Are You Thinking Of Launching A Rebrand?
One of the most exciting, albeit daunting, tasks a company can embark on is a rebrand. Rebranding your company takes hard work, communication, and above all, planning. If your rebrand process is not planned well and properly rolled out, you will not make the impact you would like and all that hard work will have been for nothing. This blog will outline some tips and tricks on planning and rolling out your rebrand.
Tip #1: Write Your Brand Story
Before planning, consider the “why” behind your rebrand. How exactly does this new branding reflect your company’s journey? Come up with a summary that describes what you would like to accomplish with this new rebrand and the journey leading up to this point and commit to it. A good way to institute your brand story would be shortening your brand story into a two-sentence version and posting it on Facebook along with your new logo on launch day. After launch day, you can then work on a more detailed version of your brand story into a blog format that allows followers and clients to get the bigger picture behind the rebrand.
Another important step to rebranding is making sure that your internal team knows your brand story as well. They should also understand the motive behind the company’s rebranding and they should be able to communicate that story to customers and clients.
Tip #2: Choose A Launch Date
Choose a date to officially launch your rebrand and ensure that it is realistic. One of the biggest hiccups you can encounter in the rebranding process is creating a timeline that is not feasible for you and your team to effectively execute. Creating a calendar of due dates and events for the duration of this process will help with this significantly. Once that calendar is created, stick to it. Don’t stray from the path that you have created and risk throwing off the whole process. If you are feeling tempted to adjust some rebranded materials, don’t do it!
Tip #3: Prepare Brand Touchpoints
A company’s brand appears both internally and externally. When going through the rebranding process, it is important to make sure that all materials both internal and external are updated to fit the new brand. Internal items include documents such as templates and onboarding training, whereas external items would be documents and communication like email signatures, signs, and social media handles. Keep consistency throughout your rebrand and thoroughly check that all materials are kept up-to-date, otherwise it could lead to client and customer confusion. Remember that visual inconsistency drastically reduces the impact of a rebrand reveal.
Tip #4: Decide Who To Tell, And When To Tell Them About Your Rebrand
This may seem like an obvious one, but be sure to let everyone know about your rebrand. Spread the news to both previous clients and new potential clients, but do not forget about your internal team as well. Keep employees, shareholders, customers, social media followers, and newsletter subscribers in the loop about all things rebrand-related. When creating your rebrand calendar, come up with specific dates for when to tell each audience. This will help to keep you on track with your process and dissolve any confusion about when each audience segment should know about your rebrand.
Deciding when to tell your audiences is another critical part of planning a rebrand. Be sure to arrange your calendar so that your internal players, like employees, know before your outside audience. A good tip to remember is that you do not have to wait until the official launch day to tell your social media followers. Use your platforms to your advantage and promote the launch by hinting at what is to come, thus building more excitement. Post about a big announcement coming a few weeks and then a few days before the launch to build some extra hype around the actual day. Using tools like Instagram’s countdown clock would be a great way to get your followers engaged in what is coming without giving away the big reveal.
Have some fun and create additional engagement opportunities for your followers by having them guess what they think the big announcement will be. On the official launch day, show off your new brand and explain in short the reasoning behind the rebrand.
Tip #5: Decide How To Tell Everyone, And What You Should Say
For most of your audiences, you will be able to decide how to tell them fairly easily. Social media followers will be best notified with posts on your social platforms. For clients that may not frequent social media, it might be best to send out a mass email, create an ad campaign, or show a new announcement on your website.
Once you have identified the who, when, and how, you must establish a what. This means deciding how you will tell the ‘why’ of your rebranding efforts. For example, followers of your Twitter account may only need a quick explanation, whereas, email subscribers would most likely be interested in a lengthier, more detailed story of why you are rebranding. What you say in the announcement makes an impact, so do not be afraid to spend time drafting and rewriting.
Tip #6: Always Review And Revise
Coming up with a rebranding plan takes a lot of attention to detail, so always review your plan before implementing it to be sure you never miss a thing. When reviewing, make sure that your calendar of rebrand events is on a realistic timeline so you and your team stay on track. Check and double-check that all of your audiences, both internal and external, will be kept in the loop and that every place that your brand shows up is documented correctly to stay in line with your rebrand. Do not shy away from multiple plan reviews, and before you begin implementing revise until you reach a rebranding plan that is realistic and effective for your specific brand. Remember, not all brands are exactly the same, so play to your company’s strengths.
A Few Additional Click Control Marketing Tips
- Prepare a style guide! A style guide is a compilation of your brand identity. It can be an incredibly helpful internal tool where your brand assets like logos, your color palette, and brand fonts live. A style guide makes it as easy as possible for your team to understand and implement your new brand guidelines.
- Promote your launch! Do not be afraid to post about the announcement more than once, and on multiple platforms. Keep the coverage coming. Continue hinting around about the big news before revealing it completely.
- Develop a good way to roll out a name change! If changing your name is going to be part of your rebranding process, you may need to develop a process for phasing out the old business name. Referencing the old name as “formerly” for a short time following the rebrand launch is a good way to do this. Oftentimes though, an overnight switch is the best and most memorable way to go about it.
Don’t Let A Rebrand Intimidate You!
Rebranding is an exciting and intimidating task for any business. But with the right plan in place, and the drive to implement it, it can be a rewarding experience. With tips and tricks on how to succeed in the venture of taking on a rebrand, the undertaking of this process becomes less of a stress and more of an asset to your business.
