- Successful rebranding requires careful assessment of your current brand position and a vision for where to go.
- Always take your current customers’ and staff’s insights into account.
- Make sure that your brand’s visual presence matches the values, goals, and target audience for your rebranding.
Times change and your business changes with them. Sometimes, this means that you need to give your company a makeover. A rebranding can be an excellent way to refine or expand your target market, update your values and vision for the 21st century, or recover from a damaged reputation.
However, it’s usually not possible to build a brand from scratch. Rebranding entails a particular process that, if done well, will make your business bigger and better than ever. Here are the main aspects to keep in mind to make your rebranding a success.
Have a clear vision of your new brand
Rather than a refresh, in which visual elements of a brand are improved, a rebranding involves a fundamental shift in how the business presents itself. To successfully execute a rebranding, you must fully understand your reasons for doing so.
Are you looking to reach a new target market? Do you have a new set of company values? Have you outgrown your current brand? Set clear guidance and goals for your rebranding efforts before you get started.
Have a thorough understanding of your target audience
Even if you’re not rebranding because of changes in your target market, you need to know their thoughts about your current brand. Remember, your brand is what other people say about your business.
Take time to do market research and assess your customers’ attitudes toward your company. Are your offerings still aligned with their needs? Is there a gap between what you promise and what they expect? Answers to these questions should inform your rebranding strategy.
Assess your Unique Selling Propositions
One of the primary reasons for rebranding is to set your company apart in an oversaturated market. As your business has grown, you’ve likely naturally refined your niches and developed your distinctive brand presence.
A rebranding effort can leverage these changes for the better, allowing you to better target well-defined personas and market your Unique Selling Propositions (USPs). Assess your USPs and incorporate them into your rebranding strategy, which may include removing some services or products and expanding your most popular options.
Have a comprehensive design strategy
Humans are visual creatures, which means that the look and feel of your brand needs to reflect your brand identity. Few things can derail a branding / rebranding effort more quickly than a visual presence that doesn’t match the messaging or values.
Also, your visual branding needs to be consistent across the physical and digital realms, basically at any customer touch point. If it isn’t, you risk losing valuable trust among your audience, especially during a rebranding. That’s why it’s important to thoroughly plan your visual rebranding along with everything else.
Get your team involved and invested
A rebranding is a large-scale change, and all levels of your organization need to be engaged and on-board. Rebranding efforts that don’t have feedback and investment from your team (who are your primary ambassadors}, are likely to struggle if not fail.
You should also consider bringing in your team’s feedback to better refine your new brand identity. What values do they express? What do they consider to be unique and marketable about your business?
Have a strong PR strategy
As the saying goes, if a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to see it, does it even make a sound? Don’t assume that your rebranding effort will automatically be seen and understood by your target audience. In fact, failing to communicate your new vision, values, and look-and-feel might confuse consumers.
The key is to make sure they know it’s still the company they trust, but with a better ability to serve their needs. Map out a public relations and marketing strategy to make your new presence known, and be prepared to answer questions and receive feedback about it.
Wrapping up
Rebranding is not to be taken lightly. It entails an overhaul of your company’s positioning, marketing, and core values. To successfully integrate all the parts of your new brand identity, you must fully understand where you stand.
Then, make a thorough plan of action to cover each aspect of the rebranding. With careful planning and preparation, you can use your rebranding effort to better serve your niche audience and stand out in your industry.