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Rebranding is a complex process aimed at changing the identity of your brand in the minds of consumers, employees and other stakeholders. On the surface, it is easy to think of rebranding as developing a recent logo or slogan for your organization.
But real rebranding efforts go deeper and can change the trajectory of an entire business. Brands of all sizes are selecting to refresh their identity to grow with existing audiences, reach recent customers, or confirm mergers and acquisitions. Whatever your reason for rebranding, follow the steps in this guide to complete the process successfully.
Understanding the need for rebranding
There are each obvious and more subtle signs that tell brand teams that their brand is becoming outdated. Changes in product or service offerings, industry-wide changes, and competitive pressure are some of the more obvious signs that it is time to rebrand. A decline in sales or market share are two more reasons to consider updating your brand.
Additionally, rebranding can assist your organization expand into recent markets and reach recent goal audiences. On the other hand, the need for rebranding may result from less obvious reasons, comparable to an outdated brand image or negative customer perception. The latter two could also be harder to discover.
Assessment of the brand’s condition
Assessing the condition of a brand is often the first step when deciding whether rebranding is vital. Start by analyzing overall market trends and considering where your competitors are positioned. How does your organization compare?
To higher understand customer sentiment about your brand, conduct surveys and focus groups, and use social media to gauge your standing with your existing audience.
Rebranding best practices
As your team engages in rebranding, follow these best practices to ensure the process runs easily and successfully.
Step 1: Define your goals
Like other elements of strategic marketing, effective rebranding begins with defining your goals and ensuring they align with your overall business strategy. Without explaining what you would like to achieve, achieving your goal becomes inconceivable.
Step 2: Research and evaluation
Conduct research to get a clear picture of industry trends, customer preferences and competitive strategies in your industry. A SWOT evaluation, detailing your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, is one other great tool that informs you about the next stages of the rebranding process.
Step 3: Engage stakeholders
Connect with employees from the very starting. Their insights will be invaluable, and building a sense of ownership from the starting will help your entire team embrace your recent brand identity. If what you are promoting has been around for a while, ask loyal customers for feedback to learn what they think about your brand and what they could expect from changes.
Develop a comprehensive brand strategy
A comprehensive brand strategy is the basis for effective rebranding. Start by creating a positioning statement that explains how you would like to be perceived in the marketplace. This statement will turn into your North Star for the remainder of the process.
Once your positioning statement is ready, your team can work on your marketing and communications plan. This plan outlines the way you will communicate the rebranding to internal and external audiences to be sure that everyone not only stays up to date with the plan, but also stays engaged with the plan.
Create a unique brand story
Your brand story should be at the heart of your entire marketing message. Examine your existing narrative to see if it connects emotionally with your audience and communicates each your brand values and mission.
Make sure your brand voice and personality is consistent across all channels and resonates with your audience.
Redesign of visual identification
Most rebranding processes involve redesigning the visual identity. When it comes to updating your logo and other design elements, you would like to bring your brand’s heritage into the present to create a modern, consistent look that reflects the essence of your brand.
Implementation and implementation
Once you’ve got prepared all the components of your rebrand, it is time to plan your go-to-market strategy. For most brands, a phased rollout works best – it allows audiences to prepare and build excitement before the actual launch date. Both teaser campaigns and well-publicized launch events will be very effective.
Internally, it is necessary to provide employees with the resources and appropriate training to help them successfully implement the recent brand and avoid continuing to use the old brand identity.
Monitoring and evaluation
Once your recent brand identity is in circulation, it is time to monitor the effectiveness of your rebranding. Consider tracking key performance indicators (KPIs) comparable to brand awareness and customer engagement, and compare results to your previous identity.
Create a feedback loop for customers and employees to simplify continuous feedback collection. You also needs to be prepared to make minor adjustments if vital.
Challenges
Rebranding can mean a big change, especially for brands that have not modified their identity for a very long time. Taking into account potential challenges and planning for them will help your team deal with them efficiently.
Internal and external resistance
Both customers and employees may resist changing a much-loved brand identity. Responding to their concerns and clearly communicating the reasons for the brand change will be very effective in minimizing resistance to change.
Financial constraints
Rebranding will be expensive. Set a budget from the starting and make sure every step of the rebranding process is covered, including research, design, implementation and communication.
Maintaining brand value
One of the most vital elements of rebranding is maintaining the existing brand value while updating the identity. Try to honor the brand’s heritage and history while aiming for a fresh look.
Legal considerations
Work with your legal team to ensure compliance with existing trademarks and avoid infringement issues.
Rebranding may give your organization and brand recent life. This process can attract recent audiences or re-enthusiastic current customers. Following this step-by-step guide will enable a smooth and effective rebranding process.