When you're first starting a business, branding is likely the last thing on your mind. After all, it's hard to sit down and flip through fonts when you have so many priorities to juggle.
Whether your branding efforts started (and ended) with a logo jotted down on a napkin, or you whiteboarded your way through the entire branding process, somewhere along the way things stopped working.
If you're considering a rebrand, keep reading to learn how to rebrand a company, plus examples of other brands who've successfully rebranded their website, name, logo, or entire company mission, and purpose.
Rebranding is when your company rethinks your marketing strategy with a new name, logo, or design, with the intention of developing a new, differentiated identity in the minds of customers and other stakeholders.
Okay, now that we know what rebranding is, let's make sure you have the right reasons to rebrand.
Rebrands are complicated and carry big risks.
Even big brands aren't immune — just look at Uber. After redesigning its logo, 44% of people were unsure of what its logo represented.
Ultimately, knowing the risks of rebranding can help you determine whether or not you're jumping into a rebrand for the right reasons.
If you're considering a rebranding because sales have been slow or brand awareness efforts don't seem to be paying off, you might want to reconsider — these issues can potentially be solved by creating a new marketing strategy or conducting market research to identify the underlying cause.
But if you're considering a rebrand because your company's vision, mission, values, and market are no longer reflected in your brand, then a rebrand might be the right decision.
There are a few other major reasons you might consider a rebrand, including:
You might need to refresh your brand if you're expanding to international markets that won't identify with your current logo, messaging, and so on.
Brands are designed to connect companies with their customers, so if you reposition your business to target a completely new customer profile — whether through product, place, price, or promotion — your brand will need to follow suit.
Your business’s mission, vision, and values should govern every decision you make — including brand decisions. If your MVV are shifting and pivoting the direction of your business along with them, you’ll need to reevaluate your brand.
When two companies merge together, two brands come together as well. If your company was acquired or joined with another company, you can’t just let both brands battle it out. Finding a new brand that reflects the new entity will prevent confusion and build trust.
Additionally, here are a few reasons not to rebrand:
Too often, people consider a rebrand because they're sick of seeing the same logo and slogan every day. When you’re starting to feel restless with your brand, remember that your customers (who see it much less frequently) might love — or quickly recognize — that signature color you've come to loathe.
Whether you're working against internal issues or fending off bad press, a rebrand isn't the answer. Most consumers and employees are smart enough to see right through your rebrand and recognize it for what it is — a cover-up.
For new managers, a rebrand might seem like the fastest way to make your mark. But most new managers aren't implementing the kind of institutional change that justifies a rebrand. More often than not, new leadership that insists on a rebrand is doing it more for themselves than the company.
Maybe sales have been floundering, or perhaps brand awareness efforts aren't picking up. Either way, jumping into a rebrand is the wrong move.
At best, you’ll generate some short-term buzz without any sales and marketing strategy to sustain it. At worst, you'll lose whatever brand recognition you had and set back your sales and marketing efforts.
If you've determined a rebrand is still the right choice for you, keep reading to learn how to devise a rebranding strategy.
To successfully implement a rebranding strategy, you'll want to start by identifying whether your brand needs a partial or total rebrand. Next, re-establish your brand's target market through research to identify what demographic you're hoping to attract with a rebrand. Finally, redefine your company's vision, mission, and values, and use these new definitions as guideposts for your strategy.
Your rebranding efforts may include:
One of the main strategies of rebranding is changing your logo. Using a new logo will let your customers know that your brand's identity is different. You can make it sleeker, use different colors, etc. The main reason to change your logo is so it matches with the new identity that you're marketing with the rebrand.
Use your brand's vision, mission, and values to inspire your new aesthetic.
For example, bath and body brand b.a.r.e. represents itself with a hand-drawn logo that gives an authentic, down-to-earth feel, just like the ingredients in its products.
If you need some logo inspiration, check out this helpful guide.
After changing your brand logo, it's important to also shift your brand positioning. You can't just change your colors and logo and call it a day. The content that you're marketing needs to communicate a certain message, whether that's your mission, values, or vision. Shifting your brand positioning will let your customers know what your new mission, values, or vision is.
Chances are, you'll need to reestablish a unique selling proposition. Take stock of what distinguishes your brand from the crowd — even if means admitting that a competitor has a leg up in a certain area. This will help you better connect with you target audience and understand your position in the market.
A comprehensive guide to effectively define, launch, scale, and monitor your brand.
All fields are required.
