Contrary to the popular saying, a book is often judged by its cover.
The same is true for businesses — the identity of a company is represented by its branding, which includes everything that’s visual, including the website, logo, and merchandise.
For a business to successfully grow, the brand strategy must evolve to keep up with trends, changing demographics, and the competitors.
Rebranding is a natural aspect of a business’ development, but it’s also one of the most important. An effective rebrand can help to improve a business’ credibility, reputation, and exposure.
For any business owner, knowing when to rebrand and finding the rebranding idea(s) that works best is the key to a successful relaunch.
Signs Your Business Needs to Rebrand
Business owners can determine if it is time to rebrand by examining their current values, demographic, reputation, competitors, and future goals.
Typically, a disconnect between any of these factors and the business’ vision can indicate that a rebrand may be necessary.
Current Brand Doesn’t Reflect the Business’ Identity
A rebrand might be necessary if the current aesthetic doesn’t speak to the company’s identity, as was the case with indoor golfing simulation center, Precision Sports.
While the previous logo was creative, its vague design didn’t quite capture the passion for golfing that the simulation center primarily caters to.
Sports enthusiasts may completely overlook the indoor golfing center because that version of the logo didn’t properly represent the company.
The creative team at Elevation Ten Thousand redesigned the Precision Sports logo so that it clearly reflects the company’s main activity — golfing. The rebranded logo is brought to life with a simplistic design that is more memorable than the previous version.
Consumers who see the new Precision Sports logo can easily associate the brand with golf thanks to the outline of a golf club that’s prominently integrated into the design.
Business owners who feel the current branding lacks direction or is confusing to consumers should consider rebranding so it better coincides with the identity and values of the company.
Not only does a rebranded logo leave a lasting impression on consumers but it can also help distinguish a business from competitors.
The Business is Evolving
If the business is evolving, so should its branding.
As a business expands to new territories, changes direction, or starts to offer more services and products, these developments should be made evident through a rebranding.
If it isn’t made clear to consumers, business owners risk limiting themselves and missing out on potential clients.
To ensure this didn’t happen, the president of pest and nuisance wildlife management company, Catseye Pest Control had Elevation’s web designers refresh the business’ website to properly showcase the services and branding.
Before the rebrand, the Catseye website appeared a bit dated and lackluster with much of the branding swept under the rug.
The new Catseye website design thoughtfully incorporates the bold color scheme clients are accustomed to seeing on the fleet of trucks and marketing materials while also making services evident.
An obvious transformation from the previous site, the website relaunch both updated the branding while promoting the pest and nuisance wildlife management programs available.
For business owners who are interested in elevating their company, a rebrand can help to ensure consistent branding throughout all facets of the company.
Consistent branding can help to create a memorable presence for consumers — ensuring the brand isn’t forgotten.
Reputation of the Business is Poor or Inaccurate
Misconceptions may plague a business from time to time, especially as it develops and grows. It’s when these misconceptions start affecting the business’ progress that a rebrand should be taken into consideration.
Rebranding can help put much-needed distance between a business and a poor reputation — a problem that once plagued the transportation and ride-sharing app, Uber.
Designed as a cheaper alternative to taxis, Uber hoped to revolutionize transit through a convenient user experience.
However, the poor handling of sexual misconduct complaints within its workforce coupled with rising concerns over how safe the app was for solo travelers hurt Uber’s reputation.
And the company’s branding didn’t help.
Uber’s initial logo featured the company name in capital letters at the center of a black square, which evoked a sense of unfriendliness and exclusivity.
Users no longer felt safe using Uber to acquire rides. To break away from this negative image, the app was relaunched with a new logo and icon.
Now, the app is represented by an incomplete white circle against a black background. The logo is more neutral, recognizable, and significantly different from the previous version.
With this rebrand, the app’s developers hope to foster a positive reputation for the brand and focus on the app’s two most important aspects — simplicity and global usage.
Types of Rebranding Strategies
Rebranding is not always as simple as changing the slogan or logo of a business. It also involves a complete redesign of an organization’s visual assets and marketing materials.
All imagery associated with the business must be consistent with the rebrand to avoid confusing consumers.
This is not to say that a business can’t retain certain elements of the old brand, such as a color palette.
Even a business’ name can remain unchanged so long as it still fits with the new or rebranded elements and identity.
There are three types of rebranding strategies — the type a business adopts depends on the reasons behind the rebrand.
- Brand Refresh: Slight changes in the color palette or certain aspects of the logo can help modernize a brand if its look is dated.
- Partial Rebrand: With a partial rebrand, select elements from the old brand are retained or incorporated into the new one. This is a great option for businesses looking to attract a younger demographic while remaining recognizable to current clients.
- Full Rebrand: A complete or full rebrand involves changing all visual components of a brand, including the name, slogan, web design, and logo. Businesses that need to shed an unfavorable reputation generally benefit from a full rebrand.
Rebrand Your Business with Elevation Ten Thousand
Recontextualizing your brand may be the next step in the development of your business.
To ensure the rebranding is successful, consider working with a team of experienced professionals who can design a customized strategy for your business.
As a full-service marketing agency, the strategists, designers, and creators at Elevation Ten Thousand have the tools and expertise to bring your business to the next level in a cohesive manner.
Contact us today to learn more about how we can help to successfully rebrand your business.
