When Businesses Should Reconsider Their Branding
How Often Should You Reconsider Your Branding?
It Might Be Time for a Rebrand If…
A rebrand is a great way to refresh and reinvigorate your business without starting from scratch. But there’s a right way and a wrong way to go about giving your company a facelift. Keep reading to learn how you can update your branding without losing your hard-earned brand value and name recognition.
What does rebranding really mean?
In simple terms, a rebrand is like repainting and redecorating your house. Your core values and products often stay the same, but your look and messaging are tweaked. The point is to continue relating to your very best customers. As they change, you change.
Businesses may need more significant rebranding when they become stagnant, want to target a new customer group, change owners, or need to rebuild their reputation. In fact, many major brands update their look and feel about once a decade.
Some brands choose to make small updates every year or two and stay perpetually modern. This keeps their brand value intact, but frequent changes can be expensive and hard for your team to keep track of.
Other businesses do a total brand overhaul every several years. The big revamp is an opportunity to drive customer excitement and improve engagement. But if done haphazardly, a major rebrand can hurt your brand's value and recognition.
No matter what kind of rebrand you’re considering, remember, it isn’t just about your company’s logo and color palette. Your new branding may include new values, a new mission, and fresh products or services targeted to your new audience.
For some businesses, a rebrand can be a significant boost
Is a rebrand a good idea for your business? It depends on why you want to rebrand:
You’re looking to target a new market. A rebrand is a great way to reach a new group of customers. If you want to work with younger people, a higher income bracket, or a new part of the country, rebranding your business will help you reach a previously untapped market.
Your image is beginning to look dated. Maybe your business has evolved since it first opened. Or maybe that logo that looked so cool back in 2001 is looking a little tired after all these years. If your branding doesn’t match your products and market anymore, a refresh can put you back front-and-center.
Your reputation needs some TLC. A rebrand can help your business distance itself from negative publicity. A fresh look, new tagline, and updated content can show your audience that all is in the past.
You’re moving into a new market that won’t understand your logo. Many businesses start small and forget to plan for the future. A cool logo that represented your hometown when you launched your business might just confuse your new customers two states over. If your business is going international, a rebrand could be needed to make your company more relatable to other cultures.
How to update your branding the right way
A bad rebrand can spell disaster for your business. So how can you maintain your hard-earned brand value while updating your look, feel, and offerings?
- Start by doing your research. Reevaluate your target market and update your customer personas. (Need a refresher on how to build a detailed persona? Check out our article here). Looking at sites like best website design can also help you see the differences between your brand. Once you know who you’re talking to, you can start rebuilding your brand from the ground up.
- Review the foundation of your business. Do your core values, mission, and vision statements need an update? What about your company slogan? If your business’ goals have changed, it might be time to revisit these key brand pillars.
- Test your new look before you launch. If you’re planning on updating your logo, colors, style, and other visual elements, consider running a few focus groups to review the changes first. A rebrand is expensive, complicated, and time-consuming. Though it can be worth the effort, you don’t want any missteps along the way!
- Launch well. You have a new message and look. How will you get it out into the world? Consider where your ideal customers spend their time. Your best launch platform may be social media, television, print ads, or another place. It all depends on where your customers usually engage with you.
- Track, and track again! The last step in a smart rebrand is tracking your results. Watch out for any significant drop-offs in website traffic or social media engagement - it might mean your customers can’t find you. But if the feedback is positive and engagement is strong, you’ve done it!
Watch out for pitfalls if you’re rebranding your business
One common mistake we see businesses make is changing their name as part of their rebranding process. If possible, businesses should avoid changing their name. It will cost you valuable recognition and search engine rankings. Only rename your business if it’s absolutely necessary. And if you do, be prepared to heavily advertise the change to limit customer confusion.
Another common pitfall is refreshing your brand or website too often. Before you make an update, ask yourself why it’s necessary and what you expect to gain from the changes. If you want to rebrand simply because you’re tired of your current look, don’t! That means your customers are probably just starting to recognize you.
The rebranding follow-up is just as important as the launch. For major rebrands, it can take significant time and several encounters with your new look before customers begin to recognize you again. Imagine if McDonald’s swapped their signature golden arches for a new logo! It could take months for you to recognize the fresh logo. It’s an extreme example, but the point stands. Continue hyping your rebrand well after the launch event.
The last rebranding mistake we see often is not committing enough time, money, and effort to the rebrand. It takes significant research and careful planning to make a major business change. And the cost to update all your branded material is high. Think all print materials, uniforms, web and social platforms, advertising, product packaging, and more. A rebrand can be a great benefit to your business, but only if you can afford to put in the necessary time and money.
Are you ready for new branding? We can help!
Rebranding your business isn’t hard, but it does take careful planning and execution. If your business is ready for a refresh, let’s work together. ZeBrand has helped 60,000 businesses refresh their brand, update their look, and re-energize their growth. To ask a question or get started, contact us at info@zebranding.com.
