The files arrived on a Friday afternoon. A client had just approved her new logo after three weeks of design work — a genuinely good mark, properly vectorized, complete file package, correct formats for every use case.
I followed up three months later to see how things were going. Her website still had the old logo. Her email signature had the new one. Her LinkedIn had the old one. Her business cards had neither — she hadn't ordered them yet. Her Instagram had a JPEG screenshot of the new logo that someone had sent as a preview during the approval process, sitting in a circle crop that cut off part of the wordmark.
The design work was done. The implementation work had barely started.
This is normal. Logo approval feels like the finish line, but it's actually the start of a different project: systematically replacing the old brand across every touchpoint. Without a plan, it happens accidentally and incompletely over months. With a plan, it's done in 30 days.
Before You Start: Organise Your Files
Before touching any touchpoint, spend one hour organising what you received. The temptation is to immediately update one thing you can see — swap the website logo, update Instagram. But doing this before you've organised your files creates a situation where you're hunting for the right file every time you update something.
Set up a proper folder structure (see logo file naming system) and put every file from the delivery into the correct location. Verify you have:
- Primary logo: SVG, EPS, AI, PDF, PNG — light and dark versions
- Stacked lockup: same formats, light and dark
- Icon-only: same formats, light and dark
- Documented colour codes: hex, RGB, CMYK for every brand colour
- Fonts: downloaded and installed on your computer
If anything is missing from this list, contact your designer before proceeding. It's easier to get missing files now than after you've already rolled out across half your touchpoints and discover you need the reversed version for a dark background.
Week 1: Highest-Visibility Digital Touchpoints
These are the things a potential client is most likely to see this week.
Website header — Day 1 priority. Update the logo in the site header. If you're on a website builder (Squarespace, Wix, Webflow), this is usually in brand settings. If you're on a custom-built site, this may require a developer. Don't leave this longer than 24 hours.
Website footer — Often overlooked. Check if your footer uses the logo and update it.
Favicon — The tiny icon in browser tabs. Update it in your website's favicon settings. You'll typically need a 32×32 or 64×64 PNG of the icon-only mark. If you weren't delivered a favicon, create one from the icon-only PNG you received.
Google Business Profile — Go to your Business Profile and update the logo image. This appears in search results and Google Maps. It should use the stacked or icon-only version in a square format.
Email signatures — Update every email account in use. For a team, set up a template and distribute it with instructions. Email signature logos should be the horizontal version at approximately 160–200px wide. Use the PNG file, hosted if possible, rather than an embedded attachment. See horizontal vs. stacked logo for guidance on which version to use where.
Email newsletters / marketing templates — If you use Mailchimp, Klaviyo, or any email platform, update the logo in the brand settings and in any existing templates.
Week 2: Social Media
Work through every social platform where your business has a presence.
Profile image — Every platform. Use the stacked version or icon-only (never the horizontal logo squeezed into a circle). Test by viewing the profile at actual displayed size before saving. At 200×200px, the wordmark should be readable.
Cover image / banner — LinkedIn banner, Facebook cover, Twitter header, YouTube channel art. These are wider formats — the horizontal version or a designed banner featuring the logo.
Bio / about sections — While you're in each profile updating the logo, update the bio language to match your current brand positioning.
Content pinned at the top of your profile — If you have pinned posts or featured content on LinkedIn, Instagram, or Facebook that still use old branding, unpin, archive, or update them.
Linktree or link-in-bio pages — If you use a link aggregator, update the logo there.
Work through platforms in order of how much traffic they send you. For most businesses: LinkedIn first, then Instagram, then Facebook, then X, then YouTube, then everything else.
Week 3: Documents and Print
Business cards — If you're ordering new ones, do it this week. Design them with the horizontal logo (on landscape cards) or stacked logo (on portrait cards) in the correct colour mode for print. See why your logo looks different when printed before submitting to print. If you still have old cards, use them until they run out or decide to discard them — don't throw away functioning cards unless the old logo is genuinely damaging.
Letterhead template — Update the company letterhead file. If you have a Google Docs template or Word template, update it and distribute it to the team.
Proposal template — Update every pitch, quote, or proposal template you use regularly.
Invoice template — This one is almost always forgotten. Your accounting software (Xero, QuickBooks, FreshBooks, Wave) has brand settings where you can upload a logo. Update it.
Any slide deck templates — Presentation templates on Google Slides, PowerPoint, or Keynote. Update the master slide so every new presentation you create has the correct logo.
Email footer in transactional emails — Order confirmations, booking confirmations, any automated email sent by your website or booking system. These often have logos in the footer that are set separately from marketing templates.
Week 4: Audit and Catch the Rest
Do a brand consistency audit using your touchpoint list. This is where you find everything you missed.
Specific things to check:
PDF documents you've shared publicly — Any guides, resources, or downloadable PDFs on your website with the old logo. Update them or replace them.
Old social media content — You don't need to update every old post. But check your profile's most-viewed or most-shared posts. If a high-performing piece uses the old logo prominently, consider updating the graphic.
Third-party directory listings — Clutch, Yelp, Trustpilot, industry directories, any listing where you appear with a logo. Search for your business name and update whatever you find.
