5and3: Rebranding
What does it mean? why rebrand?
From expansion, takeovers to new strategies…
So you’re considering a company or product rebrand? There could be many reasons for you to rebrand your business or you may quite simply not realise that you need to rebrand, let us help you make an informed decision.
First of all, you must understand the difference between a company logo and company branding. A logo is just that, ‘a logo’, it’s a typeface, mark or symbol that identifies your business. A company or product brand, on the other hand, is far more, it’s a story about your business, your unique selling points, your team, your beliefs, your philosophy and your vision for the business. You must, from an early stage, define what your brand stands for and your employees must then live and breathe your brand, most importantly your customers must feel apart of it and believe in it too. Sounds interesting?
Now back to deciding upon rebranding your company or not…
clever thinking,
great design and consistency…
Moving with the times
Your logo may look outdated from when you first set up your business. All start-up businesses have a branding and marketing budget and you may have made the decision early on that your branding budget was lower down your list of priorities when first starting out. You may have simply relied upon word of mouth for your business and so your brand was never really carefully considered for future longevity.
This decision is absolutely normal and usually makes perfect sense, obtain more business for future expansion and profit and then consider your branding and marketing later on when profits in the business are higher, we understand this.
The problem with taking this direction, is that at some point in the future when you need a website, advertising and business marketing materials, you haven’t installed a carefully considered brand identity right at the beginning and therefore the design of such materials will inevitably become inconsistent, disjointed and your brand story unclear to your intended audience.
It also probably means that your logo and identity have become dated amongst your competitors, all because the brand was never really considered in the beginning as a full branding story that would help it to stand the test of time. There are two most likely reasons for this, the original budget wouldn’t allow for this level of thinking and creativity or you engaged with a substandard designer or creative agency.
So, you’ve now realised this and that’s why you are here, your logo is dated and you need a new one, now is the time to consider a full company rebrand with marketing, advertising and website all considered as part of the branding exercise.
an exciting journey
Remember, clever thinking, good design, consistency and longevity is key to rebranding success and so we’ll take you through the process on an exciting branding journey
Why should I consider a rebrand?
Company growth, development or expansion
Businesses grow, evolve and diversify into new areas with services and/or product technologies advancing, because of this your original branding may no longer fit the vision for your expanding business. This is the nature of a business and indeed branding, your original marketing plan and existing brand should now be re-evaluated to address the changes, and most importantly, meet your audience's expectations.
Change of products or services
We’ve touched on this above, you should consider rebranding if your business has changed products, services or technologies. It’s likely that your target market/audience has shifted and so a change in brand direction is probably required. Re-evaluate your market and make appropriate decisions as to the new direction your brand and business must take.
Keeping ahead of the competition
Is there a ‘new kid on the block'? are your competitors' rebranding? These are good reasons for you to rebrand, especially if your brand is dated and consumer interest in your brand stagnant. Your potential customers are more than likely heading in the direction of your competitors. Grab the attention with a new and exciting rebrand with complete online and offline brand launch, website, advertising and marketing. Consider improvements to your business processes too so that you can become the leaders within your industry, saving time whilst generating higher margins. Talk to us, we can help develop intelligent architectures and infrastructures, including business process re-engineering for your company. Find out more here.
Bad reputation or company takeover?
There are many reasons that could have affected your business reputation: insolvency, bad reviews, poor employee performance or maybe you’ve simply acquired a new business taking on it's poor reputation with it, all these reasons will have lead to a tarnished brand.
New business strategy, focus or vision
Maybe your products or services remain the same but your vision for the business has shifted? You have introduced a new team or new strategy to move the business forward, your branding should become a huge part of this new strategy. You may not need to redesign your logo mark, instead, you may only need to refresh it and allow for the branding story to shift focus. Remember, your logo is not your whole brand, your logo is simply an identity mark amongst a consistent visual and written story.
What do we mean? Well, think of Apple, their logo mark has not changed shape for decades, it has however altered appearance slightly over time from the original gradient design to glass effect, to the flat design we see now, mainly to address and set new trends by moving with the times. Their branding campaigns, however, do change focus, resonating with technology advances and their new products entering the market.
For the reasons above you should rebrand
Rebranding is far more than a logo redesign, it’s your story, your business inside and out, it’s about changing your way of thinking and improving how your brand is perceived by employees and customers.
You need to re-evaluate your brand, website, advertising and marketing strategy, this is where a fully integrated agency can help you with your rebranding exercise. An agency like us, 5and3, will work with you from beginning to end to create a captivating brand story, an intelligent marketing strategy that is managed, delivered and launched to deliver truly exceptional results. Results that deliver leads and sales for your business.
Achieving success with rebranding
To achieve a successful rebrand you need to believe in what you are trying to achieve. You and everyone connected with your business should believe in your brand and the process of rebranding. You also need to do your homework, create a plan, strategise and implement a successful creative process. We can do all of this for you within our 5 step process: think, adapt, create, evolve, deliver.
Want to go it alone?
Our advice to you, should you wish to go it alone with the rebranding process, is to follow these ten steps, you’re then well on your way to rebranding success:
We engage and collaborate with you to understand your business, your target market and its position amongst competitors. We listen to your requirements and what you are actually asking for and ensure that you have realistic expectations for what can be achieved and ultimately delivered.
We research your competitors and market place, analysing your business and brand whilst adapting our processes to support your requirements and vision. We mould ourselves around your ideas to see things from your perspective so that you can be sure we'll get the project from the beginning.
We are honest with you and always ask the right questions to get to the heart of your vision. This gives us the necessary insight to research and create a strategic plan of action.
We develop ideas in an agile and extensible way creating captivating, intelligent, responsive solutions to enable the evolution of your business and brand. We specialise in solving problems and finding solutions.
We deliver your vision, for your business, not just how you want it but importantly, in the best way that it can be perceived and intended for your target market. Once the project is complete, we don't abandon you, we are available to support, enhance and help you take your business into the future.
1. vision
Understand your business philosophy, direction and vision
2. research
Research your industry, market and competitors
3. feedback
Gain valuable customer feedback about your existing brand
4. engage
Engage with a creative agency to develop your brand and marketing materials
5. develop
Continue the relationship and develop a strategy for promoting your brand
6. strategise
Move your business forward with strategic and ongoing results driven marketing
7. analyse
Analyse performance and make necessary changes to your strategy
8. feedback
Regularly engage with your customers, acquire feedback
9. Focus
Focus on your results/success/failures and re-evaluate strategies where necessary
too much work for you?
If this is too much work for you and you want to engage with a creative agency like us, we’d be happy to take a look at your brand and discuss with you how we could start the rebranding journey
what now?
Chat with one of our team today, we’re pretty sure that we could work with you and before starting any work, we’ll engage, enthuse and excite you with our plans, thoughts and ideas for our rebranding journey together.
examples of successful rebrands
Maddison Consultants: Recruitment rebranding
Controllis perpetual power systems
