Top 5 Strategies for Rebranding
1. Understand the need to rebrand
Rebranding is a long process and a lot of work, so it’s important to know when it’s necessary. Basically, when people don’t fully understand what a company or organization does or what they stand for, then there’s a need to rebrand. Think about why you’re considering rebranding. Is your target audience changing? Is your business model, your products, or your services changing? Is your competition increasing? Are you launching a new product? Then it might be time for a rebrand. It’s important to evolve your business as change takes place.
2. But don’t change just to change
If you’re just looking for a small adjustment or a refreshed look and feel, you probably don’t need a full rebrand. There are other ways to refresh your look and feel without creating an entirely new brand. These tactics include changing up your social-media profiles, your website, and more. If there isn’t a need, don’t confuse your audience (and make MORE work for yourself) by changing your name, your tagline, your logo, your colors.
Another thing to keep in mind is that a rebrand is an investment of your time and money. Not only will you be refreshing your logo, look and feel, and brand personality internally, you’ll also need to re-create all the materials you already have (and likely make more), including a website, marketing materials, internal documents and processes, letterheads, email templates, and more. A rebrand is exciting, but it’s also a big adjustment, so keep that in mind when you’re thinking about starting that process.
3. Don’t try to make your brand stand for everything
You don’t want your brand, and your organization by extension, to be confusing, so don’t try to do too much. Remember: Simpler is better. Brands should be simple and easy to understand, so you’ll want to narrow down the things you most want to communicate to the world. Focus on one simple and unified brand that is easy to explain and understand, and that resonates with your audience. In the realm of education, you might also want to create a brand that recognizes the difficulty of what you do, celebrates grit and stamina, and energizes and inspires people to keep going.
4. Test, test, test
Before you make a decision on your new brand, do your research. Actively seek out opinions from your target audience, clients, and/or students, and see what appeals to a variety of different groups. Your brand is all about representing your company or organization to your audience, so get as much feedback as possible from the people who matter. Facilitate focus groups, distribute surveys, and ask a lot of questions from people outside of your organization or business, not just the internal decision-makers.
5. Arm yourself (and clients) with a comprehensive rebranding marketing toolkit
Here’s the practical, physical part of the rebranding process: the brand assets. Along with creating a new logo and brand personality, you’ll then want to make sure you introduce your new brand, promote it, and weave it into your existing marketing strategy. With this in mind, know that you’ll need to create all new marketing elements when you rebrand as well.
Your rebrand marketing toolbox should include the following elements:
•Standard collateral
•Digital and mass-media assets
•Reference guides for logo and brand use
•Email templates and brochures
•Best-practices calendar with a strategy for year-round activation
•Customized, local images, vectors, and video assets
•Updated social-media profiles and graphics
MMS Education can help you identify your competitive advantages, analyze your data, and conduct customer research to learn why and how customers value your product compared to those of your competitors. Call us today at 866-382-6116 or fill out this form to see how MMS Education can help you.
