What to consider when rebranding a business

Rebranding means overhauling your brand’s identity and giving it a fresh new purpose. The decision to rebrand your business can be exciting to pursue, but it is also hard work. So it’s important to make sure you have thought it through properly. This guide will offer a comprehensive look at rebranding to provide you with all of the information you need around:

Reasons to consider a rebrand

• Customer changes
• New business direction
• Keeping up with the times

Things to consider when rebranding

• Importance of brand
• Loss of recognition

Over time, you may want to change the customers your business targets. Doing constant market research will often help you find new people to target.

When you create your branding for your business, you should tailor it to the tastes and interests of your target audience. So naturally, changing that audience would likely mean you need to adapt your branding. 

Your current customers may be the cause of a rebrand too, you could still target the same people, but their habits could have changed over time. In addition, the way you reach that audience through your marketing, social media may prompt you to adjust your brand to suit those platforms.

It is not uncommon for businesses to change course. For example, you may decide to move into new markets and offer different products or services. You may also choose to change how your company operates, which affects your priorities. For example, you could move from a store to only trading online.

When selling a different product range, you may want to create a distinct identity for your brand. In addition, competitors in other markets may have similar branding, so when aiming to differentiate yourself, you may change yours. 

Having an old brand may form part of your appeal, but it could also hold you back in current times. Tastes change over time. Popular colours and patterns in one decade may not be desirable in another. Often technology and fashion businesses have to be seen as ahead of the trends, so they can’t let their customers view the brand as old.

Names that may have been popular could take a new meaning over time. So rebranding would be wise if any new meanings may have negative connotations.

Branding is one of the most important aspects of any business. It provides a sense of identity and allows you to decide how your customers view you.

For many business interactions, a customer will make a decision about your brand after the first impression. That means the wrong message could negatively impact your likelihood of success. For new customers, the first impressions matter so when rebranding your business you should consider how they respond to you through their sensory experiences. Depending on the nature of your business this could include sight, sound, smell, touch and taste.

How customers see your brand creates your visual identity. Usually, this includes a logo you use to represent your business through an icon or word. You also need to consider the fonts, colours and specific visuals your brand uses. According to Forbes, consistent colours improve brand recognition by up to 80%.

If your website looks different to your store, this will confuse your customers. Everything needs to be coherent, and you should make it easy to build recognition for your brand.

How customers hear your brand is another essential aspect to consider. It could mean the name of your business and how hearing it makes the customers feel. If you have chosen the correct name, your customers should respond positively to hearing it.

The sound also means how you talk to your customers. You should decide on a tone of voice to communicate to them. Speak to your customers in the same way through emails as you would in a radio advert. If they can become familiar with how the brand speaks to them, they can form a relationship. According to a study by Sprout Social, 86% of consumers prefer an authentic brand personality on social platforms.

If you have a physical store, the smell of your brand can be a powerful tool. A scent that entices customers to make purchases may also leave a lasting impression. A study carried out by Samsung, found that when consumers were exposed to a company scent, shopping time was increased by 26% and they visited three times more product categories.

Being able to make sure your customers remember your brand in any way helps build a reputation. Though you need to be careful with doing this as some customers may be put off by overwhelming smells, this has been the case for brands like Lush and Yankee Candle.

If you sell products, make sure the packaging reflects your brand. Even how the brand feels can help leave an impact on the customer. Similarly, if you sell any food, it’s important to have a certain standard that you guarantee with your brand. Fast food giants use their brand to reassure the customer that they will get the same taste quality wherever they are.

According to independent brand strategist Vanhika Mehta, your customers experience with the feel and touch of your packaging could decide if they buy your product or not. She also says that you can expect a certain level of feeling from brands packaging and mentions Tiffany’s iconic ribbons.

A potential downside to rebranding is recognition loss. Having customers familiar with your brand already, means by changing it you could lose them. Your current audience may not like the change or no longer recognise your business.

The potential gain may be more significant than the possible loss, though. For example, you may lose customers with a particular taste but gain many with another. Branding affects how customers view your business in many ways. There is no way of pleasing everyone. Every audience will not like the same things.

Carrying out a rebrand for your business can mean that you need to consider additional expenses.

Keeping track of any financial changes is essential but it can be challenging and time-consuming. Thousands of business owners use the Countingup app to make their financial admin easier, by keeping together all of their expenses you can ensure that any rebrands can stick to the budgets.

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