It’s good to refresh your company pages now and again, but sometimes, your brand can still feel slightly stale. If it’s been several years since you last took a look at your branding, it might be time to shake things up a bit.
Rebranding your company is an enormous undertaking, but one that can propel your brand to new heights when done right. Read on for our guide on how to rebrand your company successfully.
Why Rebrand?
When you consider rebranding your company, it’s important to determine why you want to do this. Some reasons that you may be considering a complete rebrand include:
- Market expansion – you are expanding your reach into new markets and want to update your branding to reflect this and appeal to new audiences.
- New acquisitions – your company is merging with another and is updating branding to reflect this recent acquisition.
- New ethos – your company has updated its ethos and philosophy, and you want to reevaluate your brand to reflect this shift.
Alternatively, there are also several good reasons not to rebrand. Some people may be tempted to rebrand due to:
- Boredom – many people within the company might get tired of seeing the same logo and slogan every day, but this isn’t a good reason to change. While it may seem boring to you, your customers may see it in a vastly different light, so be sure to get their opinions before changing anything.
- Low sales – if you’re struggling with a slump in sales, a complete rebrand won’t generate more.
- Crisis management – a new brand will not deflect from the company’s problems and is just a band-aid that will not improve the situation.
None of these are good enough reasons to engineer a total rebrand for your company. Focus on different areas before you even begin to consider rebranding, and don’t make any hasty decisions!
How To Rebrand
If you decide rebranding is a good idea, this is where real work begins.
There are various rebranding approaches, including deciding whether a whole or a partial rebrand is the best for your company.
You could decide on a complete brand overhaul. Not only will your brand look different, but your values, target market, and even products may be completely different from what you offer currently. A partial rebrand is just a refresher – you may update your logo and ads, but your ethos remains the same.
Once you have established whether you’re opting for a total vs partial rebrand, you can get to work on your vision. Consider your:
- Audience and market – check the data on your customers – are they who you think they are, or is there a surprising demographic in there? Either way, make sure you know exactly who your audience is and what they want from your company.
- Mission and values – ask yourself what your company is doing, why it’s doing it and how, then compare your answers with your vision for the company – do the two align? Update your missions and values in line with your current vision and watch how it influences your brand voice and marketing approach.
- Slogan – your slogan tells the world what your company does. If you’re changing that in your rebrand, update it to ensure your consumers have a clear idea of what your company now offers.
- Logo – this is one of the cornerstones of a rebrand. A chic new logo can boost your brand visibility and position your company as one that moves with the times and looks to the future. Just make sure that your customers know that it’s still you!
- Company name – your brand name is the most instantly recognisable thing about your company. If you’re changing your company name, you run the risk of losing all of your organic traffic, and your current customers may struggle to recognise you. If your company name is changing, ensure that you have a plan to recover your customers in place.
Although you may want to wipe the slate clean with a complete rebrand, think carefully before choosing this route. Consistent branding helps to foster trust between businesses and consumers, and a complete overhaul of your brand may break some of this trust.
Remember the old adage: if it isn’t broken, don’t try and fix it. Review what is working smoothly within your brand – maybe your advertising is on the money, or your slogan is ideal. Don’t feel that you have to change everything during a rebrand – you may end up destroying branding that already works as it should.
Launching Your Rebrand
Knowing how to rebrand your company is one thing, but executing and launching your rebrand successfully is another thing entirely. Make sure you plan out how you will launch your rebrand and ensure you cover all your bases, including social media, PR and advertising. Utilise your channels to announce you have changed your branding and alert your consumers to any new products or services that you might be offering.
Keep your audience updated with your rebrand via social media and emails. Showing them why you are updating your company look and including them in the process will make your audience feel almost like part of your company, and they will warm to your brand’s honesty and communication.
Creating a story about your rebrand is a great way to tell your consumers why you have chosen to hit the refresh button. Mailchimp tells an excellent story about their creative choices for their new branding, so consider weaving a similar tale for your audience.
You may also consider making your brand launch into a big event. Create a sense of excitement on your social media channels by counting down the days until the big reveal, or send out emails hinting that something new will be happening soon. The air of mystery will engage consumers and make them keep an eye on your brand until launch day.
Conclusion
Rebranding is no easy feat for your business – it takes careful planning, collaboration and time to execute. However, these changes can be worth it, as you can begin to reach new audiences and engage with new target markets with a chic new look.
But remember, be wary of changing aspects of your branding that already work, as it can be much harder to create new ideals than simply adapting ones that you have in place.
