Question: if you were starting your business today, would you keep your brand exactly as it is right now?
If the answer is “no”, that’s a sure sign that you need to rebrand. Your brand covers everything about your business, from your name and logo to the copy that appears on your website and social media platforms.
As a crucial element of your marketing, which not only communicates the benefits of choosing your products and services but also represents your values and principles, it’s important to keep your branding up to date.
There are many signs that it might be time to rebrand, ranging from a change in the way your business is run to finding that your marketing materials are stale and outdated. You might want to reconnect with old customers or simply differentiate yourself from new competitors.
Then again, there might be a whole other reason to rebrand that you haven’t thought of yet. That’s why we’ve collected the following ways in which rebranding can turn your business’ fortunes around in different situations, giving you something to think about as you set out to rejuvenate your brand.
1. Introducing a New Service or Product
If you’re launching a new service or product, you have an ideal springboard for your rebranding activities. Your customers are always going to be interested in the newest thing, so you need to let them know about it.
Make the most of the audience research you’ve put into introducing this new aspect of your business and channel it into your rebranding exercise. This will assure your audience that you are at the vanguard of your industry.
2. Popular, but Only for One Thing
Conversely, you may have a popular product or service that is more popular than anything else you offer. In terms of rebranding, this situation presents a conundrum about whether you want to refocus your brand or double down on your success.
If, for instance, you believe that your business can thrive off a single product or line of service, maybe you want to foreground this. But in most cases, rebranding can be used to emphasise your other products and services to ensure you are maximising your business.
3. Under New Management
Businesses change all the time and change is great for generating new ideas. Whether you’ve merged or demerged, acquired or been acquired by another company, these changes must always be reflected in your current brand.
If you’re under new management, customers both old and new will be interested to learn what’s different and what’s staying the same. Alternately, if you’ve acquired or merged with another company, you’ll want to reassure both company’s customers in order to ensure continuity.
4. Spoiled Brand
Nothing sticks worse than a bad reputation. From customer reviews to press coverage, negativity is toxic not only to a brand but to lead generations, conversions, and overall business operations. Whatever the reason, there’s no surer sign that it’s time to rebrand than a spoiled brand.
In order to salvage your business, your brand values and principles must reaffirm trust in your company, its products and services, and the customer satisfaction that you provide. Remember that your brand is not only skin-deep, and it will take more than a new logo to banish any negative preconceptions your business has accumulated.
5. Samey Branding
In almost every industry, a business will have competitors. However long these rivals have been established, you need to keep track of what they’re doing and how they’re doing it in order to make sure that your own unique selling point (USP) remains… well, unique.
Distinguishing yourself from your competitors is simply a matter of extolling the virtues of your business through your brand. If both companies offer similar services, your brand message may become quite samey, in which case it is definitely time to rebrand and set yourself apart from the rest.
6. Reaching a Wider Audience
Expansion is a tricky process for businesses to consider. You must plan growth carefully in order to keep your existing business going strong, while also researching and implementing a strategy that will open you up to a wider audience than before. It’s imperative that you get your rebranding right in these cases.
For instance, reaching an international audience requires a huge amount of research, just because of marketing factors and language barriers. On a smaller scale, you may have started your company with a service area in your name, that now needs to be rebranded in order to work for a broader area.
7. Reaching New Customers
Even within the same area, there is potential for brands to stagnate and only reach the same people. For example, if your company has been around for 10 years and is targeted at young people, you may find that younger demographics aren’t taking to your brand as enthusiastically as your older existing customers.
In this case and many other similar situations, rebranding serves to refresh your image for new audiences while reasserting your values and principles for existing ones. The best way to win over new audiences is to engage them directly with your branding activities.
8. Reconnecting with Existing Customers
Finally, the key to retaining customers is to make sure they are still satisfied with what you are offering. Dwindling customer engagement is a tell-tale sign that you’re due for a brand overhaul. As with new products, you have the benefit of having already engaged your customers once.
Update your tone of voice, your logo, or any other aspect of your brand, and if you keep mailing lists, be sure to let your customers know about what you’ve changed. As well as reminding them that you’re here, rebranding will serve to help you redefine and reconnect with your business goals and objectives.
Conclusion
Rebranding constitutes a concerted effort to shift the public perception of your company. It must be carefully considered, researched, and implemented at all stages.
But by the same token, if you wouldn’t be happy handing out your existing business card to potential customers, then don’t do it. What worked in the past will not work forever and even the biggest brands in the world occasionally undergo a revamp in order to maintain engagement.
No matter what your reasons are for rebranding, it’s up to you to put the work and the research into building a brand that works for you and for your audience. Whether your new brand stays true to your current values or expands and elaborates upon them, it’s about reaffirming your place in a competitive marketplace.