Being aware of your brand perception in the marketplace is vital to the life of your business.
Customers will vote with their feet if they feel out of touch or alienated by your brand.
If sales are dropping, or your brand is looking & feeling a little stale, even if you are considering new direction, perhaps its time to look at rebranding.
Why Rebrand?
Lets take a look at some of the reasons why you could or possibly should look at rebranding within your business.
New Trends/Demands: Response to market trends or demands may see the need to tweak or rebrand your business products or services, to meet customer needs and desires and create increased customer loyalty.
New Products: The launch of new products can sometimes facilitate the need to rebrand, particularly if there is a change in direction of the business.
New Owners: This perhaps is more relevant if you have bought an existing business and you want to reflect the changes that new ownership will bring to the existing market.
New Competitors: If your market is suddenly inundated with competition, there may be cause to rebrand to differentiate yourself as the leader in your field.
New Markets: Changing gears and entering new markets can cause confusion to your existing customers by muddying brand messaging. Rebranding may be necessary to reflect the new direction of your business and finding opportunities.
New Look: Sometimes you just need to freshen the look to keep up with the times.
New Year: Celebration of ‘X’ years in business, might be a good reason to revamp your look.
New Partners/Joint Ventures: It may be necessary to rebrand if you are changing your structure to include other products from partners or joint ventures. Customers want to understand the benefits of new product offerings, that might not be well explained under your current brand strategy.
Rebranding In Action:
If we take a look at Woolworths for example, they went through a rebranding exercise around 3 years or so ago, which incorporated a few of the above rationales, and has worked well for them.
Their rebrading strategy encompassed the incorporation its Safeway stores under the Woolworths brand to create more unity. Introduction of a fresh new logo, and rounded out with a refurbishment of their stores to include wider aisles, and brighter supermarkets.
Woolworths is an old brand (founded 1909) and although the company has been through rebranding exercises over the years, their most recent has probably met with the most customer acknowledgment.
Rebranding Of Woolworths Logo
However rebranding is not always a smooth process.
Woolworths has met with some issues with regard to its new logo with Apple issuing legal action, claiming that it was too close in resemblance to its own.
I’m assuming as Woolworths logo is still proudly on display that no further action has come of this, or its still pending.
When considering rebranding you should carefully weigh the possible impact of making changes.
Considerations Before Rebranding:
- What your objectives are – why do you want to rebrand, whats the purpose/anticipated results?
- What your market wants – how will your rebrand effect all stakeholders, not just your customers.
- What elements will be rebranded – website, store, staff, logo, media packs, publications, etc
- Who will be responsible – assigning tasks and followups so the brand rollout runs smoothly
- How will you measure results – what systems or mechanisms will you use for measuring results and tracking the impact of your rebranding exercise.
Rebranding can be minor tweaks or a major overhaul. It depends on what you are wanting to achieve.
Small business and solo operators have the advantage in that they can maneuver through the process more efficiently than big players, which is a huge advantage when responding to the demands of the market.
Consideration of brand does play a major role in the buying decisions of consumers and being an online business allows you to transcend global boundaries.
Don’t let your brand fade into obscurity. Maybe its time for a kick in the pants??
What are your thoughts on rebranding, please leave your comments below.
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Great information Jackie and a good example with Woolworths. I would add many companies rebrand in conjunction with a repositiong of the brand. You can freshen up a brand even with a new positioning but leave the core elements in place. Also from experience it is done with lots of research and sometimes in stages.
We sometimes get too close and make decisions without considering the perceptions of our customers.
Susan Oakes recently posted..17 Ways to Increase Sales And Avoid The Clothes Dryer Feeling
Your absolutely spot on about the research part Susan. I would never suggest anybody go through a rebranding process without first having really done their homework.
Rebranding at the end of the day should be about improving your brand acceptance, reach and loyalty, you make a good point about customer perceptions.
I think businesses these days need to constantly re-brand. If they don’t evolve, they might lose touch with their client base. Nice post, BTW
Darren
Darren recently posted..Benefits Of Hosting On A Luxembourg Tier 4 Data Center
Hi Darren
Glad you enjoyed the post. I agree that you have to be adaptable in todays market, as I said this is where small business will always have the advantage over the big brands out there. You’re nothing without customers, and if you’re failing to meet their needs their perception of your brand will suck…and ultimately spell failure for your business.
Thanks so much for stopping by to comment, much appreciated
Woolworths is a great example of a rebranding campaign Jackie. I’ve noticed quite a few grocery stores rebranding lately. Here in the Northeast, our big supermarket chain is Stop & Shop. (I believe they’re known as Giant in the South.) They recently undertook a huge rebranding campaign. I believe their goal was to evoke images of healthy food. Their main competition now is the organic and health foods rather than the discount food chains. In this case, the rebranding seems to be working as their profits are steadily increasing.
Sherryl Perry recently posted..What Can You Do if Restoring Your WordPress Backup Doesn’t Work?
Sometimes you just need to freshen things up within your branding strategy and I think that supermarket chains are particularly aware of this factor. They all seem to take their turns in rolling out a new approach, and the health aspect seems to be the latest trend.
