What Does it Mean to Rebrand?

| Posted in Marketing

What does it mean to rebrand?

Rebranding is a marketing strategy that involves changing the name, logo, and other visual assets of a product, service, or company. The idea of rebranding is to change and differentiate how a product, service, or company is viewed by its customers, competitors, and stakeholders, including employees and investors.

 Why do companies rebrand?

There are myriad of reasons why it might make sense to rebrand your company, product, or service. These are some of the primary reasons:

To update the brand to be more current

One of the more common reasons for undertaking a rebrand is to update or modernize the brand. Not all brand designs are timeless. Brand elements, including logo, colours, and fonts, can become outdated looking. Ensuring your brand retains a contemporary look and feel is important for how your customers view your company and its offerings.

To address a reputation issue

Companies may consider rebranding if they’ve encountered issues regarding their reputation. It represents a way to shed the negative associations with the current brand and pursue a clean slate. However, any issues that created the reputation problem would need to be addressed for the rebrand to be successful in the long term.

To address a change in corporate vision or values

Businesses evolve. Adaptability is an important quality that allows businesses to continue to achieve success in changing markets. Sometimes this involves changing business priorities, new goals, or a shift in values. Brands are reflective of the company’s values and priorities. And when those values and priorities change, it may suggest a need to change the brand.

New leadership

Similar to situations of a change in corporate direction, a change in an organization’s leadership can often influence a change in direction for the business overall. New leaders often want to signal a shift in a business’ trajectory by a change to the brand. It can indicate that the company is ‘under new management’.

As a result of a merger or acquisition

Changes in business ownership, including mergers or acquisitions, typically result in a rebrand. Not only is this about signalling the creation of a new entity – but also due to legal and regulatory requirements, depending on the category of business.

How do you go about rebranding?

So you’ve determined rebranding makes sense. So how do you go about it? Here are the steps you’ll want to consider before you begin the process.

What defines your brand?

Before you begin picking a logo, colours or a tagline, you need to be able to identify what brand is and what it stands for. Consider these questions:

  1. What does business or product do?
  2. What does your business stand for? What are your values?
  3. How is your business or product different from the competition?
  4. What is your brand’s personality? Use human traits to define the personality – thoughtful, caring, funny, playful, etc.
  5. What is your unique value proposition (USP)?

These are important questions to consider. But when you feel you’ve got solid answers to each, you’ll then need to make a list of all the things that will be impacted by a change in brand. Here are some examples:

Business / product name

Your business or product name should reflect your new brand. If your old name doesn’t feel like it is consistent with what you’re trying to achieve with the new brand, then it’s time to look for a new name.

Logo

A well-designed logo is one of the most visible and important elements of any brand. It must capture the essence of your brand and connect all other visual identity elements together, including colours and fonts.

Website

It doesn’t matter what kind of business you’re in. If you have a business or market a product, you need a website. Your website is typically the first place your customer prospects go when looking for information about you. You’ll want to make sure your site design is contemporary, the site functions well, and, crucially, reflects your brand.

Email template

Like your website, your email can often be your first impression. Presenting your business as a professional organization is important to make the right impression with prospects and partners. Having a well-designed email is an important step in achieving this. It may be a simple yet stylish signature or a completely designed email template. Further, you will want to ensure your email address is based on your website domain. Avoid using free services like Gmail or iCloud. Having the right look, along with professional and appropriate content, sets the tone for how your company operates and the calibre of your brand.

Business cards/stationary

While ensuring your business has well-designed and branded digital assets, most businesses still involve live interactions between people. And having branded materials like business cards, letterhead, and other stationery plays a role. Business cards, in particular, are tangible representations of your brand that a prospect can take with them. Like the other examples noted, they can contribute to the overall impression your business makes on people.

Let the world know about your new brand

You made the decision to rebrand. You put a lot of thought into that decision and then you put the work – and investment – into the process of rebranding. If you don’t promote it, you may be missing out on a tremendous opportunity. Let the world know you’ve rebranded and why you did it. Mitigate the risk of any potential confusion among your customers and stakeholders through a carefully managed launch. Let your customers know all about the reasons why you’ve rebranded and what defines that new brand. They’ll be more inclined to accept the new brand and potentially strengthens both customer recall and loyalty.

Want to learn more?

If you’d like to learn more about what rebranding or refreshing your brand strategy can do for your business, reach out. We love chatting ideas and welcome the opportunity to explore content strategies to meet your business needs. Contact us using the form below, using the chat function on our website, or by calling 1-855-656-5262. Follow us on Instagram or LinkedIn. We look forward to hearing from you about your rebrand. We are located in Burlington, Ontario.