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Rebranding is a complex process aimed at changing your brand identity in the minds of consumers, employees and other stakeholders. On the surface, it's easy to think renaming such as simply developing a new logo or slogan for your organization.
However, true rebranding exercises go deeper and have the power to change the trajectory of your entire business. Brands of all sizes choose to refresh their identity to grow with existing audiences, reach new customers or embrace mergers and acquisitions. Regardless of your reason for renaming, follow the steps in this guide to successfully complete the process.
Related: When to Consider a Rebrand (and How to Do It Right)
Understanding the need for renaming
There are obvious and more subtle signs to tell brand teams that their brand is getting old. Changes in your product or service offerings, industry-wide changes, and competitive pressures are among the most obvious signs that it is time to rename. Declining sales or market share are two other reasons to consider updating your brand.
In addition, rebranding can help your company expand into new markets and reach new target audiences. On the other hand, your need to rebrand may be driven by less obvious causes such as an outdated brand image or negative customer perception. The last two may be more difficult to identify.
Assessing brand health
Evaluating brand health is often the first step in deciding whether you need to rename or not. Start by analyzing general market trends and considering how competitors are positioned. How does your company compare?
To better understand customer sentiment about your brand, conduct surveys and focus groups and use social media listening to gauge your position among existing audiences.
Renaming best practices
Once your team commits to rebranding, follow these best practices to ensure the process runs smoothly and successfully.
Step 1: Define your objectives
Like other aspects of strategic marketing, effective rebranding begins with defining your objectives and ensuring they are aligned with your overall business strategy. Without clarifying what you want to achieve, it becomes impossible to achieve your objective.
Step 2: Research and analysis
Conduct research to gain a clear picture of industry trends, customer preferences, and competitor strategies in your field. or SWOT analysisdetailing your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats is another useful tool to inform the next steps of your rebranding process.
Step 3: Involve stakeholders
Engage with employees from the start. Their insights can be invaluable, and fostering a sense of ownership from the start will help the entire team embrace the new brand identity. If your business has been established for some time, ask loyal customers for feedback to understand their views of your brand and possible expectations of changes.
Related: The strategic guide to successful rebranding
Develop a comprehensive brand strategy
A comprehensive branding strategy is the foundation of an impactful rebranding exercise. Start by creating one positioning statement that clarifies how you want to be perceived in the market. This statement will become your North Star during the rest of the process.
With the positioning statement in place, your team can work on a marketing and communications plan. This plan describes how you will communicate the rebranding to internal and external audiences to ensure that everyone is not only kept up to date, but remains engaged with the plan.
Create a unique brand story
Your brand story should be at the heart of all marketing messages. Check your existing narrative to see if it emotionally connects with your audience and communicates both your brand values and your mission.
Make sure you brand voice and personality are consistent across all channels and resonate with your audience.
Redesigning the visual identity
Most rebranding processes involve redesigning your visual identity. When it comes to updating your logo and other design elements, you're looking to bring the brand's heritage into the present to create a modern, cohesive look that reflects the brand's essence.
Implementation and distribution
With all the rebranding building blocks in place, it's time to plan your launch strategy. For most brands, a phased launch works best – it allows the audience to prepare and builds excitement before the actual launch date. Both teaser campaigns and well-publicized launch events can work very effectively.
Internally, it is important to provide employees with the right resources and training to help them implement the new brand effectively and avoid continuing to use the old brand identity.
Monitoring and evaluation
Once your new brand identity is in place, it's time to monitor the effectiveness of the rebrand. Consider the follow-up key performance indicators (KPIs), such as brand awareness and customer engagement, and compare the results to the previous identity.
Create a feedback loop for customers and employees to simplify continuous feedback collection. You should also be prepared to make minor adjustments if necessary.
CHALLENGE
Rebranding can represent a big change, especially for brands that haven't changed their identity for a long time. Considering potential challenges and planning for them will help your team navigate them smoothly.
Internal and external resistance
Both customers and employees may be resistant to changing the identity of a much-loved brand. Addressing their fears and clearly communicating the reasons for the reassignment can be very effective in minimizing resistance to change.
Financial constraints
Renaming can be expensive. Set your budget from the start and make sure every step of your rebranding process is covered, including research, design, implementation and communication.
Maintaining brand equity
One of the most critical aspects of renaming is maintaining exibility brand equity while updating your identity. Try to honor the heritage and history of the brand while striving for a fresh look.
Legal considerations
Work with your legal team to ensure compliance with existing trademarks and avoid infringement issues.
Rebranding can breathe new life into your company and your brand. This process has the potential to attract new audiences or rekindle the enthusiasm of existing customers. Following this step-by-step guide will make for a smooth and impactful renaming process.