When– if ever– should you consider rebranding a company? What are the benefits of rebranding a company? How do you actually go about doing it?
These are some of the questions we’ll seek to answer in this blog post.
Rebranding a company happens more often than you might think– for companies both big and small. While you don’t want to rebrand too often, there are instances when it makes sense to pursue a rebrand for your company. We explore these more below.
Psst! This post is inspired by Wholeheart’s recent rebrand on social media. Leave us a comment on Insta and tell us what you think!
Why Rebrand a Company?
Branding is important, and if you’re like most business owners, you’ve put a lot of thought into your company’s branding. So what would prompt you to change it? Here are a few common reasons behind rebranding a company.
Your offerings have changed
If you’ve introduced major changes to your company’s offerings– such as a new product, service, or by getting rid of old products or services– it may be time for a rebrand that will reflect those changes. If you’re selling something completely different, it makes sense that the way you present those offerings is different, too.
Your audience has shifted
As a company matures, it will gradually hone in on its ideal audience. A company may start out targeting everyone and their mother, but over time realize they’re best suited for a particular type of customer or client. Since branding should be designed with your ideal customer in mind, it will likely need to shift to accommodate the tastes and preferences of that particular audience.
Your brand looks outdated
Trends change over time– that’s why they’re called trends. While you don’t want your brand to jump onto every trend that comes along, it should make an effort to “keep up” with the aesthetics and cultural tones of today. Brands that aren’t flexible or self-aware enough to evolve with the times are likely to lose relevance and fade away.
You’re not attracting your ideal customer
As noted, a brand should be designed with its ideal customer in mind. So if you’re attracting the “wrong” kind of customer– or not attracting any at all– that may mean your branding isn’t pulling its weight. It’s hard enough to get in front of your ideal audience these days– make sure that when you do, you’re not driving them away with off-color branding that doesn’t resonate.
It’s just not working out
Sometimes, things work better in theory than they do in practice. We can’t tell you how many times a new client comes to us with a “branding moodboard” they once loved, but were never able to replicate. Certain colors and fonts are just harder to work with than expected. If you find yourself struggling to maintain your desired aesthetic, it may be time to change things up.
When Should You Rebrand a Company?
Rebranding a company shouldn’t be done on a whim. It should be a properly thought-out endeavor with enough time and resources to devote to ensure a successful and timely completion.
If the above reasons to rebrand a company resonate with you, it may be time to take action. But don’t think that it can be done overnight– or even in a week. A proper rebrand can take weeks– even months– of research, planning, and active development– not to mention the careful roll-out of the rebrand.
For this reason, we suggest scheduling your rebrand during an otherwise slow or predictable season. You don’t want to rush a major rebrand before a big launch date or your busiest time of the year. Make sure you give yourself time to really move through the individual phases of your rebrand– and assume every step will take at least a little bit longer than you expect.
How to Rebrand a Company
Rebranding a company is a multi-phase endeavor. It’s tempting to dive right into the “fun” part of a rebrand– updating your color palettes, fonts, and other visual elements– but to achieve a rebrand that is successful and sustainable, you’ll want to do your homework.
Review performance analytics
Expect to conduct deep dive into past performance analytics for your company– both internal (lead funnel, sales, ROI) and external (social media engagement, email list growth). This will demonstrate what’s been working– and not working– thus far.
Take a good look at the market
You’ll also want to do research into your competitors and the marketplace as a whole. See what other brands in your space are doing and how that’s working for them. Also take note of what they’re not doing and what gaps you might be able to fill.
Get back to your brand foundations
This is typically the “headiest” stage of rebranding a company– getting back to the basics of your brand foundations such as your company’s purpose, vision, values, and target audience. You really want to rethink your brand from the ground up, as these are the building blocks on which you’ll base all your branding decisions.
Upgrade your visual brand identity
This is the stage most people get excited about– updating elements of your visual brand identity such as your logo, color palette, fonts, and mood board. Resist the temptation to dive right into this stage before completing the above phases– or to rush through it, slapping together whatever looks “good enough.” This iteration of your branding should last for years to come!
Refine your branding guidelines
Once you’ve worked through your brand foundations and visual brand identity, it’s time to update your brand guidelines. Think of these guidelines as the instructions manual for your brand– helping keep you and others you may work with on-brand and aligned with the bigger picture.
Plan your rebrand launch calendar
Ideally, you won’t just “show up” as your new brand out of nowhere one day– that will be confusing to your audience. You want to gradually edge into your new branding, and keep your audience informed– and involved– along the way! Customers love feeling involved in a brand’s development– they like to feel their opinions and voices are valued and heard.
Develop your rebranded content
Don’t just start releasing content here and there with your new branding. Particularly while your branding is still new, it can be difficult to ensure consistently and an overall cohesive look and feel. Take the time to plan and develop a healthy batch of content well in advance– we recommend a minimum of two weeks worth of content across channels (social, email, blog, etc).
Then, when you’re ready to rebrand your company– all that’s left is hitting “publish!”
Need Help Rebranding a Company?
At Wholeheart, we help guide clients through their brand evolution– from reviewing performance analytics and conducting market research to working through brand foundations, upgrading visual identity, planning their rebrand launch calendar, and developing and distributing killer content.
We would love to be there for you on your journey to rebranding your company. Reach out to learn more about how we can help.