Rebranding is the process of a company rethinking a marketing strategy with a new name, logo, and design in the hopes of creating a new and differentiated identity for customers. Rebrands for businesses can range from brand mergers (joining with another organization), brand refreshes (change in values and brand design), and a complete rebrand (no resemblance to the previous brand).
Why Your Small Business Might Need a Rebrand
There are many reasons why a business might want to have a rebrand including:
- Merger, acquisition, or demerger
- Business moves locations or adds another location
- Revamping of brand positioning and products
- Organization wants to expand to international markets
- Previous negative press or perception of the brand
- Business gains new CEO/owner
The Benefits of a Rebrand
Stand Out from the Competition
We live in a saturated market, where many small businesses are trying to differentiate from one another. Rebranding your business can help remind you what exactly makes you stand out from companies within your market. What can you offer that other businesses can’t? Where do your strengths lie in comparison to competitors? A rebrand can help answer these critical questions.
Attract New Audiences
Your main goal as a business is to continue reaching more and more people to engage with your service or product so that you can grow more profit. When you rebrand your messaging, you can persuade new audiences to find interest in you and research more about who you are.
Increase Revenue
Through the rebranding process, companies can first conduct market research where they identify gaps in the previous brand strategy. From here, a business can make small changes that will gradually help the business thrive and achieve high engagement that increases revenue.
How to Rebrand
Before you decide to rebrand your business, it’s important to decide whether you will implement a partial or total rebrand. A partial rebrand is an adjustment that’s more focused on visual brand identity like a refresh to the logo. A total rebrand will have your business starting from scratch, creating an entirely new name and messaging.
Determine Your Brand’s Audience & Market
Will your service or product still reach the same kind of audience? Or will you be more niche and specific within your market? These are all things to research before you actually start the rebranding process.
Define Company Vision, Mission, and Values
Here is the “why, what, and how” of your business. Why am I doing this? What is the purpose of it? How will I approach this?
Reconsider Company Name & Slogan
If you are looking to do a major rebrand, then you might think a name change is necessary. However, that is not always the case. Think back to your vision, mission, and values. If your current name still matches these things, then stay with the name you have or make small changes to it like adding another word or including punctuation.
Oftentimes, it’s recommended to change your slogan when you’re doing a rebrand. First, think back to your previous slogan. What things did you like? What things would you say differently? From there, you can brainstorm and write down words that come to your head when you think of your company. Then, make your edits, whether it’s adding more context to your first thoughts or removing unnecessary fluff.
Build Brand Identity
In this stage of the process, you can work on your new logo and decide what imagery you’ll use, what the colors will be, and what the new text style will look like. Your brand will look very different from your first brainstorm to the final result. And don’t get attached to a certain idea because it may change.
Mistakes to Avoid During a Rebrand
Here are five things not to do during your business rebrand
- Change the name for no reason
- Not creating a brand style guide
- Rebranding only your logo and website
- Following the mainstream crowd
- Being too complex in your logo design
After following these steps, you should be ready to launch your rebrand for your small business. If you’re going through a rebrand and are also interested in learning how to create a new business plan that will set you apart from your competitors, check out our workshop “Start Up Tuesday – Building a Better Business Plan” on Tuesday, February 4, 2025.
