Brand Thinking
Rebranding is only necessary if and when your business can continue to compete in a constantly evolving market, and you are supporting clear business goals.
Here are some tips for how to decide if you should be looking seriously at a business rebrand.
Critique your current brand and how it aligns with your market and against key competitors. One of the major reasons for rebranding is that you have gone out of sync, where your marketing is not a true reflection of the business you have evolved into and you want to be known as. You are so focused on developing your business without ensuring your brand stays with the changes that naturally occur over time. Identify the potential start point for the rebranding of your company and keep an open mind.
Is there a continuing demand for your product or service that you are positioned to satisfy? For example, a business can realign its focus from being a trade brand with focus on the distribution channel to a B2C (business to consumer) brand to allow online selling and building direct relationships with the end client. The word of the moment is “pivoting” and while it is not right for many businesses who need to stay with their core offer, it is a wakeup call for others. Many SME businesses have resorted to this approach in efforts to simply continue operating following Covid and the generally turbulent commercial situation. When this is done it is important to assess your brand positioning and messaging to ensure that the new brand approach is effectively updated and delivered. Again, the outcome may well be to keep going with your historical brand positioning and change it to make it work.
Determine whether your brand image and message are effective with your target audience. This starts with assessing whether your website and core marketing materials properly reflect your brand. It’s more common than you would expect for the answer to be no. In which case, a new brand strategy and identity may be needed to maximise your position in the market, that is then applied across all your brand assets, with your website being focal to your branding. Avoid diving straight into the ‘we need a new website scenario’ without doing your homework first, particularly establishing what your brand strategy is going forward. Your website reflects your brand strategy, so it comes second in the process.
Lastly, when you do engage in a rebrand be sure to create a new brand approach that reflects the mission of your business. Being authentic and engaging your audience is critical. The modern buyer or consumer (both B2B and B2C) does not want to be sold to, they want to be understood, to work with or buy from brands that can help them and, importantly, ones that they trust. Your brand is a reflection of your business approach. Be known for who you are.
If you would like to delve deeper into the world of rebranding, check out this feature article on: What Rebranding Really Means.
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