3 Tips for a Successful Rebrand

Written By

Airfoil Group

Whether the decision to rebrand is an attempt to recover from controversy or a proactive measure to align with audiences, a successful rebrand hinges on outlining a well-planned strategy.

As your company embarks on a new direction, a solid, thoughtful strategy will help reduce the risk of losing key stakeholders—or worse, losing dollars. In their two-part series, Airfoil Group explores the essential ingredients of any rebranding journey. First, they outline three fundamental steps that will provide a strong foundation for rebranding efforts:

• Know your audience: Carve out a detailed analysis of key personas so you understand how to connect with them under your new brand.
• Fully assess the risks: Consider how your existing customers and stakeholders will respond, and how rebranding may affect existing brand recognition.
• Seek outside perspectives: Bring in a third-party source, such as a customer survey, to ensure your rebranding strategy is based on unbiased data and fits your audience.

After tackling these items, Airfoil Group outlines the three essential planning stages for a rebrand in part two of their blog series:

Take a Hard Look at the Numbers

Don’t underestimate the costs of rolling out the changes envisioned to change or update the brand. Larger organizations can have hundreds to thousands of web content, print materials and other assets that must be updated during a rebrand for consistency. Consider the unique branding needs and budgeting parameters to determine the scope and timeline of the rebranding strategy.

Uphold Transparency and Open Communication

Use internal communications to let your associates and stakeholders know what changes to expect during the rebranding process to increase the likelihood that they’ll be supportive over time. Customers and key audiences may respond negatively to swift, unexpected changes.

Assess and Adjust

Not every rebrand is welcomed with open arms, but that doesn’t make them a failure. Listening to criticisms and using them as constructive feedback to improve strategy ensures your brand moves in the right direction. If you aren’t getting the anticipated buy-in from stakeholder, contemplate how each of those objections could impact the company’s bottom line. Be prepared to adjust, or even abandon, your rebranding strategy.

Get more tips for a successful rebrand from the blog from Airfoil Group, or get additional brand insights from Worldcom.

As the parent company of Airfoil Communications and Airfoil Digital, Airfoil Group is an independent integrated marketing communications group serving both emerging and leading technology companies. Airfoil drives technology communications for a growing client roster across consumer, enterprise, healthcare and automotive segments. The agency provides services to measure, inform and accelerate clients’ marketing communications, digital, social media and brand strategy programs. Airfoil has been honored as a Silver Anvil winner for work with Microsoft, named Technology Agency of the Year by the Holmes Report and recognized as a top firm in numerous industry rankings.