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As companies grow, alteration is inevitable. In galore cases, it's these changes that lead to important and defining rebranding decisions. Rebrands correspond an unthinkable opportunity for businesses to entreaty to wider audiences, amended pass their marque values and identity, and instrumentality changes that yet amended position them successful their fixed marketplace segment.
However, it is basal to admit nan work, thought and heavy information that must spell into each facet of a rebrand. After all, nan process is time-consuming and requires nan important allocation of resources, truthful it's important that nan rebrand imagination and marque personality align to guarantee money is good spent, caller customers are reached, and existent customers stay loyal to nan brand.
Recently, I worked intimately pinch our VP of Marketing to spearhead rebranding efforts astatine my company, ZenToes, which has grown substantially since we launched successful 2015. It was important for america to stay focused passim nan agelong process, considering astatine each measurement really our packaging and branding would bespeak and elevate our marque acquisition and service arsenic an hold of our mission.
Now that we are fresh to unveil our rebrand, I wanted to stock cardinal considerations that were adjuvant passim nan process to thief different business leaders considering a rebrand return their companies and branding to nan adjacent level.
Related: Does Your Company Need A Rebrand? Here's Why, When and How You Should Do It.
1. Do your research
Whatever investigation you do, it should support answering this two-part question: What does nan competitor group look like, and really do you group yourself apart? Be thorough and diligent successful gaining a existent knowing of your marketplace conception truthful that you tin guarantee your marque is group apart.
2. Reflect your halfway values
For our rebrand, introspective exercises and a look astatine aspirational brands helped america validate and germinate our core values. We found, for instance, that it was important that ZenToes embody a consciousness of joy, which now shows done our colorful approach. Once your halfway values are intelligibly defined, it will beryllium easier to travel to a statement connected ways to impart and bespeak those values done your branding visually.
3. Clearly pass merchandise intent and institution mission
Never suffer show of nan value of communicating what you do done your branding and copy. Consumers should beryllium capable to look astatine your packaging successful a shop aisle and intelligibly cognize what your merchandise is and really it is useful.
4. Stay existent to your marque voice
Approach your marque arsenic if it were a person. It tin beryllium adjuvant to prosecute successful an archetypes workout to personify your marque truthful that you tin solidify marque behaviors and perceptions. We did this during our caller rebrand and recovered it captious to enactment existent to our authentic marque sound and personality passim nan process.
Related: The Strategic Guide to Successful Rebranding
5. Get your squad involved
Your squad knows your marque best; usage them for input connected really nan rebranding process is shaping up – particularly your customer work team, who person a nonstop statement to your customers daily. Establishing a lead for nan task tin besides guarantee timely completion.
6. Bring successful experts erstwhile you get stuck
You will inevitably brushwood moments erstwhile you consciousness stuck during nan rebranding process. Sometimes, nan reply is arsenic elemental arsenic conscionable needing a caller group of ideas and eyes. I've ever believed that collaboration is nan measurement to get things done, and bringing successful a caller position connected immoderate aspects of nan marque proves incredibly helpful.
Related: Why Times of Crisis Teach Us to Ask for Help
7. Address what wasn't working
For our caller rebrand project, everything started pinch attempting to reply nan question, 'How tin our packaging thief america guidelines retired connected nan support arsenic a brand?'. From there, we realized we needed to streamline and modernize our quality to go what we group retired to beryllium – a disruptive ft attraction marque that infuses joyousness into each aspects of taking attraction of your feet – and create a marque artifact astatine nan support that captures nan shopper's attraction astatine a glance. It's important to explain what needs to alteration from nan outset of immoderate rebranding task to enactment connected track.
8. Keep nan task organized
Working done important problems and addressing nan marque successful steps was captious successful ensuring nan occurrence of nan business and nan rebrand. Consider leveraging an organizational instrumentality for illustration Asana to thief enactment connected apical of timelines and guarantee thing falls done nan cracks.
Related: 10 Simple Productivity Tips for Organizing Your Work Life
9. Validate arsenic you go
Polling was integral to knowing that our activity – namely, nan updated ocular personality of nan marque – was headed successful nan correct guidance and gave america nan assurance to bring nan rebrand to nan support astatine retail. Throughout nan process, we submitted nan caller packaging for awards to measurement results, yet winning nan GD USA Packaging Award.
10. Address nan rebrand to your existent customers
Communication must beryllium a apical privilege to support marque loyalty and debar customer confusion. In gearing up to rotation our rebrand retired successful stores, we established clear messaging and communications to support nan packaging modulation for each of our listings, informed our unit partners months successful advance, and leveraged nan integer shop refresh arsenic a infinitesimal to observe our marque intent connected societal media.
11. Know that it's tons of activity pinch unforeseen cost
Rebranding projects return clip and often impact unforeseen challenges and costs. One precocious engagement and perchance costly hurdle we had to activity done astatine ZenToes was merchandise modulation timelines astatine retail. It was a existent operational foxtrot — nary 2 products transitioned astatine nan aforesaid clip for us, and to support repack costs down, we flowed done updates crossed nan portfolio. Another high-touch infinitesimal involves updating each integer assets — from merchandise photography to graphics, email signatures, and societal favicons. There are tons of assets to touch and update. Keep way of priorities, but besides beryllium prepared for nan unexpected.
12. Have fun!
Seriously, rebranding projects tin and should beryllium fun! The full process, though astatine times exhausting, is incredibly rewarding. From winning awards to getting your squad and customers excited astir it, imaginative activity should beryllium breathtaking and celebrated. Submit for awards to admit cardinal players' work, get your organization progressive and excited, and reward your squad on nan way.
Ultimately, rebranding represents an unthinkable opportunity for a company, its squad and customers to link astir a shared marque vision. Establishing a beardown ocular personality that aligns pinch nan business's halfway values, intelligibly communicates its unsocial trading propositions and speaks to consumers tin beryllium a crippled changer for immoderate brand. Be mindful passim nan process and return nan clip to do owed diligence. Done right, nan consequence will toggle shape your trajectory and return your marque to nan adjacent level.