Everything You Need to Know About Rebranding

Your brand is perhaps the biggest way to communicate what it is your company does, how it does it, and the values/mission that propels your business forward. 

Essentially, the identity of your brand is important, but its relevance rarely lasts forever.

The process of rebranding is akin to updating an heirloom piece of furniture – strip away old, weathered layers, smooth out fundamentals to ensure efficiency and efficacy, and refinish to present a more modernized version of the furniture loved for many generations.  

By conducting a rebrand, not only is your business updating its customer-facing image and persona, but a rebrand also provides a business with the added incentive of gaining more leads, meaning more potential business for your brand.

So, curious about whether or not your business needs a rebrand? Let’s dive in and find out.

What is a rebrand?

Something as seemingly simple as a name change can carry a lot of weight behind it. The name of your business says a lot about your company and who you seek as key consumers. 

Rebranding helps “trim the fat” with your company image and better aligns your brand values with your target audience. 

Why you might need to rebrand your business

Changing your name and your brand image won’t solve all problems within your organization, but it sure can alleviate a lot of them.

Before diving into a rebranding strategy, it’s important to first ask yourself a few, preliminary questions:

• Does your name align with your product portfolio? 
• Does your brand confuse visitors and prospective consumers? 
• Is your brand outdated, restricted or...dare we say, weak? 

If your business finds itself saying, “Our brand feels tired and outdated,” then chances are high that what your business really means is your brand isn’t connecting with the right audience anymore. 

The former Director of Marketing at Softchoice, Edwin Jansen, once said, “Brands are no longer what they say they are. Brands are now what their customers say they are because (those customers) no longer have to listen to a brand anymore. They can listen to their peers.” 

Not only can updating your brand enhance your organization’s credibility with your audience and their peers, but a rebrand can help your business:

1. Gain a competitive advantage
2. Communicate an updated aesthetic
3. Generate leads to increase  sales (growth!)
4. Gain visibility in your industry
5. Attract employees that are a good culture fit

All of these features serve to collectively enhance your brand while bringing more awareness to your products and services. 

How to rebrand

Rebranding for a company should be executed with detail and intention as it’s not an undertaking that should be conducted on a regular basis.

• Reassess your mission and values

What makes your company stand out? What makes it special? Revisiting your company’s mission and your organization’s north star will lay the foundation for the roadwork you and your team are about to embark upon. 

• Conduct a thorough audit

In order to know what works about your brand and what doesn’t means first getting everything out on the table. Conducting a brand audit allows you to take a magnifying glass to your brand’s values, mission, story, positioning, message, and identity and really dissect what needs to change, and why. 

• Explore your options

Taking the time to explore the industry and your competitors will help you identify what is/isn’t available, and can save your team a lot of precious brainstorming hours. Exploring your options and seeing what fads are currently catching fire (or what isn’t) will help your business decide what trends might make sense for your company to adopt. 

• Less is more with design

Let’s take a look at Airbnb.

Airbnb went through multiple decision iterations before landing on the well-known design we know today. They chose to drop the airy blue and white cursive logo and transition to a soft red (pure red was found to be too aggressive) font and color that presented a more bold statement that aligns with the company’s mission and values of acceptance and love. This simple change, along with one small addition (the “Bélo” – an upside down heart that also looks like the letter “A”) emboldened the brand without completely overhauling Airbnb’s identity. 

• Involve your team

There is definitely legitimacy to be found in the phrase, “too many cooks in the kitchen.” While unsolicited help can muddy waters and dilute the power behind a mission, obtaining feedback from your team can present valuable ideas, innovations, and feedback that you might not otherwise come across. As perhaps some of the most valuable players in your company, your team’s buy-in to your company’s rebrand plays directly into the degree of success that will follow. 

• Launch

Even the best rebrands can fall flat if the execution isn’t there. A carefully-planned and executed launch will alleviate heaps of confusion on the consumer-facing end. Take time to explain to your clients the reason behind the rebrand (why?) and bring them along for the ride by communicating your rebranding narrative and launch through your social media channels, emails, and third-party media platforms. 

Rebranding any organization is neither a short nor a simple task, but the results are (when done strategically and well) always incredibly sweet. 

Want to learn more about how to rebrand your business? Schedule your free consultation.