Deciding whether you want to rebrand your business is one of the most important decisions you need to make as an entrepreneur. That's because branding is what resonates your business with your target market.
Plus, you should consider your existing market. How will you inform them of your business's impending change?
When done correctly, rebranding can help you attract the right market for your business. On the other hand, it can be a waste of effort and hard work.
To guide you through successful rebranding for your business, here are seven essential steps you need to take:
Establish the purpose
Before jumping right in towards a rebrand, make sure that you have a clear purpose.
What would you like to achieve after rebranding your business? What are the changes you want to see?
You might want to draw in a different set of target audiences with your products and services. Or maybe you might want to create an entirely new image for your company that will set you apart from the competition.
Having a clear and well-defined purpose of the rebrand is the most important thing, according to Voy Media, a marketing agency based in New York City. That way, you can efficiently structure rebrands and stay on track to achieve your tremendous success.
Conduct a competitive analysis
Good branding is all about knowing how you'll be able to present yourself to your target audience.
That's why you need to analyze the competition. Check your competitor's logo, web design elements, taglines, their choice of color, and more. This information can be handy, as you'll get to identify what similarities you and your competitors have.
Let's say everyone else uses the color blue on their logo. Consider using a different color for your business logo to make a statement.
As Stephen Anderson says, zag when everyone zigs.
Do a brand audit
Doing a brand audit lets you gain more information about your company’s resources and help you figure out what you need to work on. This will let you devise a better strategy.
Before you completely start your rebranding efforts, you need to know what works and what the dysfunctional elements are, how you can grow, and so much more.
You need to evaluate your business's current state and how you can make necessary adjustments with this strategy.
Just like competitive analysis, brand analysis allows you to dig deep. All the insights that you've gathered in this stage will influence the direction of your entire branding strategy.
With a proper audit, you can quickly identify which areas you need to prioritize with your strategy.
Rebuild your brand identity
This is a part of your rebranding efforts where you need to come up with visual elements that will help you communicate your brand.
This includes your brand name, brand colors, taglines, and more. These parameters ensure that your business is showcased constantly across your marketing channels. It’s an opportunity for you to instill updated designs to your marketing collaterals.
Many people often confuse these elements with your brand. Always remember that your brand is your reputation and visibility, not your brand colors or logo, while your brand identity serves as some visual shorthand for your brand.
Create brand guidelines
There will be team members who will be resistant to change. There will be some who will get lost in their tracks and become clueless of how to create a design that agrees with your brand identity. You can't just choose to rebrand and leave your team to their own devices.
It helps to empower your team by presenting a clear messaging, your visual identity, and the core of your brand- in clear guidelines.
To make things easy, come up with comprehensive yet easy-to-understand directions. You might also want to provide them with real-life examples of checklists. A brand guideline typically contains the following.
- Logos and logo variations
- Core color palette with color codes
- Brand fonts
- Voice
Make these guidelines easily accessible and available to every member of your team that might need them. Also, you can designate a person who can answer questions about how you can apply them.
From the get-go, be transparent with your team on what you want to achieve and what a successful outcome will look like.
Launch your rebrand
Finally, it's time to launch your rebrand. As much as you can, make the launch quick and decisive. Don't try to make gradual changes as it will only confuse your customers. These should be implemented within a couple of days.
You can also use it as a means of generating more publicity and engaging your target audience. Let's say that you have a mailing list.
You can send a couple of teaser emails that lead to the launch, hinting at all the possible changes that will happen. Some people will not be receptive to change. Hence, it would be best to let your existing customers know why you are rebranding.
They'll be more inclined to trust you if you're transparent with them in the long run. Emphasize why rebranding is needed and the benefits they can get from it.
Consider potential backlash
Of course, we couldn't entirely discount the possibility of receiving some backlash. So when rebranding, think of ways not to alienate your core market.
Know what your existing customers love about your brand. From there, ensure that these core elements still exist with your rebranding efforts.
You can also try doing a soft launch instead of revealing brand changes at a much smaller scale and notice how your audience responds.
This allows you to figure out what you need to do next or what type of changes you need to make.
It is undeniable that rebranding is a massive undertaking for your business. However, consider this as starting a new and exciting phase for your venture. If done right, you can re-engage your previous customers while attracting a new audience.
Read more articles on design and inspiration:
Written by DesignCrowd on Monday, April 19, 2021
DesignCrowd is an online marketplace providing logo, website, print and graphic design services by providing access to freelance graphic designers and design studios around the world.