Thanks so much for sharing this post Sherryl and taking the time to comment.
Super read, Jackie!
The one “sure thing” in life is “change”.
Once we can embrace that fact in lieu of resisting it, we can become more open to taking a long hard look at our branding and do an honest critique.
I’m the kind of gal who enjoys doing a little renovation from time to time to freshen things up — much like doing “spring cleaning”.
Thanks for a great post!
Melanie
Melanie Kissell recently posted..3 Simple Keys to a Strategic Plan that Rocks!
Hey Melanie
I think its pretty true to say that those that are resistant to change don’t fair well in business. You can only last so long on old ideas and if your not willing to move with your market you will quickly become a dinosaur that nobody is interested in.
I’m with you on the rennovation front, although I do have to watch that I don’t get carried away with my own plans and remember that its for others consumption…not just mine.
Thanks for your comments, hope to see you around here again.
Oh, I’ll be back all right! You’re stuck with me now, Jackie.
Melanie Kissell recently posted..Vacationing In Burnout-ville
Hi Jackie,
I have been through a re-branding process because I was not satisfied with the original image my business projected and it wasn’t up to date. I made the original designs and everything by myself, which is probably why it failed, so I remembered Einstein’s famous saying about insanity being the repetition of the same action and expecting different results. So, since I haven’t seen any tips of how to do a re-branding in the comments, I thought I’d tell what I’ve learned.
I learned it is best to leave such things to professionals who specialized in branding companies. I also learned that if you have a very small business, it is better to find a freelancer who’ll do it for much cheaper than a company, but doing it this way also has its dangers. So, to avoid being scammed or waiting too long for a product that doesn’t meet your expectations, I used this employee monitor software which let me look into the work my employee was doing and comment on it when it was needed. After we finished working together, he just deleted his side of the program, and that was it. I still use it regularly with my virtual assistants.
I hope this tip can help those who want to go through a re-branding process.
Best wishes, Leonard
Hi Leonard
You bring up some very valid points on knowing where to draw the line and delegating to others that have more expertise. Sometimes we can get to close to an issue and be blinkered to options, a third party can often bring clarity, or at least an impartial opinion.
Thanks for stopping by and contributing to the discussion & for the info on the software too, looks like a great solution to a common problem in the oustourcing dept.
Hope you become a regular visitor here
Any brand gets old at some point in time. For some, that’s an advantage, but for others it’s just a sign they need to change. And that’s not that easy as people would think.
Stan recently posted..Frigidaire Dehumidifier Review 2012
As my plans for my business evolved, I sort of re-branded my site by changing the tag line and the content focus. In doing so, I hope to attract the kind of audience to will match my ever-changing goals for the business.
Like you mentioned, I have the great flexibility of a solo operator. And I’m not so well-established as to create confusion in customer’s minds
(as you can see, I’m a glass half-full kind of gal). I guess when that becomes a problem, I’ll know I’ve hit a milestone…
Jeanne recently posted..How to Attract Customers – The Ultimate Guide
I’ve been through a few iterations myself here Jeanne. Sometimes those changes have been for me, and sometimes to meet the market.
Your business always continues to evolve, it’s never finished is it? and as for that problem, I reckon that would be a pretty good one to have
I think the Woolworth’s (new) logo is great, and the benefits of re-branding are very significant.
Objective is key, as well as responsibility. One of the best, and most recent successes that I’ve seen is over at ThinkTraffic.net. They completely overhauled there entire site and the popularity of just that act alone was enormous.
Jason Anthony recently posted..Courage: Overcoming Fear & Igniting Self-Confidence
I like Woolies new logo is pretty funky and does an excellent job of capturing the brand.
I’ve been watching what Corbett’s been up to with great interest and it sure has generated some talk. I love some elements of what he’s done there, but other parts…not so sure about. No doubt there are reasons behind some of the more obvious changes, and I’m sure he’ll be watching and tweaking as his readers settle in to the new design.
I wonder how many other sites will be hot on the trail of these changes?
Fascinating post Jackie, especially the Woolworth’s example as Woolworth’s UK went bust a couple of years ago. It was a shame but I had to admit they did have it coming, they hadn’t refreshed their brand in well over 15 years and really didn’t seem to know what their customers wanted and needed from them.
The comments above compliment this post brilliantly with their reminders to research and to source outside help – what a great community you have here!
I’m considering re-branding and have been testing out various aspects over on my Facebook page, it has been very helpful in setting me on a path that’s good for my customers and true to my vision.
Thanks Gemma
Had no idea that Woolies had gone under in the UK..I would have assumed the rebanding would have rolled out across the entire company. Doesn’t make sense does it?
You reinforce a really good point about knowing what your customers want, without that you haven’t got a business.
Don’t you love it that you can test things out so easily these days. Great idea utilizing facebook.
Thanks for your lovely comments Gemma. I do have a Fab group of people that lend their voice and share thier views, I lurrve ma peeps
I recently re-branded my entire life as: RYZE.
