Are you looking to rebrand your business and want to get it right?
For starters, rebrands can and often go wrong. Airbnb, Pepsi and Radioshack are just some of the huge brands that have found themselves on the disastrous end of a rebrand.
Rebrands cost money. And if you’re a small business owner strapped for cash, you don’t have the luxury to be wasteful.
This is why you need to understand the concept of building brand equity, and how you can use it to rebrand your business. Read on.
Begin By Measuring Your Brand Equity
Sometimes businesses unnecessarily embark on a rebranding campaign.
Perhaps sales are slumping, or employees are jumping ship. Instead of getting into the core of these issues, the decision makers haphazardly decide a rebrand will fix them all.
Before rebranding, it’s crucial to measure the commercial value your business generates from how its brand name is perceived in the market. This is a skill-intensive exercise, so it’s advisable to hire brand analysts or reputation specialists to do the job.
If the researchers find that your business has low brand equity, or that it doesn’t show signs of growth, then a rebranding exercise is necessary.
But if the brand equity is solid, you may want to reconsider your stance. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
Develop a Clear Vision of Your “New Brand”
Rebranding essentially means you’re creating a new, unique identity for your business, product or service.
As such, you should have a clear visual image of this new identity before you rebrand. Which are the new colors? Is the new logo simple, unique and memorable? Is the new identity resembling that of another brand in the market?
With a clear vision, you can then embark on bringing it to life.
You Need Your Employees on Board
Your employees are your best brand ambassadors.
If they’re all on board with the rebranding exercise, the business stands a better chance of succeeding.
How do you, then, ensure your entire team is on board? Simple. Make them part of the process from the very beginning. Let them know why this exercise is in the best interest of the company, and encourage them to share their ideas.
Master Your Audience (Consumer Market)
As a business grows, its consumer market also broadens.
Maybe you started out by offering products for millennials, but over time, you’ve expanded the offerings to target Gen Z. Yet, you’ve not changed your marketing and branding strategies to take care of this new demographic.
Having a good handle on the demographic profiles of your target consumers is crucial to building brand equity. This will help you select the colors, symbols, brand message and advertising platforms that appeal to your audience.
Don’t Roll Out in Phases
So, everything is all set and you’re ready to roll out the new identity.
But maybe because you don’t have enough personnel to handle the exercise, you decide to roll out in phases. Say you rebrand your social media pages first, then the website, then your physical stores and so forth.
If you want a successful rebrand, be sure to launch the exercise across all platform simultaneously. Rolling out in phases will make your brand appear disjointed.
The Fallout Is Coming. Brace Yourself
Unless you are FedEx, or your new brand is a masterstroke, expect a fallout.
Your customers will have different takes on the new identity. There is nothing you can do about that. You just have to hope the vast majority love it.
But what if the backlash is excessive? You need to have a backup plan just in case things don’t turn out as expected. A good option is to revert to the old brand, from where you can strategize.
Using a Rebrand as a Tool for Building Brand Equity: Final Thoughts
No entrepreneur starts a new business with a goal to rebrand it a few years down the line.
You hope it’ll begin on a solid footing and grow into a valuable brand. But things happen, and sometimes rebranding is the only way to stabilize a rocking boat.
With these tips, you now know how to go about building brand equity and rebranding like an expert.
If you’ve any questions or thoughts, the comments section is open!