Click this link to access this resource at any time.
Your values act as the why behind your brand. They're why you're working towards your vision, and why you're dedicated to your mission.
But, as brands expand and change, some of their founding values might become unsustainable. If you can't support your old values or you've come to prioritize new ones, you'll need to update them to reflect what your company actually values today.
As your vision, mission, and values change while rebranding, the way you convey these aspects of your company will also have to change. The vocabulary, tone, and voice you use for your brand have to match your message. So, if what you're saying is changing, how you're saying it will need to change, as well.
Changing names is a big undertaking, one that can cost you brand recognition and organic search traffic in one fell swoop. So, if you're renaming your company as part of your rebrand, make sure you have a plan for recovery as part of your post-rebrand strategy.
On the whole, if your name still fits, your best course of action is to keep it. But if your current name is a mismatch for your company identity, it might be time to go back to the drawing board. To help make that drawing board a little less daunting, here are some starter ideas for the renaming process:
If you're revisiting your name while rebranding, focus on alignment with your brand's vision, mission, and values — more than just what sounds good. That way, your new name has a better chance of supporting your long-term growth and goals.
A good slogan is catchy and captures your company's mission and vision. It's your company's purpose, condensed. Unlike changing names, changing slogans is a little easier for your marketing efforts. But like changing names, you should still consider it carefully.
First, it's critical you ask yourself, why do you really want to change your slogan?
It's easy to fall into the trap of hating your slogan because you've heard it so many times. But it's that same repetition that builds brand recognition. Even though you might have gotten sick of your slogan after seeing it constantly, your customers might love it.
If you're on the fence, you can hold focus groups to see if the slogan is really resonating. If it isn't, you can get some new ideas for slogans with these starting points:
The tangible elements you use to communicate your brand might have been in play for a few years by the time you start considering a rebrand. This means you've likely had plenty of time to reconsider their strengths and weaknesses before replacing them.
You might want to redesign your logo, use new colors in your brand material, or even create new brand guidelines. Here are a few common changes you might make as part of your rebranding strategy:
Maybe you loved your logo when you first started your company, but you're finding your customers never really seemed to "get it". Alternatively, perhaps your logo needs a refresh to reflect the other major changes you've made internally.
If you're looking to do a logo redesign, going back to the basics of what makes a good logo will help you to get it right this time.
Stay simple. Jamming as much symbolism as possible into a logo generally doesn't work out too well. But that's a hard truth for young companies who are still trying to prove themselves. Now that you're more established, show your confidence with a simple logo.
Make an impact. Maybe you went the opposite route in your original logo design and were too afraid to be bold, so you stuck with something safe. Your logo isn't worth much if people can't remember it, so when you're redesigning your logo, don't settle for something that won't stand out.
Be adaptable. One thing you might have learned with your first logo is its limitations. Now that you know what shapes or styles might not be as versatile for the channels your business actually uses, bear those in mind during the redesign.
Aim for appropriate. As companies mature and get to know their customers better, a logo that might have made sense at launch could now be considered completely wrong for that company's target market.
Look to the long term. As fun as rebrands might seem, you don't want to do this every year, so really look at your vision, mission, values, and purpose and consider whether this new logo can support them in the long run.
Maintain through-lines. Like your name, your logo is one of your brand's most memorable components. When you're rebranding, avoid losing too much brand recognition by trying to maintain the parts of your old logo that worked. If you can maintain a sense of continuity, you'll be able to carry over some of the brand recognition your old logo initially had.
If we look at a few logo redesigns from 2019, we can see this process in action. Take Zara and The Knot, for example, two companies that changed their logos in the last few years:
In these brand updates, elements of the old brand carry through. Zara kept its bold, black lettering, but pushed the kerning tighter and switched one Serif font for another. The Knot, on the other hand, stayed in the same typography family with a Script font, but swapped blue for orange in their color scheme.
Color can have a huge impact on your brand — in fact, some colors are now synonymous with the brands that use them, like McDonald's yellow. But choosing the right color can be difficult, and as your company develops, your color might need a brush up.
Looking at your brand colors with fresh eyes using color psychology and competitor research can help you evaluate whether they're working with (or against) the brand image you're looking to project.
Additionally, now that you've been working with your color(s) for a while, you may have noticed that the way your colors show up on-screen vs. in-print isn't consistent. When considering colors during your rebrand, check to ensure the color looks the same on a variety of brand materials.
A comprehensive guide to effectively define, launch, scale, and monitor your brand.
