The world is moving at an incredible pace, with businesses evolving their strategies more often in an effort to stay relevant. We see this across small businesses and big brands, as they change aspects of their brand voice and identity. Examples of such changes include the logo, a slogan, font choice or the brand color. Whether it’s a subtle brand refresh, partial rebrand, or or complete overhaul, the fact remains that rebranding is essential for businesses to stay relevant with consumers and ahead of the competition.
A rebrand involves but is not limited to changing your logo or updating the slogan for your service. It is a deliberate and strategic effort to improve brand identity through what you see and what you say. The goal is to transform the brand image and perception to stay top-of-mind with your current and prospective customers.
Since rebranding is crucial to business growth and success, brand owners and managers must look for ways to ensure success when rebranding. This article discusses an important consideration; when to rebrand your company and the products you produce. Our aim is to help you understand the entire rebranding process and the key elements necessary for a successful rebrand.
Let’s start with a quick look at what rebranding is.
What Does Rebranding Mean?
Rebranding is an intricate process where you decide to change a portion of the overall image of your brand through visual appeal, brand repositioning, and finding white space in the market. Therefore, updating aspects such as you logo, slogan, or claims are all pieces you arrange to form the rebranding puzzle. As we continue this article, we will identify the many parts that make up rebranding. The ultimate goal of your rebrand process is to transform your company and give it a new identity that aligns with its current values and goals.
Rebranding is a delicate and expensive process but can also be gratifying. You can transform your brand identity and attract new customers with the right strategy.
Let’s look at some reasons why companies rebrand.
Reasons For Rebranding
Every brand wants to become an authority or the marketplace’s category leader. You undoubtedly did not create a brand to be the second-best option. Therefore, brands across all niche’s strive to become the most sought-after product with the target market. This means you are competing with an ever evolving list of companies fighting for a specific audience’s attention.
With your current and target customers’ many choices, you must keep your brand’s perception fresh, ensuring consumers are emotionally engaged. For stagnant brands, one of the ways of achieving freshness and engagement is rebranding.
Let’s look at specific reasons for a rebrand.
Staying Ahead Of Competitors
No matter the industry you operate in, one thing is certain: other companies offer similar products and services as you. Therefore, you must find a way to showcase your products and services based on a solid rebrand strategy that positions you as a leader in a narrower market. Brands who continue to redefine their identities and create an ambiance of freshness around their company to engage the public tend to stay ahead of competitors.
Showcasing Company Changes
A rebrand is a perfect way of letting people know about developments in your company. Rebranding gives potential customers a clear perspective on your new products, services, and company initiatives. A successful rebranding strategy creates alignment between existing products when you are expanding into new markets.
Repairing A Bad Brand Reputation
Brand reputation is how the public currently perceives your existing brand and products. A host of factors, such as product quality, marketing, social responsibility, and online presence, all work to influence your brand’s reputation. Although your brand will not satisfy everyone, reputation management is essential to maintain a positive impression with the public. In the case where a brand ruins its reputation through issues like faulty packaging, a well thought out rebranding strategy helps regain lost customers solidify your relationship with your existing clients.
Improving Brand Recognition
Imagine trying to spot a friend at a Los Angeles Lakers basketball game, and the person says, “I’m the one in the jersey.” It would be an arduous task to quickly find your friend.
In this era of heavy category saturation, brands must create sustainable (not to be confused with eco-friendly initiatives) identities help the public easily differentiate them from competitors. Whether it is by adding a catchy theme song or even adding a cartoon character mascot to appeal to younger audiences, spotting you in the crowd is a lever that differentiates you from the rest.
The Process Of Rebranding
Before we reveal the perfect time to rebrand your company and its products, we must examine the entire rebranding process. A rebrand is a tedious and delicate strategy; knowing the right time to implement it without understanding the steps to take can lead to a disaster. Let’s look at the step-by-step rebranding process to eschew this possibility from your brand.
Understand The “Why”
Getting a clear picture of why you want to rebrand your company and products is the first step to rebranding. Asking yourself the question, “Why am I rebranding?” is crucial. In this phase, you must dig deep and examine what area of your business you want to transform.
- Do you want to improve brand awareness?
- Are you trying to enter a new market?
- Do you want more website visitors?
Once you have identified the “why,” you can learn the “how.”
The “How” is the method through which you will achieve the goals you have identified. Now that you know the reasons for rebranding, you can effectively create a brand strategy to enhance brand recognition in the market.
Read More: 24 Critical Rebranding Questions You Must Ask.
Audit Your Current Branding
For your rebrand to completely transform the course of your business, you need to assess your current state. As the saying goes, “Understanding your current position is the compass that guides you to your destination.” Therefore, having a clear picture of your current brand identity, what is working and what is not, brings necessary improvements to the surface. After assessing their existing branding, some companies realize they must change their brand name. BackRub changed its name to Google in 1997 to symbolize how much information the search engine can organize.
