Why ReBrand Now? You Can Put Off ReBranding, But Do You Really Want To Kill Your Best Prospects?
Nobody is accusing you of murder.
Not yet.
But if you've been thinking about a rebrand for a while, you might be killing your Best business interests! Because You certainly don't want to kill off your best prospects, by not presenting your best business case, and not meeting their interests..
Shift Happens! Does your business need rebranding, or a "brand refresh" because you've updated your company, product, or services?
Have you really done anything wrong? No, not at all. It’s a natural need — your business and the marketplace continuously evolve.
Shift happens. But not living up to your business potential, and losing out to the competition, is an egregious strategic and communications disconnect — punishable by loss of business and opportunity.
It's not that we need new ideas... but we need to stop having old ideas." — Edward Land, Co-Founder Polaroid
Rebranding gives you a chance to do your own best work and compete…even (and especially!) if you’ve been in business for years. To keep up with the market, you have to think.
Think about how you present your work to interested prospects right now, considering potential limitations of your company's branding/marketing or muddled delivery of service. And how different that would be if you adjusted your product offerings to better meet marketplace needs and presented and delivered them seamlessly.
Think about how competitors and market leaders present their work.
Think – for a 1/2-sec — of your prospects’ short attention span! And how you need to engage their interest quickly.
If you don’t maintain a strongly branded company, products, and services… you will kill off your best prospects.
They may initially be attracted to your company… but they'll go to competitors who seem to offer a better match for their interests. Ironically, their services and products may or may not be better in reality! It's just they explained it better… or their product/service names and graphics weer more engaging… or they made it easier to do business with them…
Business Owners, ask yourself: Don’t I work too hard to let my competition eat my lunch and gain my market share?
Of course the answer is obvious, as long as you;re asking the right questions.
It’s time to be a transformer.
When you create this brand morphing — sometimes a smaller “correction” and sometimes a major “transformation” — you energize your business and its relationships. And gain more business.
But doesn't it cost good money to rebrand?
Yes. And doesn't it cost you money for salaries and overhead? And, even more so — opportunity cost? In the big picture of overhead, salaries, inventory, training and more… not very much. And it costs you prospects and profitability — far more money! — if you don't.
But don't you lose valuable brand equity if you rebrand?
You lose valuable opportunity to gain prospects now. If your "brand equity" is like 3-Day Old Milk — not good enough to drink, but not bad enough to throw out — is it really worth keeping? And, if you work with us, we can show you some insider secrets on how to use your company rebrand precess itself … to tremendous advantage!
Plus, here's a crazy secret that seems counter-intuitive: We can affirm that your rebrand can be a superb marketing opportunity that helps you gain new business over time, as expected… but also for most businesses in the short-term, by ensuring that your transformation in the spotlight. (Why wouldn't you want to draw attention to that evolution?!)
How often should you rebrand?
You don't want to rebrand too often .
Realize that your prospects — and customers — are swimming on an ocean of products, design, services, websites... and they just want a clear fix on who you are, what you do, and how they can remember your organization. Y'know, stuff like that. Y'know, the stuff that is sorta your brand.
To ensure your products and services stay competitive in their substance, and in your marketing communication....this brand consultant recommends that you check your branding radar every year. That doesn't mean you must take action, big or small. Just do the check, to ensure your products and services are in line with your brand and the marketplace needs.
Don’t go nuts.
I have a client who has revamped their website every 9-10 months for a decade. That’s way too much. Even though “brand ≠ website” you’ll confuse your audience. That new look can be considered a brand, but you don't want to do a rebrand every time one of your Transformer parts squeaks. (Even if you're a nonprofit, and the service is donated!)
Take a fresh look at these brand components…these may need work:
• Company Name — is it bullseye, clear, memorable?
• Domain Name— are your prospects clear or confused?
• Logo — does it represent your company well?
• Tagline— does it expand and enhance your understanding of the company name?
• Website Content and User Experience— from architecture to key components that move the sales process forward more quickly…to look and colors
• Product & Service Offerings— what you offer and the "way" you offer them... are they really meeting marketplace needs? Are there some intelligent tweaks you might easily make to cross that chasm? We love doing just that!)
• Customer Service and Customer Experience — Don't you think it should be in sync with what you're saying about the business?! (Don't say "No kidding, baby" until you check out yours!)
• Your Marketing Communications— does it have it's own "voice"…does it gain leads and sell? If your social or targeted marketing works.... an interested suspect/prospects will visit your website....
• Social Media Marketing — is it good enough to motivate and is it shareable? Are you putting out content that speaks to your audience interests? Can they find it.... and do you distribute it?
• Targeted Marketing— want to capitalize on your social media development?
• Sales & Investor Presentations— bullseye, tailored, guided by your branding
• ...and more.
"Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one."— Albert Einstein
Your marketplace offering and perception won’t transform by themselves.
If you aren’t evolving your strategy, branding and offerings every few years, you’re likely to be missing opportunities with your own good products and services in the marketplace… and giving your competition the opportunity to gain a piece of your market share.
So consider: If you did rebrand...and align your business and branding and marketing thinking...don't you think your business would be more productive, efficient and more profitable?
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Joel Alpert is a Brand Consultant in Atlanta who uses a unique combination of proprietary strategic consulting tools and creative superpowers to engineer marketplace impact. He works with “the largest and smallest companies in America.”
Find out more about our unique strategic consulting, rebranding, effective marketing communications, personal branding and more — connect here on LinkedIn, and come visit:
https://www.marketpoweronline.com/atlanta-rebrand-consultant Power ReBrand — It’s Time To Level Up, Matching Your Brand Identity To Your Best Offerings
...plus, follow the links for tips unique perspective you won't find anywhere else on branding, rebranding "what's a "brand refresh," and more!