Building a brand from scratch is a meticulous and mentally taxing task. Rebranding, on the one hand, presents a different kind of difficulty. It takes time to create a cost-effective and well-structured rebranding strategy. Brand strategists often spend days of brainstorming to ensure that the new name and identity will cater both the company’s propositions s well as its target audience’s demands and preferences.
Given that company rebranding is a demanding job, it is understandable that entrepreneurs like you are having a tough time deciding whether to rebrand or not.
Perhaps, you are wondering when is the best time to change and improve your corporate identity and voice?
What Is Rebranding?
Before we delve into the main topic, let’s discuss briefly a few vital points first: what does rebranding mean?
Rebranding is the process of crafting a new name, logo design, concept, mission and values of a company. Rebranding process involves radical alteration in different aspects of the company. Such factors include the logo, name, proposition statement, advertising themes as well as marketing practices. Rebranding as market strategy is also often used to improve a firm’s publicity.
More often than not, it is applied to corporations that seek to expand and enhanced their brand identity. It is as well helps to cater their target market’s new liking and appetite. On some instances, they use it to reposition and cover themselves from a bad reputation or negative connotations.
Furthermore, rebranding a company can mean two things: total renovation or simply updating a few details. Whether it is crafting a more professional logo or changing everything about the corporation’s image, rest assured that the impact of rebranding will surely change the way your existing and potential customers perceive your business.
On the other hand, entrepreneurs and brand strategists often focus on logo and branding only. But remember that most successful rebranding campaigns did not focus on the visuals alone. To improve your brand equity, you have to make sure that everything is going well.
Elements of a Good Brand
Successful rebranding contains different elements that work together to complete the
method. That said, here are the crucial branding elements and rebranding ideas that you need to know:
- Your brand identity refers to the visual representation of your company. It includes the name and logo, the imagery, the graphic design as well as the colors and fonts.
- This aspect refers to the company’s brand story: when and how the firm started and how it evolved. The brand voice includes the company name, website, and page copies.
- Values and Mission. Mission and values refer to the company’s core ethics as well as their decision process. It also includes the company’s customer service and policies.
5 Indications that Your Business Need to Rebrand
As mentioned earlier, to rebrand your business is no easy feat. As such, before you decide to change everything about your company’s image, you have to make sure that the impact of rebranding to your business will result in a productive and successful makeover.
Having that said, below are some signs that your business needs rebranding:
1. The company has evolved and ready for expansion.
Change is the only thing that is constant in this world, says a proverb. And apparently, your business is no exemption. At some point, it will change—either for good or not.
But say, your business grew well and flourished as years passed by, and now it is ripe and ready for expansion, then it is an excellent indication to consult with rebranding experts and start rebranding your business.
Take the CVS Caremark as an example. Initially, the giant was composed of two separate startups; a pharmacy store called CVS and a pharmacy benefit management named Caremark.
The two eventually dominate the pharmaceutical and healthcare industry. The company took new and established a business under their roof as well, making it a one big giant healthcare company. Such growth led them to rebrand their company. And to serve its market better, they decided to change their objective from merely selling to “helping folks on their journey to better health.”
2. Bad reputation.
The benefits of rebranding are surely not only lucrative, but it can also save a business from collapsing. Sure, companies are not exempted from harmful situations. But the good thing is brand strategists have a remedy for it: rebranding.
Rebranding after crisis that shook—or perhaps, burned the company down—is the wisest step to take. Experts recommend it as a way to start fresh and anew while offering the market a new perception concerning your brand.
Take McDonald’s as an example. The name is always wrapped around the terms “unhealthy option” and “cheap”, which took the fast-food company to drift (particularly when the documentary Super Size Me came out).
The incident pushed the giant company to change the way people perceive its brand. And cost them a sizable amount of money to rebrand. Today, the fast-food chain serves greens and salad. They alter their restaurants’ aesthetic to earthy tones as well.
3. Outdated logo and branding.
Business trends and marketing strategies consistently shift. And these factors often alter the way corporations present their logo and branding.
Here are a few signs your existing brand needs a new logo:
- A new wave of target audience exists, and your current brand does not look appealing to them.
- Your company has evolved, and the logo does not represent your products or services any longer.
- The logo looks outdated and bland
As mentioned, offering your audience a beautiful design for your business’ logo will aid to shape how they perceive your brand and company. Hence, make sure to consult a branding firm to help you see whether your logo is good or already outdated.
4. The company needs identity development.
Part of the reason why businesses sell is that they have established and strong brand identity. And if your sales are slowly drifting, it is not that your products or services are not beneficial and exciting. Most likely, it is your brand identity that lacks.
If you think your company identity appears messy, better consult with a branding expert. Have your logo and its font, color, theme, and images checked. Make sure as well that the result is simple yet memorable. Take Apple’s logo, for instance.
5. Repositioning.
In fishing, if you want to catch hundreds (maybe thousands) of fish, you will need to have a broader fishnet. Same goes in business. You cannot grow your sales without expanding your scope. However, repositioning or extending your business’ range requires changes. And such modifications cover your brand.
Rebranding while repositioning will help you attract and appeal “better” to new audiences. If done right, its impact will resonate not only inside the company but also in the marketplace.
Conclusion
Rebranding has different purposes. Whether it is to cover a company’s negative reputation or a move to scale-up, changing your business’ identity and voice will significantly affect your image. It is particularly true to your existing and target customers. It can either break or make your company.
As such, do not neglect how rebranding best practices can improve your image as well as sales. And give the job to digital marketing agencies that can do it efficiently.
