Does your company’s current brand truly capture all that your small business has to offer? If not, you may need a brand refresh — practical tips on how to update your brand image without compromising the brand equity you’ve built along the way.
Entrepreneurs and subject-matter experts share thirteen suggestions to strengthen and reinvent your brand:
1. Consider a Name Change.
“If your company’s image is in serious need of a refresh, consider changing your company name. Nothing makes customers take notice of your intention to earnestly update your ways than to change the core of your business.”
– Margot Bushnaq, Founder of BrandBucket, @brandbucket
2. Use research to support brand changes.
“Stay true to your brand and your customer base. Ask yourself, ‘Why now and how will this impact the customer’s overall experience and perception of the brand?’ Evolution, not revolution helps maintain continuity. This helps mitigate the risk of alienating consumers. Also, qualitative research really helps to understand consumer relationships with the brand, which can help to inform impactful creative adjustments.”
– Brian Taylor, Founder and President of Kernel Season’s, @kernelseasons
3. Create a brand survey to share with customers.
“The most important part of our company re-branding was to survey our customers to learn more about who they were, as well as what they wanted to see, what features were not important to them, and their personal preferences as it related to our industry. To encourage participation, we offered a high-value e-gift card to a respondent. The survey was a critical step to help us align our business to our customers’ profiles even further and to focus our company’s resources wisely for the overhaul.”
– Elaine Costa, Co-Owner of Plush Swimwear, @plushswimwear
4. Ensure brand updates communicates the same promise.
“Brands are often built on the behaviors and characteristics they portray, and over time company personality traits are expected and relied upon by consumers. Mercedes-Benz has built a reputation on luxury. Apple on innovation. Walmart on low prices. When changing your brand identity, it is important that you ensure the new brand is in line with the same characteristics your customer base has learned to love and trust.”
– Sarah Davis, Digital Strategist at Buckeye Interactive, @SDavis_
5. Use storytelling to support a ‘rebrand’.
“Make an event out of your new brand and give the story as to why you’re making the change. We re-branded our company a couple of years ago and launched it as a ‘bigger and better’ company. The feedback was amazing and people really supported us like we couldn’t have imagined. The story makes the difference in everything you do.”
– Ely Delaney, Co-Founder of Your Marketing University, @elydelaney
6. Don’t rush into the rebranding process.
“Don’t rush your rebranding. Take the time to email all of your current customers about the upcoming change, push periodic notifications across all of your social media outlets and place announcements on your current website. Leaving this announcement up for a longer period of time will allow more of your customer base and other returning visitors to be aware of your rebranding efforts.”
– Matthew Lenhard, Co-Owner of Test My Marketing, @testmymarketing
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