The biggest misconceptions about rebranding

February 23, 2019
lenakhalid
Brand development

Rebranding is a big deal for your company.

Whether it is to rival aggressive competition or to make the steps to globalise your business, the strategy and positioning require much more than a fleeting thought.

That being said, there are still those out there who continue to underestimate the power of a rebranding or, in some cases, just don’t see it as a solution. We have heard it all in our time as branding experts, so, allow us to bring you up to speed and demystify six of the most common misconceptions about rebranding.

1. “THERE’S NO REAL REASON FOR A REBRAND. I’VE GOT MY BRAND AND THAT’S IT.”

This is essentially sacrilege for us. Even if you don’t believe it, your brand is your opportunity to set you aside from every single other company, product, and organisation out there. But, what worked for you five years ago isn’t necessarily relevant today and for today’s markets.

You need to constantly assess what your brand represents, the role it plays and whether it reflects your values and ambitions. How can you expect your customers and followers to love your brand if you don’t?

Remember, your customer wants you to be up-to-date, active and operational, not stale. There’s value in consistency and it will only enrich your strategy as you ride with the times – in real-time – and not behind them.

2. “I WON’T GET ANY RETURN ON MY INVESTMENT.”

Measuring the ROI of your rebrand may depend initially on whether your business is B2C or B2B. On the whole, if your brand is the former, you’ll tend to find it much easier to gauge the ROI.

As you will know, it gets a bit trickier for B2B businesses. Your marketing initiatives must be consistently revisited, and, as your strategy evolves, how you measure success is a constantly moving target.

With this in mind, you’ll need to redefine how your brand measures a ‘return’; company + rebrand does not always equal visible sales, as much as we would like it to. However, it can mean a few other things that are measurable, if you’re looking out for them:

Renewed communications with clients and contacts: a new identity or positioning can spark interest from current, or even lapsed, connections and demonstrate a notable maturation since your last interaction with them. Customers and partners enjoy working with dynamic brands.

Customer conversions, response and engagement: repositioning, new visuals, website, logo, or anything else you choose to include in your rebrand roll-out campaign is a tried-and-tested way of garnering not just interest, but actual usable data.

Award nominations and wins: these pose obvious PR merits for your business, as well as bringing your brand right into the present leading the way in design, branding and communications.

Internal engagement and realignment: revisiting your brand while also nurturing your company culture can do two things: retain the confidence and inspire current employees while also acting as a beacon for future talent. This can often lead to new proposition and innovation pathways.

New leads, referrals and enquiries: as much as conversions and engagement show customer retention, actual communication from customers is that step closer to a purchase.

No, these don’t mean direct sales, but what you have above are the ingredients you need to acquire the modern day customer and understand how they purchase.

3. “MY JOB IS TO MANAGE THE BRAND, NOT CHANGE IT.”

Job descriptions are old hat, haven’t you heard? Although you should always have one in your contract, the entrepreneurial attitude needed in today’s work environment just doesn’t fit into a job description.

But, you already know this.

Now, we’re not asking you to fully own the process for a rebrand or even have any of the creative input. If that’s not where your expertise lie or remit falls, don’t tread on toes.

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But, if you’re watching your brand sink, making a sensible business case for a rebrand may be the answer. It may not even need to be a business case, possibly just an open conversation, who knows. It could just get kicked into the long grass as soon as you mention it or it could just be an idea that saves your business. No one ever gets burnt by asking the question.

4. “I HAVE A FRIEND THAT CAN DO A LOGO CHEAPLY; THAT’S ALL THE BRANDING WE NEED.”

If you think that your branding ends with your logo, you’re definitely not fulfilling your brand’s potential. The list of components for a brand can go on ad infinitum, depending on your business and how creative you want to get with your assets. If your brand is built on a logo and not a strategy, you should revisit your branding.

Sure, some guy on Fiver can knock something up for you based on your previous image and maybe their limited knowledge of your industry. But, in this process, who’s going to learn your brand inside out before it is recommunicated?

Agencies and professionals like us don’t exist to create brands, but to understand them and drive their success. You want your customers, staff, stakeholders and anyone else who comes into contact with your brand to live and breathe your mission and identity. And this requires some serious architecture.

5. “I DON’T HAVE TIME.”

An agency would be lying if they say to leave it all to them. You are right in that the effort does need to be collaborative, and this will take time.

But, when you’re saying you don’t have time for rebranding, you’re also saying the following:

I don’t have time to reinforce the monetary value of my products or services
I don’t have time to emotionally reconnect with my customers
I don’t have time to recommunicate my brand’s USP
I don’t have time to reincorporate my employees and stake holders into the business
I don’t have time to re-tell the story of my brand

Unfortunately, you can only try something for so long before it’s no longer to be “the way” to do something. If you haven’t seen success from what you’ve been doing so far, why would you keep doing it? Couldn’t your time be more efficiently used in a repositioning of your business?

6. “IF I DON’T UNDERSTAND OUR BRAND, HOW CAN A BRANDING AGENCY?”

They’re more curious than we give them credit for, brands. How they stick with people, how people associate with them. There’s no winning combination for success, but this doesn’t mean it should fall by the wayside.

How can we understand your brand if you don’t? Well, in short, this kind of work is why we get up every day and its what we absolutely crave.

Put less concisely, there’s a painful truth a lot of businesses just don’t recognise when it comes to brands. And that is that you don’t actually own your brand.

What me, the one who has created, nurtured, honed, championed and even paid for?

Unfortunately, no. You may have done all those things, but you are still only the guardian of your brand. Your brand is actually owned by those who come into contact with it out in the wild; the ones who filter all your brand communications and transform them into “your brand”, or the external perception of your brand.

That includes us as an agency. We are external agents facilitating both the internal and external communications that you may not always see. We are the impartial voice that will truly explore and awaken your brand.

Our process of amplification is an extensive one and differs depending on your business. But through this, we guarantee that we will not only learn your brand inside and out, but supply you with the solutions for deliverable success.

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