What to Do When You’ve Fallen Out of Love With Your Brand

The story of your brand is a love story. It starts with a spark and you flirt with the idea of making into something more permanent. As the  relationship develops, you learn more about what works for your brand and what doesn’t. In the end, you and your brand become tied together in something that resembles a flourishing marriage.

But as with every marriage, it takes continuous work to build and maintain a brand. Cracks in the foundation start small. It can start with missed opportunities and develop into embarrassing, public snafus. It doesn’t help that you’re often burning the midnight oil working on your brand. Anyone can experience burnout after that kind of intense focus for any significant length of time. Sometimes you lose the passion that once fueled you. Sometimes you fall out of love in your brand while getting caught up in the millions of little things it takes to maintain every day.

So what do you do when you’ve fallen out of love with your brand? Well there’s no real easy answer. Start with remembering why you were so passionate about it in the first place. Go back to those early days and think about what you wanted to build and where you wanted to be by this time. If you have a partner, take them down memory lane with you to help you remember. Often, the loss of passion comes from straying from the core principles you built the brand upon. Sometimes you can find that loving feeling again just by identifying where you’re off track from your original goals and make moves to get back to them.

If there isn’t necessarily a break from your original vision for the brand, maybe it’s time to think about re-branding. Go over your brand with a fine tooth comb and identify the areas that aren’t working. Look for areas producing lack luster results or that have lost their shine over the years. Slash and burn the things that embarrass you or hold your brand back. Consider bringing in a third party to consult with you on where you can make thoughtful changes that deliver big impact. Once you know what to change, re-branding practically directs itself. You can schedule a relaunch of a new, improved brand you can be proud. It will have all of the bones of your old one with new life from your changes.

The third option is for those who have fallen so far out of love with their brand that there is no turning back. There maybe no straying from the original path or need for new ideas at all. Your brand may be moving along smoothly without any trouble at all. It could actually be at the top of its game. You just don’t want any part of it anymore. In that case, there’s nothing to fix. Instead, you should start looking for ways to pass on your brand to someone who is still passionate about it, whether that’s a current partner, a new partner or selling it to another party entirely.

Whichever route you choose, just remember that it’s not failure to fall out of love with your brand. It doesn’t mean your brand is worthless or that you’re doing something wrong. It just means that something isn’t working. If you can figure out what that is and how to approach it, you’re still in good shape.

Guest Post: Princess Jones is the founder of P.S. Jones Communications. She writes about entrepreneurship and branding on She’s Self-Employed, a website for women who own and operate their own businesses. For information about branding, business and passion, connect with her on Twitter.