3 Rebranding Mistakes to Avoid
Branding is the act of shaping the perception of your products, services, or your company among those who interact with them.
As your business evolves, adapting to an ever-changing marketplace, your brand has to keep up to stay relevant. The need to rebrand occurs naturally, especially when you have been in business for a long time.
► 5 Signs That It's Time to Rebrand
No Time to Experiment
Creating a powerful brand is more than updating your brochures and business cards. It involves understanding your company's direction, purpose, values, and goals in the context of a market that faces changing tastes and expectations or new competitors, technologies, or regulatory requirements.
Here are three common rebranding mistakes that could jeopardize your rebranding effort and harm your company in the long run.
Mistake 1 — Delegate the Rebranding
You can delegate many tasks, such as accounting, logistics, or the maintenance of your website to your employees or 3rd-party service providers. And you should.
However, branding or rebranding should never be delegated to your staff or outsiders.
It is the responsibility of the owner or top management in your company to guide the rebranding and be actively involved in every step.
Their active participation ensures that the new brand is well aligned with the company's direction, purpose, vision, mission, values, and goals.
► What Is a Brand Compass and Why Your Business Should Have One
Mistake 2 — Rebrand by Yourself
The reasons for a decision to do the rebranding by yourself can be many. Saving the cost to hire outside experts may be high on your mind since the branding process steps are well-publicized. I agree with this hard-to-refute argument.
However, an outsider not involved in hidden workplace politics can add tremendous value by challenging current conventions and thinking outside the box.
Mistake 3 — Rebrand Half-Heartedly
A corporate rebranding is often a significant step because its results can impact every corner of your company. Not only does your logo, fonts, and color scheme often change, your company culture frequently needs to adapt to your new brand personality too. And this cultural change must start at the very top so that it even has a chance to take hold and endure.
Change Is Always Incremental and Rarely Sudden
Depending on your industry, change can come fast or slow. It is always incremental and rarely sudden. But if you do not heed these early warning signs, each small change in the marketplace can add up over time.
While you may think nothing is changing, this sense of stability is often an illusion.
Markets are constantly evolving. There is no standstill.
Ignoring these minor changes just means that you have to deal with them later. They do not go away; they accumulate.
However, at one point, facing, for example, bankruptcy or a takeover by a competitor, you cannot ignore them any longer and have to adapt.
To prevent that from happening, monitor your market, embrace change, check the impact on your brand, and, if necessary, rebrand.
