Rebranding

If you are considering a rebrand of your organization, there must be an important reason behind your decision. So, let’s determine why now is the time to change your company name or branding.

Questions to consider when rebranding:

What problem are you trying to solve by rebranding?
Has your customer changed?
Has there been a change in your competitive landscape that is impacting your growth potential?
Are you pigeonholed as something that you or your customers have outgrown?
Does your brand tell the wrong story?
What do you want to convey? And to whom?
Why should anyone care about your brand?
Have you identified who should care about your brand?
Is your brand associated with something that is no longer meaningful?
Will this solution work for the next 5 to 15 years from now based on what we can anticipate?
If you were starting your company today, would this be the brand you would come up with?

Now that you’ve answered these questions to form your decision, consider who should be a part of the rebranding process. Have you assigned a group or committee to manage the project or someone who is focused, inspired and can lead you through the rebranding?

If you’ve never experienced a rebranding, we recommend hiring a group that can guide you through the process while appointing a key stakeholder within your organization as a partner. Appointing this leader is crucial to the success of your rebranding, because they will be responsible for inspiring your team during the rebrand, informing your staff about key milestones, and ensuring decisions are made in a timely matter.

If you’re looking for a partner who can guide you through the process, contact us for a free 30-minute consultation where we’ll answer your questions about what to expect.

Request your free 30-minute consultation

Set goals and timelines

When you partner with Heart & Hustle Brands to rebrand your organization, we’ll create a plan that will guide you step by step. First, we’ll discuss your goals and timelines to determine a plan of action for developing and implementing your new brand. From creating buzz around the relaunch to informing employees and, finally, the big reveal of the new brand, we’ll walk you through each monumental step.

Review key messaging

If your logo is the visual identity of your brand, then key messaging statements set the tone for your company in the mind of your customers. They define who your customer is and what makes your services or company unique and valuable. Key messaging isn’t just the fluffy words that sit on the pages of your employee handbook. These statements should guide everything from your company behavior to your marketing.

Core values are the foundation of your messaging and should not be overlooked as we begin to think about your new brand. Whether your values and brand positioning statements still hold true or need to be revised to fit your new brand, we’ll prioritize your messaging as we lay the groundwork for building your new brand.

Develop name, logo and brand assets

Your team may already have a new name in mind for your brand or you may need some help brainstorming options that will represent your authentic value and services. We can help develop this new identity from brand name to logo development and branded assets.

We’ll provide options for names and logo stimuli to review and discuss among your team to ensure we’re in alignment before creating your brand identity. Our design team has developed dozens of brands for companies like yours. We’re confident that we can create a logo you’ll be proud to represent – on your website, business cards and apparel.

As we land on a name for your organization, we may recommend working with a trademark attorney to help create a clear path to trademarking your new brand. This will reduce the risk of future trademark infringement issues.

Create excitement around the rebrand

Changing the company’s identity may feel scary or overwhelming for your employees. Show them that this is a positive change for your organization by keeping them in the know. Give them the opportunity to provide feedback on the logo selection and key messaging so they feel like they’re part of the plan.

At least 90 days before the rebranding, inform the team about the timeline for launch. They’ll likely have lots of questions about why you’re changing your name or what this change means for your customers. Create a list of Frequently Asked Questions that can be referred to during and after the rebranding. This will come in handy when your customers ask questions to your staff or visit your website after the rebrand.

We’ll create a campaign around the relaunch of your brand so that the change doesn’t feel so sudden and gives customers and vendors time to change your information without interruption to your business or theirs.

For instance, you might post a message like this on social media or on your website: X company will soon be Y company. This might click through to an article about why you’re rebranding and what it means for your customers. This is a great place to use those FAQs.

Let’s build your brand

Audit your branded assets

You’ll be amazed at all of the materials that your current brand has in inventory and buried in the desktop folders of all your employees. Asking all of your key team members about the assets and materials they utilize on a daily basis is a great exercise. This routine will help ensure no branded item is missed and also gives you a chance to see what materials your team has been using and needs to update.

Here’s just a few branded items to include on your list for rebranding:

Signage
Letterhead, envelopes, business cards and labels
Forms such as surveys, fax cover sheets, check requests or credit applications
Human Resources documentation including onboarding documentation, employment applications and employee handbooks
Marketing assets like the website, social media channels, digital ad creative, online listings, brochures, flyers, banners and trade show booths

Here’s a checklist for rebranding that might help you stay on track.

Download checklist

Update branded materials

Once we’ve determined which materials need to be updated, we’ll prioritize them and list the most crucial items for the business at the top of the list.

As your team reviews the newly designed materials, we’ll get feedback for future iterations or make changes to your digital materials.

Announce the branding change

Updating your brand creates an opportunity to communicate with your customers, vendors and community through social media, PR, email, direct mail, and other direct marketing channels. We’ll create an announcement that helps your new brand get noticed in the media and with your customers. Many companies often find that the announcement helps reactivate relationships with stagnant customers to generate an influx in sales. So, you may enjoy a boost in revenue from the rebranding.

Continue the campaign

Even after months of informing your customers and vendors about your new brand, it’s important to continue to maintain communication about the rebrand on your website and social channels. You’ll want to ensure that the brand equity that was built with your original brand is sustained by keeping a tie to your previous brand. It can be as simple as using a line of text below in your boilerplate content for a few months.

Maintain a list of rebranding FAQs on your website that will also serve as a place for customers and vendors to get answers. An FAQ section can serve as an SEO tool for your brand terms.

If you’d like to hear more about how to rebrand your company

contact us today for a free 30-minute branding consultation.

Request your free 30-minute consultation