Recently several of our contacts and even a client (maybe two) are looking to rebrand their business. Rebranding can be a perilous path to walk if you’re not prepared. A successful rebrand takes time, requires a plan, and may challenge your creativity. Not to mention that content marketing is both important and powerful when it comes to rebranding.
You’ve been on social media. You have seen how many businesses, organizations, and individuals are jockeying for everyone’s attention.
Do your research
It all starts here, doesn’t it? Ask yourself a few questions:
- Why are you rebranding?
- How will you best connect/reconnect with your audience?
- If you lose any of your audience, how do you regain them?
- Does your new logo compliment your brand?
- Does your new tagline connect with your audience?
- What is your content strategy for your rebrand campaign? (Check out a past article of ours on highly effective content marketing)
- Do you need a new domain?
You will also have a lot of the needed information from prior research:
- What platforms are your clients on?
- What time is the best time to reach them?
- How often should you post content?
- Keywords and tags
Have a plan
After you have done your research, establish a plan. We’re sure you had a brand marketing strategy beforehand, it is time to revise it.
Think of why you’re rebranding and what you want to achieve, then revise your marketing strategy accordingly. Look at what was working for you in the past and build upon that. Likewise, look at what wasn’t working for you and consider how you may adjust it, so it becomes a strength, or if it is something you should cut entirely.
Map out your content, know what you will change, the content you will create, what you will publish, and when. Look at the keywords and tags you were using and evaluate them, cutting out ones that were not performing for your brand. Put together new keywords and tags to include with the rebrand.
If you have a physical location, can you put together a ribbon-cutting or get together to celebrate the rebrand. If so, do it. Create awareness and buzz around your rebrand.
Make your audience/customers part of the process (get their input)
As people, we love to be and feel included (this is a generalization). Your audience has that same desire to be included. Pull them into the rebranding process and keep them along for the journey.
Create an announcement to share across all media platforms (social media, email, website, networking organizations, press releases, and more), decide when you will make the announcement, then push it out accordingly.
As you’re redesigning your logo, fonts, and color palettes, ask for their input and opinions. This may look something like creating four variations of a logo, sharing them with your audience in one piece of content, and asking which they like best and why.
Bonus: Not only does this include your audience, but it also makes for engaging content!
Reminder: If you’re having an event to celebrate the rebranding, be sure to invite your audience through the different mediums and send reminders to increase the likelihood of a good turnout.
Consistency is key
We can’t state this enough. Even in your day-to-day marketing plan, consistency is highly important. When you’re not consistent with your content, people do not associate as much value with it, no matter how valuable it is to them.
Stay consistent with your messaging and announcements. Once you have a timeline laid out for your rebranding process, do all you can to stick to it and only reschedule parts of the timeline if absolutely necessary.
Wrapping it up
Rebranding can be challenging on its own, make sure you’re in it for the right reasons. Do your research, set out a plan, create a schedule, and do all you can to stick to that schedule. When you have a plan, you turn a perilous journey into a calculated one; mitigating risk and pitfalls. Include your audience in the process; it builds a sense of connection and trust while creating engaging content.
Have you gone through a rebrand? What steps did you take to help ensure its success? Please share your experience with us.
Until next time, keep smiling.
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