose of marketing is to sell, if marketing dollars are not converting into sales, the problem may be your brand is failing to connect with consumers.
• Competitors are promoting trends that you are not.

If your food truck is experiencing any of these symptoms, you’ve determined your brand may be a bit stale. It’s time to do something about it. What’s next?

• Be Prepared: It takes effort to examine where your business is, and where you want to go. It can be uncomfortable looking at your competition and facing what can be improved within your own truck. You must address what you do, and how you can keep your brand relevant in this changing industry. Most of all, don’t be intimidated by the prospect of brand refreshing. Look at it as an opportunity to fall in love again with your food truck business.
• Calculate Costs: Brand refreshing isn’t the same thing as a rebranding. Rebranding is an intense, painful process that can totally change your food truck’s DNA. A refresh can come with a range of costs from both a time and resources perspective. Before beginning the refresh, determine the scope of the project and the costs.

RELATED: Is It Time To Rebrand Your Food Truck?

The Bottom Line

It’s easy to think food truck brands don’t and shouldn’t change when you look at established brands. If you don’t look carefully it may seem like they’ve always been this way, but that’s an illusion. They’re always changing. All brands evolve, because businesses evolve, customer relationships evolve, experiences evolve and expectations evolve.

What are you doing to keep your brand relevant? Has your truck gone through a brand refreshing? Share your thoughts and advice on this topic on social media. Facebook | Twitter