Contractor materials — If any freelancers or contractors create materials on your behalf (a VA who does social media, a contractor who creates proposals), make sure they have the new logo files and the old files have been removed from any shared folders.
Partnership or affiliate materials — If any partners, affiliates, or co-marketing contacts have your logo for their website, send them updated files.
What Good Looks Like at Day 30
At the end of 30 days, the old logo should be effectively gone from anything a current or potential client will encounter. It may persist in:
- Old physical materials you haven't yet replaced (existing printed stock)
- Historical social media posts (no need to update these)
- Archived documents
Everywhere a live business decision is made — your website, your email, your active social profiles, your proposals, your invoices — the new logo should be consistent.
The reason this matters isn't aesthetics. Inconsistency signals disorganisation. A client who sees your new logo on your website, then receives a proposal with your old logo, then gets an invoice with a blurry JPEG version, is getting evidence that your brand management is chaotic. Which makes them wonder what else is chaotic.
One consistent logo, everywhere, from day one. That's the goal of the rollout.
New logo and need the complete file package to roll it out?
We deliver every format you need for a complete rollout — web, print, social, email — all organised and ready to use from day one.
Update your website header first — it's the highest-visibility touchpoint and the one most new contacts will see. Then your Google Business Profile (appears in search results), your email signature (every outgoing email carries it), and your primary social media profile images. Within the first week, any prospect researching your business should only encounter the new logo. Document templates, business cards, and secondary touchpoints can follow in the second and third weeks.
A systematic rollout covering all touchpoints takes about 30 days for a solo business or small team — done in manageable weekly blocks: digital touchpoints in week one, social media in week two, documents and print materials in week three, and a cleanup audit in week four. The work is not all design-intensive; much of it is admin: logging into platforms and uploading files. The 30-day frame assumes you're doing this alongside normal work, not as a full-time project.
No. Updating old posts is not necessary and not a good use of time. What matters is that your profile image, cover image, and active presence reflect the new logo. Old posts are historical record and do not need to be changed. The exception might be a pinned post or highly-featured content that gives a strong first impression — if your most-viewed post uses the old logo prominently as a key graphic element, consider updating or unpinning it. Otherwise, focus on live touchpoints.
Go to your Google Business Profile manager (business.google.com or through Search), find the Profile section, and look for the logo or profile photo option. Upload the new logo — use a square version (stacked or icon-only, not a horizontal logo squashed into a square). The image should be at least 720×720 pixels and the logo should have some padding around it rather than filling the entire image to the edge. After uploading, check how it appears in a Google search for your business name to confirm it looks correct.
Use the horizontal (landscape) version of your logo in email signatures. Most email signatures are 600px wide, and a horizontal logo at 160–200px wide sits proportionally in the layout. Use the PNG file format for email — not SVG (not supported in all email clients) and not AI or EPS. Host the image file if possible rather than embedding it as an attachment, which can be flagged by spam filters or blocked by corporate email settings. Use the light version (dark logo) for standard white email backgrounds.
Only if the old logo is actively creating a poor impression or causing confusion. If the old cards are still functional and professional, use them until they're gone rather than discarding usable materials. When ordering new cards, order enough to last 12–18 months — over-ordering cards is a common waste. If the difference between old and new logo is significant and you're in a situation where brand professionalism matters greatly (sales meetings, events), replace them. For everyday use where the card is primarily conveying contact information, the functional cost of old cards is low.
Quick Answers
Your website header. It's the highest-traffic touchpoint and the one a prospective client is most likely to check when evaluating you. Update it the same day you receive the approved files. Everything else can follow in a systematic rollout — but the website should have the new logo within 24 hours of approval.
It should be in your logo file package under the Primary/Light folder (or whichever variant you're using for the header). The file extension is .svg. If you don't have an SVG, you need to contact your designer and request one, or have your logo professionally converted to vector format. A PNG cannot be used as a true SVG — it must be a proper vector SVG file. If you have an AI or EPS file but no SVG, a designer can export SVG from either of those.
In Xero: go to Settings → Invoice Settings (or Organisation Settings depending on version), and upload your logo under the branding theme. Use a PNG file with a transparent background, ideally 300–400px wide. In QuickBooks: go to the Gear icon → Account and Settings → Sales, then upload under the Customise look and feel section. Both platforms accept PNG. Use the horizontal version of your logo, and make sure it's on a transparent background so it sits cleanly on the invoice.
Not directly — Google doesn't have a 'notify us of logo change' button. But you should update your Google Business Profile logo immediately. You should also update the logo property in your website's schema.org Organisation structured data, and submit an updated sitemap in Google Search Console. Google will recrawl and update its understanding of your brand identity over time. Knowledge Panel updates can be suggested through the 'Suggest an edit' function if you have a Knowledge Panel.
These previews use the Open Graph image specified in your website's meta tags. Update the og:image meta tag on your homepage and key pages to reference the new logo or new brand image. Then, on WhatsApp, you can use their link preview debugger (web.whatsapp.com/link-preview-debugger if available) or simply wait — previews update as the cache expires, usually within a few days to a couple of weeks. For Facebook link previews, use the Facebook Sharing Debugger to force a cache refresh.