Rebranding your company may sound intimidating, but it is nothing to be afraid of. Most of the major brands and industry leaders have overhauled their image at one point or another—from McDonald’s to Instagram to the Huffington Post.
Rebranding can happen for a number of reasons. Maybe the company needs to re-establish its place in the market, or reflect a major new acquisition. Maybe there’s new technology to show off, or new industry trends to follow. Maybe the old brand has received criticism for previous mistakes, and needs to cool off for a while.
The fact is that times change, style changes, and consumer expectations change. If your company has been around long enough, chances are it will need to evolve and adapt to the latest trends if it is going to be successful.
Undergoing a rebranding can be a time-intensive process depending on your company size, marketing assets and the resources available for the process. If it’s time for your brand get a makeover, here are five important steps you don’t want to miss.
1. Think Carefully About Why You’re Rebranding
What do you hope to gain? What are the risks of walking away from an established brand? Do you have other options that might be easier? Rebranding takes time and money to do well—and should not be entered into lightly. Make sure you do thorough research before initiating a rebranding, including internal research.
2. Get Buy-In From The Top
The CEO and executive leadership of your company should be directly involved from the beginning, and should ideally be leading the initiative and providing a strong vision for the project. They’re going to be involved at some point: it’s better for that to be sooner rather than later.
3. Talk With Customers and Stakeholders
Talk to customers—yours, and other people’s—as well as industry partners to work out your brand strategy. Ask about how people perceive your organization’s strengths and weaknesses. Find out what frustrates them, what they need, and what obstacles stop them from working with you. Such information will help you position strategy and messaging that will help you thrive in your market.
4. Overcommunicate
Hammer home the new brand strategy. Share it in ways that prompt people to directly experience it. Continually lay it out through regular workplace communication and training. Make it part of engagement activities. Make sure the message gets through.
5. Find The Right Partner
If you’re thinking about rebranding, you’ll need a partner who understands that brand strategy is a business strategy, and can show deep experience melding the two goals. Remember: you’ll need to make sure your business pursuits are aligned with your brand. Rebranding only to fall short of your new promises is worse than not rebranding at all. If you want to make sure you are hitting all your goals, you should look for a digital marketing agency that can not only help you change your brand image but your online presence and processes as well. Approaching the project from this holistic perspective will help ensure your rebranding is a triumphant success.
Stay tuned for Part Two: 5 Mistakes to Avoid When Rebranding Your Company
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