Rebranding? Ask these three questions first

Rebranding is often an essential part of continuing the success of a company. Perhaps product offerings have increased. Perhaps acquisitions have changed the initial focus of the company. Whatever the catalyst, the process of rebranding can be a complicated one, causing companies to evaluate what’s good about their brand and what can be thrown out.

When you’re thinking of rebranding your company or product, three things should factor into your decision.

Equity

Before you make a brand change, it’s important to understand what you stand to lose if you step away from your current brand. The best way to gain a good understanding of this is to ask. Poll your customers, prospects, channel partners, employees and any other stakeholders and gather their input on your brand.

Perception is reality, so what does the brand mean to them? How familiar is the market with your brand, and how closely associated is it with your products?

Once you know how important the brand is to your external audiences, you’ll know if stepping away from it is the right decision.

Relationships

Does your company have multiple brands? Sub brands? If so, there’s a good chance that a change to one of those brands will affect the others. Again, reach out to external partners and stakeholders to gain a clear understanding of the brand’s perceived relationship to the others and evaluate how strong that connection is.

If it’s airtight, you’ll want to weigh the positives of change against the negative of potentially hurting the other brands. If there’s little-to-no association, though, your rebrand efforts can continue.

The Baby and the Bathwater

A company’s ‘brand’ is much more than the name or the logo. The attributes, values and drivers of a brand have everything do to with how a brand is perceived and ultimately how it succeeds in the marketplace.

When rebranding, be sure that you’re not stepping away from all the things that have brought success to your company. The new brand should support and build on those positive attributes and ultimately let go of the ones that are not driving success for the business.