Read More: The Worst Rebranding Failures From The Biggest Names.
Create A New Brand Identity
Brand identity is the peculiar characteristics that define your company. These critical brand elements reflect how the public sees you. A strong brand identity helps to improve brand recognition, giving your company a competitive advantage in the marketplace. Specific details make up a brand identity, further establishing a successful rebrand strategy.
The following are elements of creating a formidable brand identity for your company:
- Brand Name: This is the most crucial part of your brand identity. Your brand name is an association people will always make about your company. Unless you choose a basic naming strategy such as “plant based proteins” it’s what differentiates you from other brands within your niche. Therefore, in creating a strong brand identity, you need to choose a brand name that reflects your current values and resonates with your loyal customers and target audience.
- Logo: Your logo goes hand in hand with your brand name. It is the visual representation of your brand that helps the public recognize you. Anywhere you see a swoosh, automatically, your brain registers it as Nike. Therefore, your goal in building a new band identity is to create a logo with a unique story behind it that is easy to remember.
- Visual Identity: Every sports team has unique colors, font styles, and imagery. In the same vein, strong brands have colors that help them to communicate across the website and in their marketing materials. Your visual identity as a company includes brand color and typography. These parts help with brand image and consistency on any marketing platform.
- Brand voice and tone: As a brand owner, you must understand that your company has a voice that communicates its personality to the public. The brand tone is how you talk and communicate with your audience on every platform. Your tone must align with your current values and objectives as a brand.
Read More: The Ultimate Rebranding Checklist And Success Roadmap.
Implement Your Rebranding Strategy
The next phase is the actual implementation of your new branding strategy. You now know why you are rebranding, your current state, and the steps in creating a new identity; it is time for the rebranding campaign to take place. Based on the information you have gathered about your brand from the previous steps, you begin to update all your assets and push forward with a rebrand rollout plan. This includes rebranding your website, outdoor advertising, radio jingles, TV promos, social media profiles, in-store store displays, and any other aspect of your brand.
Your implementation strategy should include a rebrand presentation deck and communication strategy to ensure the effort receives the maximum amount of attention.
Measure Your Results
Remember we said rebranding is a tedious process? Well, that is because it is an ongoing task that requires many updates based on the results. To ensure that your rebrand strategy is successful, you must constantly monitor its impact on your company and the public. Market share, customer engagement across platforms, brand recognition, and revenue are key performance indicators in measuring your results.
When To Rebrand
So far in this article, we have examined what rebranding is, why brands implement the strategy, and the step-by-step process for a successful rebrand.
We have all been waiting for this moment; let’s look at when to rebrand your company and its products.
There is no unified time for all companies to rebrand, nor is there a particular time of the year designated for rebranding. It is a “light-bulb” moment you must come to as a business owner on your own.
Here are five instances to know when to rebrand your company and its products
When Your Brand Is Outdated
Does your current brand state meet the changes of the present world? Is your brand at par with the recent trends worldwide and in your industry? These questions are essential in understanding whether or not your brand is outdated. If your answer to these questions is NO, then it is time to rebrand your company and its products. Your brand should resonate with modernity and contemporary trends because consumer preference never stays the same.
When Market Share Is Decreasing
If you used to be part of the top brands in your industry and, over time, customer engagement drops, then you should start thinking about a rebrand. A diminishing market share indicates that your brand is slowly losing relevance. Take a look at your competitors. Are they expanding while it looks like you are stagnant? You must reassess your branding strategy as soon as you notice this trend in the market.
When Expanding Into New Markets
As you evolve in your business and conquer your industry, new opportunities begin to come your way. Therefore, the branding strategy used in advancing in your previous industry may not be suitable in this new market you are expanding into. So, you should create a rebranding strategy that appeals to this new market to dominate it.
When The The Target Audience Changes
Nothing stays the same anymore in business; what used to prove successful years ago most likely yields less results. This is because consumer preference changes with time. Your target audience might have outgrown the branding techniques used to engage them. This swiftness in your target audience can be seen through reduced customer engagement or a decrease in social media following. Once you notice a change in your target audience, you must revisit your branding strategy.
When You Have Poor Brand Perception
In branding, shaping the public perception of your brand can be extremely difficult. It takes one wrong turn to severe relationships, even with your loyal customers. One bad review or an insensitive comment could ruin people’s perception of your brand. At the same time, no brand is perfect, and mistakes happen. However, you should consider rebranding when you notice that people see and judge you based on that mistake. A rebrand strategy can help repair your image and foster trust with your audience.
Data-Driven Brand Development That Can Guarantee Sales Performance.
If you need a new name or rename with performance predictability, we can help. SmashBrand is a brand development agency that researches, designs, and tests all brand assets to ensure peak shelf performance. Book a time to learn more about how we can help you find the right name and to discuss your project with our team.
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