Starting a business is difficult enough without having to worry about branding. It’s hard to flip through fonts when you’re still trying to figure out who your customers are (and where to find them).
Moreover, even if your brand identity was a priority at the beginning, changes in business plans may have made your initial branding plan obsolete. Whether you started (and ended) with a napkin sketch or whiteboarded your way through the entire branding process, somewhere along the way things stopped working.
Regardless of how you got here, you’re not happy. Most major brands have successfully rebranded in the past, from Dunkin’ Donuts to Uber. Keep reading to learn how to rebrand a company.
What is Rebranding?
A rebranding involves rethinking your marketing strategy to develop a new, differentiated identity in the minds of customers and other stakeholders by changing your name, logo, and design.
Having established what rebranding is, let’s look at the reasons you might want to do it.
There are good (and bad) reasons to rebrand
Risks and complications accompany rebranding.
Uber proves that even big brands aren’t immune. 44% of people were unsure of Uber’s logo after it was redesigned.
In the end, knowing the risks of rebranding can help you determine if you’re doing it for the right reasons.
You might want to consider rebranding your business if sales aren’t increasing or brand awareness efforts aren’t working — identifying the underlying cause of these issues can potentially be solved by creating a new marketing strategy or conducting market research.
If your brand no longer reflects your company’s vision, mission, values, and market, then you might consider rebranding.
Among the other reasons you might consider a rebrand are:
New locations
Your brand might need to be refreshed if you’re expanding internationally to markets that won’t recognize your logo, messaging, etc.
Market repositioning
Your brand should adapt if you reposition your business to target a completely new customer profile — whether through product, place, price, or promotion.
New philosophy
Your brand decisions should be guided by your business’s mission, vision, and values. Your brand needs to be re-evaluated if your MVV are shifting and pivoting along with them.
Mergers and acquisitions
When two companies merge, two brands merge as well. It’s not enough to let your company’s brands fight it out if it was acquired or merged with another. It will be easier to build trust and prevent confusion if a new brand is created that reflects the new entity.
There are also a few reasons to avoid rebranding:
Boredom
There are too many times when people consider rebranding because they are tired of seeing the same logo and slogan every day. Consider that your customers (who see your brand less often) may love that color you’ve come to dislike.
Covering up a crisis
The answer to persistent internal issues or bad press isn’t a rebrand. Consumers and employees can see right through your rebrand and recognize it for what it is – a cover-up.
Impact and ego
A rebrand might seem like the best way to make your mark as a new manager. Most new managers are not implementing the institutional changes that justify a rebrand. New leadership that insists on a rebrand often does so more for themselves than for the organization.
Looking for attention
If sales have been stagnant, or brand awareness efforts haven’t picked up, jumping into a rebrand is the wrong move. The best you can hope for is to generate some short-term buzz, without the sales and marketing strategies to sustain it. In the worst case scenario, you will lose whatever brand recognition you once had and your sales and marketing efforts will suffer.
To determine whether a rebrand is still the right move for your business, read on to learn how to formulate a rebranding strategy.
Identifying whether your brand requires a partial or total rebrand will help you successfully implement a rebranding strategy. Research your brand’s target market to determine what demographic you are hoping to attract with a rebrand. Use these new definitions as guideposts for your strategy as you redefine your company’s vision, mission, and values.
1. Make a change to your logo.
Changing your logo is one of the main strategies of rebranding. A new logo will let your customers know that your brand is different. Using different colors, making it sleeker, etc. Changing your logo is primarily done to match the new brand identity you’re promoting with your rebrand.
2. Reposition your brand.
In addition to changing your logo, it’s important to change your brand positioning as well. Changing your colors and logo isn’t enough. Whether it’s your mission, values, or vision, your marketing content must communicate a certain message. Your customers will know what your new mission, values, or vision is when you shift your brand positioning.
3. Create new ads.
It’s time to develop new advertisements and content based on your logo and messaging. Advertisements should clearly communicate your brand’s changes and what they mean to customers. You can reach a wider audience and attract a new demographic this way.
4. Change your brand’s voice.
The final step in rebranding is to change the brand’s voice. Your brand’s voice is the perspective from which you write all your marketing content. Depending on your voice, you can be formal, casual, witty, etc. When you’re rebranding, it makes sense to change your brand’s voice and announce your rebrand in your new tone.
In our next article, we’ll look at how to use these strategies to effectively rebrand your business.
Looking to rebrand, but don’t know where to start?
Our team of experts can ensure that you get the most from your business, if a rebrand is on your mind don’t hesitate to get in contact with our expert team. We will manage the rebrand alongside you, constantly communicating what your vision for the future of your organization is – with our help we can revolutionize the way your business is projected to the world. Get in contact with our team and see what more we can do for you.