And it feels strong, pure, aligned, and authentic.
It feels timeless, sexy, and success-focused.
And I love it.
It was an absolute s***-ton of time, energy and focus, all while making ZERO income…
…so satisfying, so worth it.
Jason “J-Ryze” Fonceca recently posted..How To Learn Like A Boss: The Hidden Steps
You’ve done a great job with Ryze, as much as we’re here to please the masses it’s gotta sit well with you first. Websites are like art in motion, always changing and so they should…it signifies growth. If we’re not growing we’re dying.
I’ve got a few changes in store here too, which I can’t wait to get my teeth into.
Hey J…can I tell you somethin…you can say shit here…it’s okay you won’t get censored
Wooo! Thanks so much, Jackie!
I’m totally with you on the “art in motion” aspect.
I’m totally looking forward to your changes, and I love your brand so far
An interesting sidenote: I used to run a branding + design company, and have created many icons, in-house styles, brands, icons, etc.
Lately I’ve had tons of requests from people in the scene for my Photoshop skills, video editing, t-shirt design, and branding.
So get this, I’ve started planting the seeds for RyzeMedia, Ryze’s branding + design house!
Want a Ninja Sneak Peek?
P.S. You’re the best, Jackie, thanks for the open-ness and encouragement.
It’s kinda funny to be seeing those *’s lol.
Truth be told, I wasn’t really ‘thinking’ when I censored myself there — I don’t really care who says I’m “allowed” to swear, I just do, or don’t depending on my mood/vibe lol.
Point taken, and consider me cussing from this point on
Finally… for extra value…
Have you read my post: http://ryzeonline.com/swear-to-offend-you
Jason “J-Ryze” Fonceca recently posted..How To Learn Like A Boss: The Hidden Steps
Love your work J can’t say it surprises me that you’re adding that arm to your brand….I’d love a sneak peek
Just dropped a comment on the extra value link love, and wanna say thanks for the contributions you make here, smarts and heart is a wining combo in my book, much appreciation
Yay! Awesome, Jackie. I’ll e-mail you a sneak peek.
Aw, a warm thank you like that really encourages. Love it
You’re the best 
Jason “J-Ryze” Fonceca recently posted..How To Learn Like A Boss: The Hidden Steps
A little over a year ago my insurance agency went through a full re-brand… It ultimately was a great move for our Agency but dang… It was a lot of work.
The majority of the work came in communicating the new Brand Message to current clients.
Thanks Jackie!
Ryan H.
Ryan Hanley recently posted..How-to Properly Set Up Image Tags for Pinterest Sharing
Yeah re-branding can be tough for the existing customers. People get comfortable with what they know, then when change hits the deck they tend to pull back and question those changes. Glad it all worked out well for you Ryan.
Howdy Jackie. Thanks for sharing your wisdom here.
I think having a clear message (or branding) is hugely important. Heck, even with Woolworth’s doing a “re-brand”, I still don’t get it. What exactly do they do?
Solidifying your brand and it’s message should be a daily focus for all entrepreneurs and their companies. Thanks Jackie… Eric
Eric T. Wagner recently posted..How to Build a Business From Scratch
Well said Eric. A brand is never really done, solidifying is a great term. Thanks for stopping by
Hi Jackie,
You’re right on point; sometimes rebranding is necessary to succeed or just to survive.
For example Nokia… It’s just unbelievable how a company like Nokia (huge, market leader, great technology, etc.) can be so clueless about their branding (and marketing strategy). They should’ve understood what their brand is and they should’ve rebranded the company.
Sorry, the rant. I’m Finnish so when Nokia decides to fire 10 000 people I get a bit emotional
Peter Sandeen recently posted..How to Attract More Customers – Video Interview with Dov Gordon
Hi Peter
Agree on the Nokia front, I can understand you taking a passionate stance on the matter.
If nothing else, it continues to show that no matter how innovative and good your product may be, you are still at the mercy of the people in charge of the decisions, and some aren’t capable of tying their shoes in the morning!
No wonder there is such a major swing towards self employment…people just don’t want the uncertainty.
Long live entrepreneurship…the more people we can help to get there the better!
I think the Woolworth’s example is a case in point. Like Gemma said, it went under recently but when I was a teenager in the 70s it was the place to go to for cheap but not necessarily rubbish everyday household things. It got squeezed out by the pound stores and major supermarkets which is ironic given their origins.
Recent business history is littered with iconic brands not seeing the goalposts shifting, Kodak is my favourite one at the moment. Rebranding, just like branding, isn’t just a fancy logo, it’s about a company’s DNA, it’s spirit, its direction of travel. Otherwise, you’re just shifting the deck chairs on the Titanic, to coin a phrase.
Mike Garner recently posted..What we do matters
Hey Mike
It’s funny how one company can have vastly different experiences in different countries. Woolies is very strong here in Australia, though given that we have a huge lack of competition I wonder how they would fair if they came up against it.
You’re right about shifting deck chairs on the Titanic…(love that) Some brands just can’t see the writing on the wall, or should I say the leadership of those companies….