Branding is very important to companies big and small. It defines who they are and depicts a literal image and message to not just their customers, but all consumers. Your brand can influence your business reputation, your target audience’s decisions, and even the internal path your business takes. As characterizing as they are, brands aren’t always permanent. Businesses big and small may make changes to their brand over time, or in some cases, rebrand entirely. In this post we’ll go over some of the reasoning behind rebranding, as well as provide six tips on how to facilitate a successful rebrand for your business.
Why Rebrand?
At some point in a company’s history there may come a time to switch things up. Rebranding can be done for many different reasons. For example:
- To differentiate your brand from your competitors
- To separate from similar brands that consumers may confuse with yours
- To re-engage your current customers
- To appeal out to new customers with a fresh new look or message
Rebranding isn’t always a reactive strategy. In fact, many successful companies will rebrand proactively, even if their current brand is doing well. For example, Walmart once changed their slogan and logo and it had a tremendous effect on driving more business. Improving on your brand and keeping your customers updated is a great way to show that you care about them and about the image of your business.
Successful Rebranding Tips
Rebranding has many benefits, but it is not easy to do and can have some major downfalls if not done correctly. Here are some tips to help you ensure that your rebrand goes smoothly and that you see the major benefits down the road.
1. Establish the Purpose of the Rebrand
Before going right into a rebrand, first make sure you are clear on the purpose. What do you want to accomplish with this new brand and what changes do you want to see? It may be drawing a different crowd to your products/services, or creating a new image for your company that sets you apart from your competitors. Make sure you have a specific and defined purpose so that you can put structure around your rebrand and stay on track with success.
2. Have a New Brand Vision
You may think that it’s best to start your rebrand with a vision, but without a defined purpose, your rebrand may not go as successfully as you’d like. Once you have a purpose and goals in place, you can then start shaping your vision accordingly. Your vision is more like the visual representation of your rebrand and the feeling you hope to inspire with it.
3. Make Your Rebrand Known
When you finally go public with your rebrand, make sure everyone knows about it! You had a vision and set goals, and you achieved them. This reflects wonderfully on your business reputation. Also, letting your current customers and target audience know will help them to feel more connected, and to recognize that you care enough to keep them in the loop.
To make your rebrand known, put together an event, go to the media, or advertise your changes. If you don’t spread awareness of your changes, many people may not even notice all of your hard work!.
4. Stay Consistent
Even though you are changing a lot of elements of your brand, there are still many elements that you should preserve—in particular, your tone and language. People will enjoy fresh new colors and graphics, but will not enjoy feeling like they no longer know you as a company. You may even want to preserve some of your design elements to help your audience with the transition. Brand consistency is important, so don’t overlook it even when rebranding.
5. Experiment and Be Creative
Creativity can go a long way in today’s world. Each day we are exposed to thousands of advertisements, some of which you may not even notice. Rebranding is an opportunity to start with a blank slate and try out new marketing and communication strategies. You can compare metrics before and after the rebrand, or start fresh new experiments with new channels. Make your new brand stand out over the others by doing things no one else is doing. Try out some clever ad copy, build a stand-out social media profile, come up with a custom hashtag, or start incorporating more behind the scenes content into your posts.
6. Notify Your Vendors
Think about the vendors you use to market and run your business. Make sure you notify them with your new name and any other new information so they can update your account, and to avoid any confusion or billing errors. Other businesses will appreciate your attention to detail and your consideration of their side of things. Even better, if your vendors are also local businesses, you will be helping to strengthen the community and its connections.
Rebranding can be key to changing the direction of your company moving forward and helping you to accomplish the new company goals you set. Have a clear vision and purpose in mind for your rebrand and follow that path with confidence. Rebranding is not an easy task to complete and could hurt your company more than it helps it. Keep these 6 tips in mind when executing your own rebrand to assist with your company’s new transition.
