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Rebranding is a complex process aimed at changing your brand identity in the minds of consumers, employees and other stakeholders. On the surface, it’s easy to think of rebranding as just developing a new logo or slogan for your organization.
However, true innovation exercises run deeper and have the potential to change the trajectory of your entire business. Brands of all sizes choose to renew their identity to grow with existing audiences, reach new customers or agree to mergers and acquisitions. Whatever the reason for your rebranding, follow the steps in this guide to successfully complete the process.
Related: When to Consider Remodeling (and How to Do It Right)
Understanding the need for innovation
There are both obvious and subtle signs to tell brand teams that their brand is on the verge of another day. Changes in your product or service offering, industry-wide shifts and competitive pressures are among the most obvious signs that it’s time to innovate. Declining sales or market share are two more reasons to consider updating your product.
In addition, rebranding can help your company expand into new markets and reach new target audiences. On the other hand, your need to rebrand may be driven by less obvious causes such as an outdated brand image or negative customer perception. The last two can be hard to spot.
Product health assessment
Assessing the life of a product is usually the first step in deciding whether or not you need to rework. Start by analyzing general market trends and consider how competitors have positioned themselves. How does your company compare?
To better understand customer sentiment about your brand, conduct surveys and focus groups, and use social media listening to measure your standing among existing audiences.
Best practices for rebranding
Once your team is committed to remanufacturing, follow these best practices to ensure the process runs smoothly and efficiently.
Step 1: Define your goals
Like other aspects of strategic marketing, effective branding begins with defining your goals and making sure they align with your overall business strategy. Without being clear about what you want to achieve, it becomes difficult to reach your goals.
Step 2: Research and analysis
Conduct research to get a clear picture of industry trends, customer preferences and competitor strategies in your field. A SWOT analysis, which describes your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, is another useful tool to inform the next steps of your rebranding process.
Step 3: Involve stakeholders
Communicate with employees from the start. Their insight can be invaluable, and fostering a sense of ownership from the start will help the entire team embrace ownership of the new product. If your business has been established for a long time, ask loyal customers for feedback to understand their opinions about your product and what they might expect from the changes.
Related: A Strategic Guide to Successful Branding
Develop a comprehensive product strategy
A comprehensive product strategy is the foundation of an effective innovation activity. Start by creating a positioning statement that specifies how you want to be perceived in the market. This statement will be your North Star throughout the process.
With a position statement in place, your team can work on a marketing and communications plan. This plan outlines how you will communicate and restructure internal and external audiences to ensure that everyone is not only kept up to date but always engaged in the process.
Create a unique brand story for yourself
Your brand story needs to be at the heart of every marketing message. Check your existing narrative to see if it connects emotionally with your audience and communicates both your brand values and your mission.
Make sure your brand voice and personality is consistent across all channels and resonates with your audience.
The reconstruction of virtual identity
Many rebranding processes involve redesigning the visual identity. When it comes to updating your logo and other design elements, you’re looking to bring the brand’s heritage into the modern age to create a modern, cohesive look that reflects the brand’s essence.
Implementation and release
With all the rebuilding blocks in place, it’s time to plan your startup strategy. For many brands, phased releases work best – this allows the audience to prepare and builds excitement before the actual launch date. Both teaser campaigns and well-publicized launch events can be very effective.
Internally, it is important to provide employees with the resources and appropriate training to help them use the new brand effectively and avoid continued use of the old brand identity.
Monitoring and evaluation
When the new brand identity is broadcast, it is time to monitor the effectiveness of the rebranding. Consider tracking key performance indicators (KPIs), such as brand awareness and customer engagement, and compare results to previous ownership.
Create a customer and employee feedback loop to facilitate feedback collection. You should also be prepared to make small changes if necessary.
Related: I Just Redid My Entire Company – Here Are 12 Strategies I Learned To Take My Brand To The Next Level
Challenges
Rebranding can represent a big change, especially for brands that haven’t changed their identity in a long time. Considering potential challenges and planning for them will help your team navigate smoothly.
Internal and external resistance
Both customers and employees may be resistant to changing a well-loved brand. Addressing their fears and clearly communicating the reasons for the product change can be very effective in reducing resistance to change.
Financial problems
Renaming can be expensive. Set your budget from the beginning and ensure that all steps of your innovation process are covered, including research, design, implementation and communication.
Maintaining brand equity
One of the most important aspects of rebranding is maintaining existing brand equity while updating your identity. Try to respect the brand’s heritage and history while trying a new look.
Legal considerations
Work with your legal team to ensure compliance with existing trademarks and avoid infringement issues.
Rebranding can give your company and your brand new life. This process has the potential to attract a new audience or renew the interest of existing customers. Following this step-by-step guide will make the rebranding process smooth and effective.
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