How to Rebrand Effectively

The process of changing the image of your business, starting from the logo is called rebranding. This is basically a creative process that can lead to epochal changes (even the name of the company) or only to small chromatic adjustments or the shape of the logo.

There are many pros and cons, as well as many variables in the rebranding process, but there is only one way for this process to work: to do it the right way. So I chose to write this article trying to draw up a simple and clear checklist of actions to understand how to rebrand in the right way.

How to rebrand effectively

We must first understand that change is inevitable in the history of a brand or company. Maybe not spending years to rebuild everything from scratch, but simply keeping everything up to date. And in order to keep up to date, sometimes only minor modifications are necessary.

But let’s see this checklist, made up of  three main phases, to make a good rebrand process.

1. Identify the problem

The first step to understanding how to do rebranding in the right way is to identify the problems that have the coordinated image of the company. This phase can be divided into three moments of great importance.

Be ready for change

A company, to revitalize its image and its business must be able to change, must always be ready for change. The willingness to eliminate even those elements that were considered perfect but that, at present, do not work as they should, or do not work at all, is what makes a company a winning company.

This is the first step. If you are not ready for change, the change simply does not happen. It creates a stagnant situation or (and I don’t know what is worse) it creates a negative change.

Talk to customers

Ask for opinions, ask for feedback. Confronting each other is important. And for a company, which makes its loyal customers and the people who work there, it’s true strength.

Confronting and talking with customers, in the age of social networks, is so easy that. It’s so easy, in fact, that there’s no reason for you not to already be doing it right now. We must try to understand from the people around the company what, according to them, are the problems.

What doesn’t work? What would you improve? And how? These are just some of the possible questions.

Do market research

But the business world is very complicated. And it’s not enough to ask customers and workers for opinions to decide which path to take. We need to understand not only what the target market is, but also what the needs of this market are.

How has the market changed in my sector in recent years? Does my product still work? These are the right questions to rebranding in the right way.

2. Express the corporate identity

Once the problems of the company and its coordinated image have been identified, the company must be able to express itself, its values, its history and its objectives. At this stage, two important moments can be distinguished in this regard.

Create a story

There are companies that make their tradition, their history, the spearhead of their entire coordinated image. This story can be of many types. It can be the story of the family that managed the company, it can be the story of how the company itself was born and changed but it can also be the story of how the customer interacts with the company and its products.

Advertising campaigns, the main vehicle for disseminating the corporate image, base their strength and their message precisely on history.

Determine the mission

Much like creating a story, deciding on a mission gives customers something to latch onto. Not only do they see what you do, but they understand why you do it.

Your mission should always be front and center, as well as crystal clear. Think about how many items you have purchased because you believed in the mission of the brand. You see what I mean?

3. Take action!

Eh well, if you don’t act after all the research and all the plans made it would become useless, right?

Once the problem is identified and a solution is studied, all we have to do is put it into practice. A new logo, a small change to it, a new payoff or a new company name. Whatever has emerged from the two previous phases must then be implemented. However, pay attention to some things.

Proceed gradually

It is always better to proceed one step at a time with the changes and not to revolutionize everything overnight. For example, you can start by communicating the change of fonts in official documents and so on. From time to time, customer and market reactions bring important feedback that allows you to make small changes, as long as you are on time.

It is also the task of the designers or the creative department of the company to manage change in a non-traumatic way and knowing how to do it is one of the most important things to do rebranding in the best way.

Communicate effectively

Communication in the creative process of rebrand is like the icing on the cake. In a strange way, it’s almost another cake on the cake!

We need to communicate the new story, the new message, involve customers and workers in the company’s new goals. There are countless ways of communicating, advertising campaigns, funny videos, songs, viral images, corporate gifts and objects, and so on.

The important thing is to send a message as direct and coherent with the corporate spirit as possible, otherwise all the effort made to do rebrand will have been a useless waste of energy, no?

Conclusion

One article is definitely not enough to understand rebranding. You need great experience, a great job and great collaboration between all the people within the decision-making and creative process. Collaboration is, in fact,  an essential skill for a designer!

I leave you with a little personal thought. These rules for rebranding can also be used in everyday life and for themselves: when something is wrong, in a company, in a logo or in ourselves, we need to identify the problem, express ourselves by defining our goals and finally act! In the end the important thing is not to give up!