If you’re considering a business rebranding, you’re likely to have multiple reasons as to why you are likely to take this path. Whatever your reasons, business rebranding isn’t something that just happens overnight and requires identifying the specific reasons why a rebrand is necessary. Some of the main reasons business owners move to rebrand include:
- repositioning their business to target a new audience or be more appealing to an existing audience
- branching out to a wider international-based audience
- updating an old outdated image
- moving away from a bad reputation
- a merger with a new company or having new directors join the business
- making your business stand out from other similar ones
Once you have decided to rebrand, you’ll need to decide upon a rebranding strategy. From here, you’ll need to follow the steps necessary to make the transition from old to the new brand. We’ll cover both points in this article.
Choosing Your Business Rebranding Strategy
You’ve decided to move forward and begin rebranding. To begin this journey, you first need to decide on your rebranding strategy.
- partial rebrand – more like a subtle image change, a partial rebrand is mostly a visual change to meet the needs of your business and target audience.
- full brand – a complete reworking of your brand, from the values and mission statement, the products or services you offer and the way the brand looks.
You can involve your target market in this decision. Ask them what they like and don’t like about the brand as it is today. Having an understanding of what they think is incredibly useful!
Of course, the option you end up choosing will depend upon the main reasons you want to rebrand. Once you’ve made your choice, next comes the rebranding steps themselves.
Steps When Undertaking a Business Rebranding
There are five key steps we’re going to individually walk you through when it comes to rebranding your business. They are similar to what you would do when establishing a new brand, which in essence is what a rebrand involves:
Identifying your brand’s target market and audience.
You’ll need to re-establish exactly who your target audience is and where they hang out. Undertaking surveys, observations, competitor analysis and simply identifying who is buying from you will give you the information needed to do this. Nail out your new buyer persona, which includes details such as their age, income, location, likes and dislikes. This information will help you when creating content for your website and social media platforms.
Defining what your business’ mission, values and vision are.
Here you’ll redefine exactly what your business stands for. Why do you do what you do? How will you do it? What are the reasons behind the way you do things? Included in this section is your brand voice. This includes the words you’ll use, along with your tone of voice.
Choosing a new name for your business.
One of the hardest things people find to do is naming a business. You likely spent a considerable amount of time choosing your original name and now need a new one. When brainstorming a new business name, think about making up a new word, changing the spelling of an existing word, using an acronym, combining words or stating what you do. Make sure to check your business name using OneCheck for existing trademarks, domains and social media accounts too.
Coming up with a new slogan for your brand.
A slogan is a catchy little phrase associated with your business. If your old slogan still fits, then keep it. If not, brainstorm ideas for a new one. Think about making a claim, providing instructions, being metaphorical and including compliments within your slogan.
Building your brand’s identity from bottom up.
Here we are talking about your brand’s visual identity. Your logo, colour palette, fonts and imagery are all things to consider. Using the services of a graphic designer here will pay dividends, as they will be able to use all of the information you gathered in steps 1-4 and transform it into a brand guide for your business.
It is often this step which business owners find the easiest out of the entire rebranding process. You have learnt about what worked and what didn’t with your old logo and colours, and usually have a clearer idea of what you do want. In short, look for a logo which is clear and easily recognisable as yours. The colour palette needs to be chosen based upon what your audience would best respond to and is appropriate for you to use in a variety of manners. The fonts need to work with your brand’s voice and vision, and finally, the shapes and imagery need to help tie everything together.
Where to Next in Your Rebranding?
For many total rebrands, everything a business presents to the world needs to be updated. Website, email, social media and contact details all need to be changed and promoted. This can cause a huge issue if your existing audience didn’t know about your rebrand. That is why it is a great idea to keep them in the loop, helping them feel like a part of the change itself, so it isn’t a huge shock when it happens. It will also keep them informed about the changes your business is making, how these changes will benefit them and how to contact you moving forward.
Don’t forget to also include your employees and contractors in the process too. They can act as brand ambassadors, letting people know about the changes on your behalf. They’re also going to feel included and continue to show brand loyalty as they feel involved in the process.
Then it is all systems go when it comes to promoting your new business. A new website domain name will mean that your organic traffic will be almost non-existent at the start. You will need to put considerable effort into the content of your website and can expect to see searches from Google appearing in around three to six months. You can redirect your old domain name to your new one though so that people entering that one will automatically be taken to the new site.
Promoting your rebrand via social media is key, as you will most likely be able to continue to use the same platform accounts. Sending emails to your existing email lists is also a good idea, and paid advertising can help too. If you have kept your followers engaged and updated during the rebranding process, it shouldn’t be too hard to shift their attention to your new brand.
Finally, make sure that you’ve told your suppliers and businesses whose services you use that you have made the change. A phone call gives the personal touch and is appreciated, especially when followed up by an email which includes all of the new details.
If you are on the fence about undertaking a rebrand, a chat with one of our business advisors can help make things clearer and identify a path moving forwards for you and your business. Get in touch with our team today and together we’ll make things happen.