The truth is such that everything has its life cycle meaning that even if a product or service has once been innovative cream of the crop, then over time the situation can drastically change and it may lose its appeal. When your family cooking business started taking a loss, fewer and fewer participants attend your dance studio, or the number of visitors to your online shop is not as impressive as it used to be? You should indeed consider rebranding then.
Preconditions
The metamorphosis from innovative to traditional can happen in a blink of an eye as the product has entered the tradition of consumption of a specific target audience, and usually, people do not want to shackle this habit. For example, if students of a particular area or college have been avid fans of your authorship they will trust your brand and buy custom essay from your website. Time flies, the number of competitors overwhelms the market, and find yourself left behind. That moment has an equivocal nature: it gives strength to the brand but, at the same time, it allows competitors to catch up with the brand and work ahead of the curve.
That is the reason why brands need to be periodically updated and improve their long-term prospects. Having said that, rebranding is a great chance to attract new customers, adjust the brand’s values and products. Changing market conditions or crises can also be an incentive to modernize your brand. In this situation, a favored brand can either change its strategy and positioning, generally becoming more accessible, or get complemented with new products, the trust in which will be as high as in the initial version.
Rebranding
Actually, there is a wide range of strategies to choose from, the end result though is a success. Rebranding is a process aimed at changing the perception of a brand. It involves the transformation of all brand elements. It is not only about the visual aspect, but also about adjusting the new image in accordance with the developing strategy of the company. Rebranding can include changes to the logo, name, and the way we communicate with customers.
Rebranding is first and foremost a formation and vision of a new brand’s future, preferably for 5-7 years ahead. Speaking professionally, the company will need to undertake a set of actions for updating the brand to the market, adjusting values, brand impressions for current and future trends, and the needs of the target audience. How to make this process pass fruitfully? Find out through the following 10 steps.
10 Steps towards a successful rebranding
1. Research
Similar to the creation of a new brand, the process of rebranding starts with analytics and data collection. The market has already been formed, the competitive environment is well known, and trends are settled, so rebranding seems to be a more straightforward and transparent process than building a brand from scratch. It is important not to fall for this apparent ease since the competitors are always on their guard, they look to the future and search for new opportunities.
What can you do?
You should once again get a grasp of your potential target audience, predict and model what it may look like. Browse through the trends and imagine the future as well as taking into consideration the local characteristics and preferences of your customers.
As a result, you have to create a brand mapping and “arrange all competitors in one list”. It is important to think through and model consumption patterns. Understand what is happening with similar brands in other countries, soaking up the best experiences from around the world. So, in brief, your first step must include:
- Internal and external brand audit
- Competitor analysis
- Target audience analysis
- Analysis of consumption patterns
- Analysis of the world’s best practices
- Identifying the needs of the target audience
- Exploring market category trends
2. Updating the brand platform
The second step is to consider the need to adjust the brand strategy and brand platform. Here are some brand management tools to be adjusted or refined:
- Positioning
- Brand vision
- Values
- Brand platform
- Rational and emotional brand benefits
- Motives of choice
- The visual style and character of the brand
What is the brand platform?
The brand platform leads to a well-defined brand tone, character, and design. This is a key tool for managing the brand and de facto all of its manifestations. This is a clear logical structure where rational and emotional benefits are written.
At the top of the platform is the capacious quintessence of the brand – its description in a nutshell, which we try to form in the minds of consumers. This is the very insight of the brand – its uniqueness, its emotionally charged recommendation. Your task is to shape it so that the desired image is formed in the client’s mind, which they can easily and without distortion pass on to others.
3. Naming and copywriting
Once the platform updating process or the creation of the new one is behind us, we already have a fresh brand vision. It can become a new descriptor or slogan, occasionally, you may need to adjust your brand name. At this stage the priority tasks are:
- Adjusting the name or developing a new brand name
- Development of a name for a sub-brand
- Check for patent purity
- Create a slogan or brand descriptor
4. Communication strategy
A communication strategy is a long-term program for achieving strategic goals through information and communication interactions with the external and internal environment. Remember that the whole rebranding process is an Imaginarium, a visualization of the future, so before starting brand and corporal identity design, it is important to take one more step – to develop a strategy for launching a rebranding. For successful fulfillment of this task you should answer the following:
- What message will your brand transmit to the different groups of your current clients?
