Advanced Web Formula

Rebranding Checklist | What to Change and What to Keep

Wondering what brand elements should you retain and what essentials to tweak when rebranding? Let us help.

Your brand identity plays a crucial role in determining your marketing strategy and helps you promote your business. A solid brand identity will help your business grow, while a weak brand identity can hurt your business regardless of how good your product or service may be. It is, after all, the image you put forth towards your consumer.

Branding includes several elements: your name, your logo, and your website’s design, among others. The more appealing this outlook, the more the consumers will prefer purchasing from you. However, this factor is rarely on a person’s mind when they begin their business.

You can update your brand identity either by a brand refurbish or by a rebrand. A brand refresh is a minor tweaking of your brand identity, whereas a rebrand is a complete overhaul. A refresh every few years prevents the brand elements from feeling stale while a rebrand aims to redefine your company’s identity.

You can rebrand at any time and construct a new brand identity, but changing all brand elements results in the customers not feeling familiar with your brand anymore, which can result in a loss of customers. You must define your criteria for changing your brand elements and consistently stick to them throughout the rebranding process. Here is what we suggest you change and what you need to keep consistent in your key brand elements:

Your Name

Your company’s name defines you and lets your customers know you are the same old business. Changing it should be the last resort, and even then, it could be a gamble, as you will have to build your brand identity and gain customers from scratch. 

Sometimes, you have little choice but to change the name as well. For example, this may be due to unfortunate connotations getting associated with your brand due to the changing cultural context. If you have to change the company’s name, try for something that still hints at your last name. Perhaps you can modify a part of it. Take Unilever’s rebranding of Fair and Lovely as an example: as their brand kept coming under fire for promoting colorism, they rebranded to Glow and Lovely, retaining part of their old name.

The Typography

The type of fonts you use in your logo and on your company’s web page are of great importance: they help the audience recognize your company’s posts. However, companies do not give this aspect much thought in their initial phases.

Fonts can say a lot about marketing. If you are selling an innovative product or service that simplifies people’s life, you should go for simpler and modern Sans Serif fonts. Likewise, established corporations should use traditional serif fonts to establish themselves as trustworthy. Products and services around art can even incorporate handwriting elements. 

If you believe you didn’t take such matters into consideration, let go of your previous typography and choose two to three fonts that work well with your niche and tone.

The Palette

Colors are a crucial part of a brand identity, so choosing the right ones is crucial to customer perception. Businesses often go with personal preferences and do not research their niche enough before choosing a color scheme. For this reason, these are often among the foremost elements that companies change when rebranding.

Every color evokes a different sensation, and you should leverage this quality to give customers the right idea about your brand. When you’re rebranding, consider if your colors work with your products and services. If they do, keep the palette intact and play around with the shades only. If they don’t, it is time for you to find new colors to represent your business better.

The Logo

The first element that people look at in a brand’s identity is its logo. When rebranding, you don’t have to completely change it, but if you do so, it’ll be an effective way to announce a new brand identity. Consider if your logo communicates your business and what it stands for. It must be aligned with your product and represent your company well while being minimalist. If your logo incorporates a popular company mascot, don’t change it. 

A good logo is simple and minimalist, and is also relevant to the company’s product and communicates your brand’s personality. It should also be memorable and recognizable. Lastly, it should be versatile and allow itself to be used in a variety of ways. If these characteristics define your current logo, it’s best to keep it as is.

The Advertisements

Whereas logo and brand positioning may not need to go every time, rebranding definitely calls for newer advertisement campaigns. With a new brand identity, out goes the old marketing strategy. 

Your ads need to cater to your target audiences perfectly. For instance, if your product is for teenagers, opt for fun advertisements instead of monotonously professional ones. Your ads should not be vague either; they should clearly state your new brand’s message. These practices will help you reach critical demographics in a better way and attract new customers to your business.

Your Brand’s Voice

What kind of voice and tone do you use to communicate your brand message? Your brand’s voice is a defining feature of your business, so consider if it really needs to be replaced during the rebrand procedure.

As it is the perspective from which you create your marketing content, a shift in your brand positioning may also require you to change your tone. You can opt to change the type of content you produce for marketing. However, large differences in the brand’s tone can leave the existing loyal customers feeling estranged from your business.

Your Website

You will need to update your website when you rebrand. While your rebrand will see you experiment with your web design, try to keep your newer look simple, accessible, and user-friendly.

You must revamp the images, typography, and color scheme of your website, and make it aligned with your updated brand identity. However, keep all the necessary information on the website without any change. If your existing content was doing a fine job before the rebrand, there’s no reason to discard it.

Endnote

If your business has been stagnant for a while, it may be the time to rebrand. This will involve changing up some of your brand elements while retaining the others. Certain tweaks will help you get newer audiences, stay competitive, boost sales, and improve your favorability among the audience. However, if you’re redoing it, contact us for a unique and strategic rebrand.