Your cute little kid grows into a teen and pretty much everything goes downhill. He shoots up four inches overnight, so now his pants are way too short. He’s running around and having fun and probably eating too much junk food when you’re not looking—does he even own a shirt that doesn’t have a stain or a rip? That growth spurt means he’s hungry all the time but still skinny as a rail, so he could use a belt while you’re shopping for longer pants and clean shirts. While you’re at it, pick up some socks and underwear.

Don’t forget to schedule a haircut.

And for the love of all that’s good, buy him some acne medicine.

As any parent knows, going from cute to shaggy can happen overnight. You look away for one minute and when you glance back, the kid’s a hot mess.

Brand? Same. Here are a few things you can look out for in your brand’s awkward growth years to ensure it’ll still have a date to the dance.

Watch your language.
We see brands slide into sloppy language fairly often. True, you’ve used the same spiel about your brand’s vision and values over and over and over. It’s tempting to skip it or assume people already know. Not so. You have to articulate the 101 content with regularity. After all, that new girl probably doesn’t know your name.

Even worse is the new staffer who thought she’d get a little creative with messaging, so now you’ve got a social media channel that’s giving you a tone of voice that isn’t really a fit and you’re not attracting the dates you’d like to take to homecoming.

Revamp the wardrobe.
Like the teen who outgrew his pants, it’s going to be time for a new set of clothes fairly regularly. Has the cover model on your brochure gone from eating Cheerios before nap time to enrolling in driver’s ed? You can be sure some content is old or outdated in that span of years. Time to plan for new materials.

I’m not saying you need to reinvent your wardrobe by hopping from button-down conservative to goth tees and leather jackets. Not necessary. Just find yourself a new blue checkered button down that’s not frayed around the collar, ’K? Maybe try a slim cut.

Get better tech.
Well, first of all, if your brand was our mythical teenage boy, your tech would have been broken, lost or stolen a handful of times by now. A moment of silence for dead tech and three cheers for device insurance.

In brand-land, it’s pretty feasible that your tech is looking as wonky as that teen’s cracked screen. It’s a rare company indeed that hasn’t shoehorned an awkward page into their navigation, doesn’t have a few broken links to nowhere, or a news feed that looks abandoned and sad.

Easy. Intentional language, a hot wardrobe and cool tech. It’s not so hard to be this guy.