Thinking of revamping your website? Yes, we know.

It has dawned upon you that your website is sorely outdated. It looks like it was designed back in the 80s with poor UX/UI, non-responsive layout and you can’t even navigate properly on your iPhone. And technical issues also abound: no SSL certificate, not integrated with GA4 with outdated WordPress plugins and countless security vulnerabilities.

Yes, we know, it is urgent. But hold your horses.

Let’s play this out. You shortlist 3 web design agencies. You choose one that has the most experience and a good track record with pretty websites to boot. They assign you to a team of three: project manager (local), designer (overseas) and developer (different time zone). Then, the barrage of questions come: What is the direction? Do you have images? Content? Ideas? Colour preferences?

You try to tell them what you want. But you are unsure whether they are in fact the correct answers or they understood what you mean. Then, they propose wireframe after wireframe after wireframe (ad nauseam). But none quite gel with you nor your business. They are just taking reference from the current website. You tell them to look at your competitors’ websites. Then, they come back with a subpar imitation of your main competitor’s website. They are hitting walls. You know they are not to be blamed. Yet you do not know what to do. You are at a loss…

We have seen too many cases of this happening. And why is this happening?

The short answer is that your business has changed. A lot. Over the years, you have pivoted your business a few times. You have taken on more people. Your business has grown. And personally, you have also grown. The website that has been working for the past few years is not working now. Deep down, you know that you have to change the website to reflect not just the present but the future.

What you need to do now is to take a step back. Think a bit deeper. Think about who you are, what you want for the future, what are the values you hold so strongly, and ultimately where you are going. Talk to your people. Are they with you? Do they know what you are thinking? Are your values aligned with theirs? What about your vision and mission? Have you told them before? Have you changed over the years?

If all these resonate with you, what you need to do now is not to revamp your website. What you really need to do now is to do branding.

Basically, you need to:

1. Conduct a proper brand audit to understand your organisation from the inside-out
2. Establish your brand positioning to set yourself apart from your competitors
3. Develop a brand strategy to say who you are, what you do and more importantly, what you stand for
4. Define a brand manual so that everybody (including the web agency) gets everything right, down to the correct font to use.

At Firefish, we love to help you with this work. Treat us as your third-party, no-BS, objective friend. We will sit down and talk to you, your partners, your clients, your customers and not forgetting, your people. Yes, we might expose some gaps in the process but we also will unlock the hidden potential and business opportunities. Along the way, we help you to dispel your deepest worries, clarify your thoughts and surface your ambitions. Together, we help you to envision a much brighter and better future.

And we do not stop at branding.

We understand totally. It is tough to translate all these strategic stuff into actual applications. At Firefish, we traverse both the skies and the rubber-meets-the-road real-world. We don’t outsource our work from here because we love to see our strategy come alive (and correctly). You do not need to ask us for any content or images. Our in-house team of designers and wordsmiths will craft your website to perfection. And this website is just one of the many applications we will touch on. Your business card, corporate brochure, presentation deck… the list goes on.

Everything will be completely in sync with you and your business. Why? Because we know what to do, we know what you want and most importantly, we know who you are and where you are going.

So, again, why should you not revamp your website?
Because you actually need to rebrand first.