Rebranding can help refresh your image, communicate your value proposition and attract more customers. But costs can range from roughly $30,000 to $50,000 over a period of three to four months. Note that this is just the most basic type of rebranding.
That means you need to make sure you really want a rebrand in the first place. You wouldn’t want to spend thousands of dollars on something that won’t do you any good.
In this article, you’ll learn three things you need to do before undertaking a small business rebranding:
1. Analyze Whether There are Shifts in Your Vision
Your vision is what sets the tone for your business’ aspirations. It also determines the direction you aim to take in the industry.
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If your business vision has changed significantly — maybe your goal now is to be a global brand or you envision your brand to have a less serious personality — then rebranding could be the perfect strategy. Rebranding will help you align your brand identity with your new vision and goals. Though not a small business, Facebook is a great example of a brand that rebranded due to a shift in its vision. The social media giant rebranded itself as ‘Meta’ to reflect its ambition of moving beyond social media platforms.
The new name and logo signified a shift in the vision for the company as it looked toward immersive virtual environments and other innovations.
If your vision remains the same, rebranding may not be necessary. For example, if you only launched a new product but your brand direction hasn’t changed, rebranding will only confuse your customers or dilute your brand identity.
It’s all about making sure your brand reflects that direction you’re heading in.
2. See if Your Target Audience has Changed
Prior to deciding on a rebrand of your small business, you need to also ask yourself who your target audience is.
Understanding your target audience shouldn’t be a one-off process. After all, people’s interests are constantly changing. Then there are also those evolving industry trends that can also influence people’s preferences. If your target audience’s interests and preferences have changed abruptly such that your brand no longer resonates with them, you might need a rebrand and tweaks in your retail or SaaS marketing strategy.
Sometimes, it’s you, the brand, that decides to focus on another audience or cater to an expanded audience because they provide you with more opportunities.
For instance, McDonald’s (again, not really a small business, but we’re using it to illustrate a point) used to cater to children. Throughout the years, though, the brand saw an opportunity to target an even bigger market that includes adults. After all, kids don’t just go to a McDonald’s store alone. They come accompanied by adults. So the store had to rebrand itself as a company that caters to entire families. See the rebrand reflected in these pictures:
Monitoring changes in customer behavior isn’t that hard. You can go directly to your customers and survey them once in a while to see if anything has changed about what they want.
Analytics tools and market research, meanwhile, can help you identify other potential customers apart from your original target audience. These users may present new opportunities that require a small business rebranding on your part.
3. Check Whether There are Problems with the Current Brand Image
You need to see whether there are problems in your existing brand image that may be holding you back. You may need a rebrand if you encounter one or more of the following issues related to your brand image:
- Poor brand awareness and understanding of brand messaging. Gather customer feedback to gauge public perception of your brand. Look for any confusion about your core values, your product offerings and your brand messaging. If these are overwhelming, you may need a rebrand.
- Inadequate market positioning. Assess your market positioning in relation to competitors. If your brand doesn’t stand out or lacks a unique value proposition, it may be challenging to attract and retain prospective consumers. You’ll need a rebranding strategy.
- Negative associations. Identify if there are any negative associations with your current brand due to past incidents or controversies. If these are overwhelming, you might need a complete overhaul of your brand image.
If you do need a rebranding campaign, make sure you don’t just change your visual identity — color palette, packaging, marketing materials like flyers and business cards, among others — to overhaul your brand image. Double down on PR campaigns and content marketing that promote your new branding, too. Optimize your content for search engines to boost your visibility.
In Closing
Rebranding requires a lot of effort and resources. That is why you should carefully consider whether or not you need to overhaul your brand image in the first place. Analyze first whether there are shifts in your vision, see if your target market has changed and check if there are problems in your current branding.
If you encounter company vision and audience changes and/or current branding issues, then you might need to undertake a successful rebrand.
If executed when necessary, a small business’ rebranding strategy can yield satisfying results. It has the potential to draw in a larger customer base, boost sales and facilitate business growth.
Nico Prins is the Founder of Crunch Marketing, a SaaS link-building agency. The company works with enterprise SaaS clients, helping them scale lead generation globally across EMEA, APAC and other regions.