- What message will your brand transmit to the different groups of your new clients?
- What channels of communication will you apply?
- How quickly will you manage to update the brand in all spots of presence?
- Will the strategy differ within the regions and what markets are principal considering the new brand’s vision?
Create a brand launch plan
5. Corporate identity
Corporate identity is the visual communication of the brand with the consumer, its visual identity, the aesthetic and selling side of the product. It is a visual brand world that evokes emotions via contact with the brand.
So, at this step, we have come to the visual side of rebranding. It is important not to confuse the concepts of branding and corporal identity. You already have tools for modeling a new brand at your fingertips, thus you can understand what and how exactly demands an adjustment in the brand design.
Typically, brand design can be updated in one of two ways:
Consistent design improvement – if the brand’s platform follows the path of quality growth and follows its current audience.
New brand design (meaning 100% redesign) – when you need to change the language, become younger, reorient yourself to new markets, and reappear in an innovative way.
Here you should bear in mind the following:
- Brand identity conception
- Logo design
- Typography
- Brand’s tonality in photos and videos
6. Redesign the brand identity
At this stage, you should think of creating a unique design for each point of contact with the brand, thereby creating a world of 360 ° view for your customers. You can’t just copy the logo onto all types of advertising, print, or other media since in the client’s eyes such an image is perceived as boring and in practice, it can lead to the loss of customer loyalty.
The major task of the brand identity is to form an invisible similarity in all communication channels. You should create an interesting and memorable brand. All contact points, formats, and advertising media have their particularities from both technological and communication sides. The customer’s journey doesn’t start with a cup of coffee.
Picture this:
Firstly, the potential client spots the ad, then he pushes the cafe’s door open, he enters scrutinizing the interior, absorbs the long-awaited smell of freshly made coffee, a pleasant bartender with a menu under his arm is the icing on the cake. That is how the customer will find himself sipping the drink in our imaginary cafe, feeling taste, warmth, and a whirl of new emotions.
7. Space redesign
At this stage, you work out the ideas on the interior design together with the visual standards of sales and navigation outlets. This is another important way of a brand’s communication with consumers, and it also should be consistent with the brand’s platform.
As noted earlier your main goal is to create a unified brand experience, a holistic brand world, with a focus on the guests’ and customers’ feelings. Interiors, sales outlets are often the key channels to acquire these experiences. In offline spaces, special attention should be paid to the aesthetics of navigation, the design of the accessory elements, branding of premises, and points of contact. After all, what is not noticeable at once will be remembered as a pleasant surprise. Steps you can undertake at this stage:
Interior mood board elaboration
Drafting of recommendations for interior designers
Collaboration with architects
Design of street decoration and branding of signs, entrance groups
8. Digital channels and redesign
It is hardly surprising that the digital sphere is changing faster than the offline one. Thus the “fresh” brand should necessarily adjust the website, mobile version, mobile application, and delivery services. It is not about “pulling” the design onto the usual skeleton, but a conscious communication approach through the brand platform prism. Suffice it to say that via the digital world you have a unique chance to communicate brand benefits, values through video and non-standard approaches. A couple of key points to consider:
- Development of digital brand standards
- Website design templates development
- Mobile app design
- Design of advertising media in digital
9. Elaboration of the new brand book
The task of the brand book is to clearly and easily communicate the brand concept and brand standards within the company and when working with contractors. The video format allows you to galvanize people with new emotions and to convey both brand features and its mood more quickly.
An ideal brand book is not a thick, expensive book – it is the quintessence of the essence and vision of a brand, it is a tool of brand management and scaling that contains only those materials that are necessary for development. A couple of widely spread examples for inspiration:
- Guide books
- Brand book
- Video-brand book
10. Brand launching and support
The final stage is the launch of the brand and the author’s support of the agency, which consists of check-ups and supervision. The brand needs time to open up, for the first two or three years there can be no changes, it is necessary to strictly follow the brand platform and the developed style. This way you will create a valuable lasting image for customers and consumers.
That’s it! You just should come back to the first step and start your rebranding journey. Remember, act consistently since branding is about the future. Form your brand consciously and you will sweep the board!
Author’s Bio
Helen Wilson is a professional essay writer at WriteAnyPapers.com. Her main spheres of specialization are Branding, Marketing, and Self-development. In her spare time, she does yoga and cooking.
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