Studio Note #34: Good Enough is Usually Expensive.
Good enough can get the job done, but professionalism often takes a hit.
I recently heard about a long-running organization that had welcomed roughly 100 prospective members in one of their territories over a period of time.
Four joined, a 4% conversion rate.
There are undoubtedly a lot of reasons someone might visit an organization and decide it isn't for them. Cost, timing, the people in the room, the format, competing organizations or simply deciding it wasn't a good fit.
But there was one problem that was pretty hard to ignore.
The brand looked old.
Not established. Not historic. Old.
There's an important difference.
This was an organization with a good reputation, committed members and plenty of history behind it. Those things should be enormous advantages. But visually, none of that was being communicated.
Instead, prospective members were encountering a brand that hadn't kept pace with the organization itself.
For a long time, that was probably good enough.
The logo worked. The website worked. The materials worked. Existing members weren't going anywhere because of the way it looked.
So there was never a particularly urgent reason to change it.
That's the trap with "good enough."
It rarely breaks. It just slowly becomes more expensive to keep around.
When a prospective member is considering several organizations, they're not evaluating each one in isolation. They're comparing them. One looks current and active. Another looks polished and relevant. Another looks like something they want to be associated with.
And then there's yours.
The actual experience you provide might be every bit as good or better. Your members might be more engaged. Your organization might have more history, stronger relationships and significantly more value to offer.
But now all of those things have to overcome the impression your brand created before anyone had a chance to experience them.
That's no longer an aesthetic problem.
It's a business problem.
Branding isn't going to turn every visitor into a member, just as a new website isn't going to magically fix a struggling company. But branding establishes expectations. It gives people signals about what they're walking into and whether an organization feels relevant to them.
When those signals don't match the reality of the organization, you're making the rest of the business work harder than it should.
There's nothing wrong with "good enough" when you're getting started. Sometimes it's exactly what you need to get something out the door.
The problem is forgetting to come back and fix it.
Because eventually the expensive part of an outdated brand isn't what it costs to replace it.
It's what it may already be costing you to keep it.