You might think it’s time to rebrand your business, but you have always heard that it’s not the best thing you could do. That, however, is a myth. Some businesses actually need a rebrand. Before you make the decision, you must realize that your brand is much more than your name and logo. Your brand is what people think of when they see your name or logo. It’s the total experience your customer has when he or she does business with you. It’s the trust and credibility in your company. However, a company that evolves usually needs a rebranding.
Reasons to Consider Rebranding:
While you might have several reasons to rebrand, keep in mind that you must weigh the pros and cons of rebranding. Some of the reasons to rebrand include the following:
Generic Company Name
If your company’s name or logo is similar to another business’s name, it is easy for people to confuse the two companies. Most people don’t remember the exact details. Thus, you could hurt your brand by not rebranding. The same happens if you use stock art for marketing and branding – everyone recognizes the stock art. The first thing they might think of is that you are too cheap to spend money on your brand. Additionally, another company could use the same stock photos, which also garners confusion among your customers and potential customers.
Outdated Branding Fonts and Colors
Does your website still use Flash? Are the colors “washed out” and seem “old?” Does the font scream 1985? It might be time to freshen up your brand. Changing your logo colors and font or updating your website is more of a brand refresh rather than a rebrand.
Poor Reputation
Hopefully, you haven’t done anything to deserve a poor reputation. However, business mistakes you make when starting can follow you for years. If the mistake was honest, it might be better to rebrand than to let fit follow you forever.
The Evolution of Your Business
If you have an opportunity to expand or add a new market, you might want to rebrand. Always do your homework regarding rebranding for growth so that you rebrand for the market or your expansion.
Mergers and Acquisitions
If you are merging with another company or acquiring another company, you might want to consider rebranding, depending on how the new brand fits into your current brand. Without rebranding, both brands could suffer from confusion.
Rebranding is even more important with mergers. You need to rebrand so that the products and services line up with your business ethics. The rebranding also prevents inconsistency, redundancy, cannibalization, and confusion and increases the value of the products, services, and overall brand.
The Pros and Cons of Rebranding:
Rebranding has several pros and cons depending on the reason for rebranding. Pros include:
- The ability to attract new customers. A new brand is often noticeable, especially when you have a physical location. The new signage will often catch people’s attention. Even a new website that is optimized properly might have better exposure online and will draw new customers.
- The benefit of shifting focus to achieve new goals that could grow your company.
- Getting people excited about a new product or service, especially after a merger or acquisition.
- Allows you to streamline a diluted or inconsistent message your old brand might portray.
The cons of rebranding include the following:
- It’s a huge change that happens all at once. You could face issues if things do not go as planned.
- It’s a major change that some customers might not like. In some cases, rebranding could confuse customers and potential customers if your communication is not top-notch.
- It is often expensive to rebrand, depending on how many elements you change.
Branding Elements to Change:
When rebranding, you must take all of the elements into consideration. Depending on the reason for rebranding, you might not change all of the elements. The thought process for keeping an element should be as comprehensive as changing an element. If you are only refreshing the brand, you might change the logo and colors and leave everything else as is.
Brand Logo
Because your brand logo is the symbolism of your brand, the new design must represent your business. Many people say they buy from a company with a recognizable logo, so changing the logo could be risky. However, sometimes it is a risk you must take. For example, if you used stock media or logo creator software, you will most likely want to change the logo. We recommend meeting with a graphic designer to discuss your brand mission, values, colors, and other factors your logo should portray.
Another example is when you merge with another company or acquire a new company – you might want to change the logo to reflect the new products and services.
Brand Mission and Values
Your mission and values tell customers what your beliefs are. When rewriting your mission and values, you might keep the same but rewrite them so they more aptly align with the current state of affairs, and so they are still relevant in future years.
As your business changes, your mission and values often change. For example, you might support your community, but when your business grows, you start participating in more community events. You might change your mission and values to show your contribution and support for the community.
Brand Tagline
Your tagline should be short and catchy but should also tell customers what your brand’s unique value is. The meaning of the tagline doesn’t even have to change. Rewording it could bring in new customers. For example, Walmart changed from “Always Low Prices” to “Save Money. Live Better.” Sometimes changing the tagline also changes the meaning of your product. In the above example, “always low prices” could mean that the products are cheap; whereas telling your customer he or she can save money doesn’t yell “cheap.”
Brand Colors
Colors could mean as much to customers as your logo. For example, everyone knows that Coca-Cola has a bright red can – you can pick a can of Coke out a mile away. If your current colors are working, you might decide to keep them. However, if you are rebranding to change your image, you should consider changing your brand colors.
Brand Guidelines
One of the elements you have to update when rebranding is your guidelines. Brand guidelines are rules that ensure your marketing signage and materials are the same so that your brand is consistent. You need to update the brand guidelines to reflect the changes you made to the brand. This is especially important if you have a marketing team. However, if you do your own marketing, you do not want to forget what you implemented. Business cards, signage, stationary, and your online presence should all look the same when it comes to colors and fonts.
Brand Voice
Your brand voice defines your brand personality. The voice gives direction on how your company communicates with your customers. It also dictates how customers interpret your company messaging. Brand voice is important as it carries over to your website and social media.
Take the Rebranding Step to Take Your Business Up a Notch:
When you rebrand is a matter of timing, and that timing comes in at different times for all businesses. It might be after a merger or because the current brand is outdated or has a not-so-great reputation. When you are ready to start rebranding, go through the brand elements to see what needs to be updated or changed. Rebranding doesn’t have to be stressful – it can be fun and exciting, especially if you are going to take your business up a notch because you merged with another business, added a new product, or acquired a new business.
