There might be some very good reasons why your company would want to rebrand, but there have been some well-known disasters – think about Royal Mail changing to Consignia, which cost £1.5m to launch and another £1m to change back. You don’t want to make the same mistake, so what should you think about?
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The reason
What is the reason for the rebrand? It may be that when you have been in business for a while, your customer-base has changed and your branding is behind the times. You may want to expand to include a new customer base but retain the old one. Just make sure you know your reason and whether you will alienate your existing clients.
Do you really know what your customers want?
It is always a good idea to check what your customers really want from a rebrand. It is all too easy to think we know, but it is always a good idea to check. Customer surveys can be very revealing. Using a branding agency can be useful to help you devise and carry out an appropriate survey.
Brand identification
Regardless of whether we consciously realise it, we all identify in some way with the brands we buy from. They make us feel good in some way. If you can work out why this is, you can become part of the way your customers identify themselves. This is why women buy designer handbags or designer shoes.
Timing is everything
According to Forbes, rebranding is best done at a time when sales are not at their best, when the company’s reputation has been adversely affected in some way, or when the company is completely changing its focus. Use a branding agency such as Really Helpful Marketing to make sure you are not doing things in the wrong way at the wrong time.
Benefits and budgets
It all comes down to money at the end of the day. Be clear about the benefits you want to achieve from the rebranding and make sure you can afford it. The benefits have to be worth all the effort that goes into the change and must be of value to your customers. As for cost, remember all the ‘hidden’ costs such as communications to your existing customers. If you want to keep them, don’t let them feel left behind.