Legacy brands carry history, trust and recognition that few others can match. But staying relevant today often means making strategic changes. Move too slowly, and you risk fading into the background; move too quickly, and you may alienate the very customers who made you successful.
To help, 20 Forbes Business Council members share ways you can honor long-term loyalty while introducing fresh ideas and innovations to capture new audiences. Follow their advice to evolve without erasing your roots.
1. Prove Your Value Over Time
Legacy brands remain household staples by proving their value over time. To stand out, they should embrace storytelling that resonates with today’s consumers. The aim is not to change the brand identity, but to adapt how its message is delivered so it connects with both loyal customers and new audiences. This can come in the form of social commerce campaigns, Reddit Q&As or in-store collaborations. – Lauren Livak Gilbert, The Digital Shelf Institute
2. Reinvent Boldly When Needed
Trying to please everyone pleases no one. Legacy brands stay relevant by boldly reinventing—even if it risks losing some loyalists. Playing it safe breeds irrelevance; bold pivots attract new fans, and many old ones return. Think Netflix pivoting from DVDs to streaming—it upset some, but defined an era. – Jason Fernandes, AdLunam Inc.
3. Modernize In Phases
It has been my experience that a phased modernization process that is presented as a client benefit is crucial when managing a legacy brand. When new systems and prices are marketed as improvements, customers feel appreciated and will not feel replaced. Customers having more security or insight into the product or service helps the brand maintain loyalty while keeping relevance. – Albert Butler, Banks, Finley, White & Co
4. Nurture Community Connection
Legacy brands stay relevant by building and nurturing a community. By creating a space where loyal customers feel valued, heard and connected, you invite new audiences into that shared story. Community-driven engagement strengthens trust, drives innovation and keeps the brand timeless without alienation. – Shay Levister, Shay Better Coaching LLC
5. Introduce Innovation Gently
One effective strategy is to introduce innovation gradually and thoughtfully, kind of like inviting your long-time customers along for the journey instead of pulling the rug out from under them. For example, a legacy brand can roll out new products, services or updates alongside the classic favorites, clearly communicating that the core values and quality they love aren’t changing. – Zoriy Birenboym, eAutoLease.com
6. Stay True To Your Culture
Strategy can change, but culture cannot. Brands that maintain relevance over the long term are few and far between. The key is to remain true to the foundational values that ignited your passion as a startup. When your team members and your customers can see that you don’t waver from those principles, despite the inevitable challenges that come with time, you build the ultimate currency: trust. – Carsten Bruhn, Ricoh North America
7. Evolve With Your Customers
A great way to stay relevant is to evolve with your customers, not away from them. Involve your long-time fans in shaping new products or updates, ask for their feedback, test ideas with them and celebrate their role in the brand’s story. This way, they feel valued and included, while you still bring in fresh ideas to attract new customers. – Narendra Babu Vattem, iSpatial Techno Solutions Inc.
8. Innovate Around Core Values
Innovate around your core values, not away from them. The magic is in evolving your delivery without changing the promise you’ve always kept. Legacy brands lose people when they chase trends instead of leading them. Stay anchored in what your loyal customers love about you, and then layer in fresh experiences, products or technology that strengthen that promise. Refinement, not reinvention. – Terra Harvell, Harper Ellis Hair Co.
9. Reward Your Most Loyal Fans
We’re living in the era of community, and I’m not talking about basic customer support. Legacy brands, unlike those born in the Web3 revolution, still tend to see customers as a target, not as a community to connect with. But loyalty deserves more. Companies should engage with people, rewarding the ones who are most active and giving extra love to those who’ve been around the longest. – Mattia Martone, Freename AG
10. Build A Long-Term Vision
Establishing a clear long-term vision, then translating it into smaller, phased steps, ensures a seamless journey for loyal customers. At the same time, these gradual shifts create space to resonate with new audiences, enabling the brand to grow its community of loyal followers without compromising the trust it has already built. – Bouchra Danwra, DHOW Marcom Agency
11. Grandfather Loyal Customers
“Grandfather” loyal, long-term customers into your deals. For example, we’ve changed the payment terms for our software to annual—quarterly at a minimum—but give our longer-term customers who were paying monthly the option to continue doing so. – Toni Pisano, PortPro
12. Expand With Modern Variations
Focus on diverse offerings. Expand the product line to include modern variations that appeal to newer audiences, such as sustainable or tech-enhanced versions of classic products. Ensure that these new offerings retain the essence of what loyal customers love. – Muhammad Ghazali, ECOVIS ALSABTI
13. Partner To Elevate Customer Experiences
There is an intangible wealth from legacy brands that weave the humanness of their heritage and personalize, when applicable, customer experiences. Some of this can come from strategic partnerships that bring in new established bases that share in the foundational principles and further elevate the brand. Welcoming feedback from the customers with these may aid in real-time insight into its working. – Paul L. Gunn, Jr., KUOG Corporation
14. Refresh The Experience, Keep The Identity
Staying relevant does not mean constant reinvention. A legacy brand can modernize by elevating the customer experience while keeping its product identity stable. Personalized service, new technology or unique access can refresh loyalty without altering the tradition that built trust in the first place. – Reid Rasner, Omnivest Financial
15. Take A “Test-And-Learn” Approach
Use a “heritage-first, test-and-learn” approach. Keep core products and brand cues intact, and then pilot new features or formats in small runs with a loyal-customer advisory group. Iterate based on their feedback and explain the “why” behind changes. This way, you stay relevant to new audiences without breaking the trust of long-time fans. – Egor Karpovich, Travel Code Inc.
16. Reinforce Roots While Evolving
Legacy brands stay relevant by evolving their story without erasing their roots. Take the example of Nike: Its core of athletic excellence hasn’t changed, but it embraces new design aesthetics in brand look and feel, tech, sustainability and cultural moments. By innovating while reinforcing the values loyal customers already trust, a brand grows without losing its base. – Yasir Zahoor Rather, Insights Marketing & Communication
17. Find A Common Denominator
Staying relevant typically means being prepared to pivot. Finding a common denominator from where you’ve been to where you are going prevents you from alienating your long-term loyal customers while still giving you the space to carve out new attributes of your identity. – Lisa V. Sellers, PhD, Vector Laboratories
18. Keep Core Values And Quality In Sight
New products or services should be developed in such a way that they are innovative and reflect modern trends, but without losing sight of core values and quality. Loyal customers should also be specifically involved and their loyalty valued in order to make change a shared experience of mutual development. – Stephy Beck, Flenski.io
19. Layer Modern Touches On Tradition
Legacy brands stay relevant by innovating around tradition, not replacing it. Keep the core offering loyal customers love, but layer in modern touches: new channels, sustainable practices and limited editions. Involve fans in changes so evolution feels collaborative, not disruptive. – Greg Mohr, Franchise Maven
20. Embrace New Platforms And Feedback Loops
Embrace new platforms. Embrace new mediums. Embrace the gifts of innovation and evolution. Embrace the new while holding fast to your core values and the tenets that define you and align you with your legacy. And with each “new,” also embrace vulnerability. Create a constant feedback loop and ask for feedback from your teams and your audience to test alignment. – Kena Pitts, M.S., C Suite Boutique
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