Rebranding Is a Bigger Deal Than You Think
You’ve worked with your company for years now, but you feel like it needs a refresher. You want a new logo, name, website, and everything else associated with your company. You still love your job, but you dream of rebranding and starting new.
Once you rebrand, your dream turns into a nightmare: everyone thinks that you’re not doing business anymore, no one can find your new name in search results, and even worse, people don’t know who your new company is — even though you’ve been here all this time!
However, in some cases, you’ll have to make those sacrifices in order to strengthen your brand and gain more clients. Ask yourself three questions and it’ll help establish whether or not you should rebrand.
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Why do you want to rebrand?
Wanting a new logo or website isn’t worth an entire brand reconstruction. You can always have a new logo or website with the same name you’ve had for years. Your name and logo are what people know you by — and if you change that, you might lose their business.
In some cases, they even get angry because your rebranding isn’t as “fresh” as you think. Rebuilding a reputation is a lot of work. You’ll spend years letting people know that you’ve changed your name. Then you’ll be spending additional time redirecting all of your websites and social media accounts to their newer homes.
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How does rebranding help your company?
Now that you have your list of cons, what are your pros? Perhaps your old name limited you in some respect, and this new name and brand will give you a better image and increase sales. Say that you started a photography business called “Specialty Selfies.”
A few years later, you noticed that people don’t realize that you photograph more than close-up portraits. You also noticed that people make fun of your company for its name. So you want to rebrand to Shutter Studio, because it shows that you do all sorts of photography, indoors and outdoors. In this case, rebranding is an option because it helps you more than it hurts you.
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Have you talked to your team?
Teamwork makes the dream work. Meet with everyone to see if they are open to rebranding. Some of your coworkers might have some great ideas about the new brand and where they’d like to see the company go.
Take everyone’s thoughts into consideration. They work here too. Make sure you get everyone on the same page. Colors and names aren’t the only things your company will be changing. You might have to add new positions or take away old ones.
Your coworkers will need to be aware of what will be different. Rebranding has no middle ground. It either goes well, or terribly, and the backlash from the public can be catastrophic. In general, apply to your brand what you would to your furniture: if it isn’t broken, don’t try to fix it.
Hannah Alkadi is a digital marketing intern at Catapult Creative Media. She studies advertising and visual communications at LSU, and spends her free time informing others about micronations.
Work with Catapult Creative Media Inc. Catapult Creative Media Inc. is a digital marketing and design agency serving south Louisiana and headquartered in Baton Rouge. Founded in 2007, Catapult provides digital, social and mobile marketing solutions backed by relevant strategy and measurable results. Catapult works the web to their clients’ advantage, launching them to their next level of success.
