Reasons For Rebranding And What Steps To Take It

Rebranding is a change in the ideological roots of the brand and the development of an identity that translates a new ideological basis.

Any company that wants to remain in the market, needs rebranding. The market dynamic demands responding from the business. Competitors are moving forward, consumers are following new trends, and those who didn’t want to change will be left behind. Any popular brand becomes obsolete and loses its position in the market without renovation. Internal changes in the company, its growth, and new experience also determine the need for rebranding.

Formerly, renovations took place approximately every 7 years, but now market processes have accelerated, and business survives only due to a quick reaction to changes. Companies with a strategic vision of the market usually do a rebranding before the interest of the target audience declines.

Rebranding allows you to regain your previous positions and reach even more advantageous ones. However, all updates must be reasonable and meaningful and not be carried out without solid reasons. Rebranding isn’t a whim or a tribute to fashion, but a necessity. This is the result of a strategic decision based on market research.

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Good reasons for rebranding

1. Imprecise positioning

An uncertain market positioning doesn’t allow the company to stand out from its competitors. The only way out is to perform a reposition and highlight your advantages. Respectively, you’ll need a rebranding.

2. Changing of the needs of the target audience

Consumer values ​​are changing, they are influenced by stronger market players. New products and trends appear, purchasing power changes. This means that the brand needs changes at the level of ideas and renovation.

A drop in sales may be a signal that your brand is out of date. Users lose interest in the product, its design and packaging don’t meet modern trends and have lost appeal in the eyes of your target audience. At first glance, there are no objective reasons for the fall in demand.

This is a sign of emotional and visual fatigue with the brand.

3. Emerging of a competitor brand

A competitor emerges in your market segment and occupies your positions. Its products (essentially the same as yours) look more interesting thanks to the visual presentation and marketing tricks. If you don’t want to become a tardy player, you need to change your positioning and do a rebranding.

4. Change of company ideology

If the company undergoes internal changes — new goals are set, the values, system of work, and relationships with customers change, then rebranding will let the market and consumers know about it. Mergers and acquisitions, global structural changes in the company are serious reasons for rebranding. A wrong strategy can be the cause of brand unattractiveness in the eyes of the target audience. Changing the strategy also implies rebranding.

5. Product line expansion

Expanding the product line or the geography of the brand, the development of new markets by the brand requires changing the perception of the company in the minds of customers and is a reason for rebranding.

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The rebranding process includes 5 main steps.

Step 1. Marketing Audit

You have to estimate the need for brand updating and determine the nature of the changes. At this stage you analyze the following:

• brand ideology
• identity
• image
• visual identity
• communication with customers
• brand environment

The audit is conducted using interviews with employees and external expert review.

Step 2. Repositioning

Revision of the semantic field of the brand, its differentiating properties, as well as of the combination of image, marketing, and visual attributes.

Includes:

• аpositioning analysis
• competitor analysis
• definition and description of the target audience
• formulation of the main brand’s value
• analysis of all product consumption strategies and choosing of relevant ones
• development of communication strategy principles

You can carry this analysis on your own if there are professional marketing specialists in your company, or you can entrust this crucial step to an agency.

The result of the analysis and revision is a functional specification. It will be the basis for further brand development.

Step 3. Restyling

This is the development of visual identity — the work in changing the logo, corporate identity, website design, packaging, etc. following the Technical Task. Sometimes minor corrections are sufficient, and sometimes you need drastic changes.

The development has two stages:

1. A new logo and style concept is created.

2. Document forms, advertising media, logo, website, application, and other visual components of the brand are changed in accordance with the new concept. When it comes to the design of the package or label, then the concept is also developed first and then adapted to the entire product line.

This stage of work should be assigned to professional designers and developers. The key factors in choosing a contractor should be a work portfolio and experience in coping with such tasks.

Step 4. Communication strategy and promotion

You need to communicate to the customers the changes that will occur with the brand. An updated brand shouldn’t cause a negative reaction, but this sometimes happens even with well-known companies. This is the task of overcoming established stereotypes. Accustomed to the old brand, people initially perceive the new image as a destruction of their comfort. Besides, everything new attracts attention more than usual. Imagine a person wearing the same suit for years, and then appearing in a new one. The spotlight will be focused on their new look, and the suit will be examined carefully and meticulously. Therefore, your visual identity should be at a high level, and the message to the audience — attractive in a new way.

Equally important is the promotion strategy. It’s necessary to formulate the principles of long-term communication with the audience, think over the message that your updated brand broadcasts to them, and prepare a plan for implementing rebranding. Promotions issues should be also assigned to professionals, if possible.

Step 5. Introducing a new brand

Now it’s time to bring the updated brand to life. You should start planning this step already at the initial stages of rebranding. Usually, the implementation itself is more expensive than the development. It should have specific time limits and be carried out as quickly as possible. This includes the updating of all points of contact with the brand — work with employees, physical change of visual identity, advertising campaign for rebranding.

The introduction begins from the inside. It’s necessary to familiarize the staff with the ongoing changes. Everyone should know about them and be prepared to broadcast the updated brand to each client.

Conclusion

Despite the serious expenditures of time and resources during the renovation process, rebranding is always an investment in the future. The investments more than justify themselves in the end. Competent rebranding increases the overall effectiveness of the company, promotes clear positioning, the development of new markets and areas of activity. In addition, rebranding improves the organization and consistency of teamwork. However, an analysis of the situation and statement of its necessity is required in the first instance. Justified rebranding will give your company a chance to grow and develop like nothing else.