To achieve success in an evolving world, businesses need to be adaptable. And part of being adaptable is recognizing the need to rebrand the company.
Whether the company is launching a new line of products or adjusting the brand to match your vision, sometimes a rebrand is necessary.
If you’re ready to start an exciting new chapter with a rebrand, make sure to kick it off right. Take advantage of these smart strategies for announcing a rebrand.
Involve the Staff
When launching a rebrand, it’s important for the staff to have a good understanding of what is happening and why. It could be wise to involve your staff in the entire process.
Hold meetings with department heads to let them know you want to rebrand. Get their input by ensuring ample time to ask questions and offer feedback.
This makes certain that employees understand why the rebrand is happening, have had time to ask questions, provide their feedback, or partake in the rebranding process.
Hold a Soft Launch
Several weeks prior to the public rebranding announcement, prepare your staff with a soft launch. To boost excitement, make it an after-hours event with cocktails and appetizers. Have a surprise unveiling of a new name and/or logo, and have your creative team share the new branding story. Hand out swag bags stuffed with company t-shirts, coffee mugs, and totes, and test employee knowledge about the rebrand with games and quizzes.
Finally, introduce a rebranding style guide that outlines how the brand is to be showcased online, the approved font(s), logo(s), brand colors, and how the staff should conduct themselves when representing the brand.
Inform Current Clients or Customers
Part of being successful in business involves keeping current customers.
Help make the current clients or customers feel valued by sending them a “heads up” email in advance of the rebranding launch.
In the rebranding announcement email to customers, let them know why you’re rebranding, what you hope to accomplish, and how they’ll continue to enjoy the great products or services they’re currently getting. Make sure your customer service and sales teams know how to communicate branding changes effectively.
Alert the Press
To spread the word about the rebranding event, draft a press release and send it to major media outlets within your community or industry.
To ensure your press release gets noticed and is drafted properly, you may want to hire a professional press release writer. When hiring a writer for the job, make sure to check references and ask for examples of their work.
For more ways to inform the public about the rebranding event, you may want to consider traditional advertising measures like television, radio, or print ads. For a completely seamless rebranding, digital marketing efforts can be made as well.
Share on Social Media
When making the rebrand announcement, the company social media channels should play a key role. Few marketing tools make a better resource for getting news out about your business.
Use the platforms to announce your rebranding — including sales, promotions, or a contest, and give the audience teasers about the upcoming rebrand.
Build excitement by publishing content like “Save the Date,” “New Look on the Way,” “Watch this Space,” or “Your Wait is Nearly Over.” Instagram Reels, stories on Facebook and Instagram, in addition to publishing content on TikTok will help to create buzz and excitement over the coming news.
On the big day, it’s time to announce the company rebrand in style with eye-catching posts featuring the updated look.
Publish content like a well-crafted video in addition to an in-depth blog post detailing the reasons behind the rebrand and how it will benefit customers.
Unveil the updated website and invite consumers and loyal customers to attend your special rebranding event. Throughout the event, grab more attention for the rebrand by live Tweeting, posting photos, or hosting a live video on the social platforms.
For consistency and maximum outreach, make sure the marketing team has the necessary resources to share your rebranding news across all the company social media accounts.
Implement Updates
A rebrand requires a lot of updates. Because your website represents the business around the clock, make sure to plan for rebranding changes and hire the best IT people possible if they don’t already work for you.
When working on the website, there are a few items to consider. For example, does the rebrand encompass a name change? If so, keeping the previous domain name is important so that redirects can be implemented to the new website.
If it doesn’t encompass a name change, then there is no need to update the URL.
While updating the website, look for ways to improve visitor usability as well. Things that can help improve visitor usability include fast-loading pages, contact information, useful blog posts and information, it is ADA-compliant.
Updating doesn’t just involve your website and social media platforms. To be thorough with rebranding, other updates will need to be taken care of. This includes but is not limited to:
- Business listing in places like Google, Yelp, local directories, and industry databases are updated.
- Email footers if the name or address changed.
- Letterhead, envelopes, business cards, and employee handouts or booklets with the proper logo and branding.
- Signage for storefronts, offices, company vehicles, or billboards.
- Printed or digital sales materials like newsletters, pamphlets, brochures, and catalogs.
- Any promotional materials like pens, calendars, clothing, or tote bags.
The Bottom Line
Rebranding is a] big step in reinventing your business. To make the biggest impact possible on current and future customers or clients, it takes time, careful planning, and a strategized execution.
On your path to a successful rebrand, start with these tips, and continue to discover what is important to the staff and company in its entirety.
If you aren’t sure if it’s time to rebrand or if the staff can successfully facilitate it on-house, let us know. Our branding experts would be happy to discuss the process with you.
