The following post comes to us from Jessica Fender, an experienced marketer and blogger who has been writing professionally for 3+ years and enjoys sharing her expertise with others.
Every business needs to be growing and changing. This is because, over time, all kinds of factors will change around it. That includes the market, the competitors, or even the customers. But, while your business is going through changes, your branding strategy cannot remain the same. And, if you ignore it and continue perceiving your business as something static, it won’t last very long. But, if you want to adapt to the changes, you have to consider rebranding.
Branding is about sending a certain message to your target audience and presenting your business in a way you want the customers to perceive it. And rebranding is- changing all of the above. If your business is stuck and you feel like you need rebranding, just keep reading.
What is Rebranding?
Before we dig any deeper, let’s try and define the whole concept of rebranding. What does it imply?
Rebranding is a marketing strategy that implies changing or developing a new:
- visual representation of the brand: colors, fonts, logo
- brand image: personality, mission, vision, goals
It comes as a result of a change that occurred within your business. It could happen due to a number of reasons:
- your competition is way ahead of you
- you’re changing your business model
- you’re targeting a different group of people
- your current branding isn’t working
- you’re switching to a different market
Rebranding can be crucial in making your business stand out once again.
6 Tips For Writing Your Rebranding Strategy
Now, let’s take a look at our 6 best tips that will help you rebrand like a professional.
1. Rethink Your Mission Statement
You need to start from your base. Your mission statement is a declaration of your purpose that tells your customers why you’re in business and how you’re making their lives better.
Changing your mission statement is an important rebranding step. Make sure to ask yourself:
- What is our main mission?
- What is our vision for the future?
- How are we making our customers’ lives better?
A great mission statement can fit all of these answers into one sentence- like, for instance, TED’s “Spread Ideas”.
2. Redefine Your Target Audience
Are you changing your business location from one country to another? Are you entering a new, different market? Are you changing your business offer?
If this or something similar is your case, you are no longer reaching out to the same people. That means you need to redefine your target audience.
Think about the new buyer persona you’ll be targeting, and do all the research to determine their:
- age
- sex
- problems
- needs
- dilemmas
- habits
- online behavior
- preferred online platforms
Gather the necessary information and focus your new branding ideas on this redefined target audience. That way, you’ll be better prepared to choose the right words, visuals, style, and marketing channels for your strategy.
3. Rethink Your Brand Voice
When you’re speaking or writing as a brand, you need to set a consistent brand voice. An, when you’re rebranding, you’ll need to rethink it.
Your brand voice includes:
- personality
- tone
- style of writing and overall communication
Your brand voice helps you create a persona behind the business. You need to reconsider who you’re talking to and create changes in your brand voice to be more appealing to the new audience.
4. Change the Visual Identity
Another necessary step in your rebranding strategy is changing the visual identity of the brand. Think about Coca-Cola’s visual identity, for example. It is:
- color red
- script font
- the round shape of the bottle and graphics
To change your brand visual identity, you’ll need to change:
- the color palette
- the logo
- typography
- imagery i.e. images and videos
Of course, you don’t have to change all the elements. You also don’t have to do a complete, 100% makeover.
For example, you can keep some elements of your old logo but make it more modern, change the colors, or the font.
Decide how big of a change you want to make and reshape your visual identity.
5. Tell New Stories
Storytelling is a huge part of a business’s brand identity. With rebranding, you’ll need to rethink the stories you’re telling.
Find a new approach in your storytelling:
- the emotions you want to evoke
- the stories behind the creation of the new brand
- customers’ stories you’ll share
Deepen the human side of your brand by sharing new stories that will evoke empathy and make your brand relatable to the people you’re targeting.
6. Boost Your Online Presence
Once you define all the new aspects of your business’s branding, you need to start spreading the word about the new you. That means you have to apply and show all these new determiners in your online presence.
That is the final step in your rebranding strategy:
- redesign your entire website according to your new visual identity
- write & outsource new content based on your new mission, products, or services
- craft content for your new target audience
- hit social media with all you’ve got
Don’t forget to use your new voice consistently, across all online platforms. If you need help with your new content, you can hire a service that provides professional custom writing.
Raise your voice and show the results of your hard work.
Final Thoughts
Rebranding is a wise strategic move for businesses that need a drastic change in their approach to their customers. It can help you set and accomplish new business goals, and push beyond your limits.
Hopefully, these 6 tips we’ve shared above will help you write and implement a brilliant rebranding strategy that will get your business where it needs to be.