8 Signs It’s Time You Should Consider Rebranding Your Company

Every company will rebrand. It’s inevitable. As time moves forward, so does your brand. The products you sell, the audience you serve, the purpose you pursue—so many different factors that define your brand’s identity will evolve and, when the time is right, your brand must evolve to reflect them.

First Things First—Where Are You at Right Now?

Before you can even dream of rebranding, you have to understand the character of your established brand. If you’re an older company, think back to what your goals were when you created it. If you’re newer, consider what might already be lacking or changing that’s making you contemplate the idea of rebranding sooner rather than later.

The first key to successful rebranding is to match your new brand’s identity to the problem you want to solve and the expectations you want your audience to have about you. Rebranding is supposed to rejuvenate an existing company, so you have to be able to say out loud what things aren’t working. Once you know this, you can decide if you should do a partial or a full rebrand, what pieces of your brand you want to alter, and what avenues you want to take to telling the world about the new you.

When Should You Rebrand? A Checklist.

The following list of signs that your company should rebrand itself are all major reasons to shake things up. If any of these items apply to your struggles, it’s very likely that it’s time to make moves.

Lagging sales

One of the most common reasons that companies choose to rebrand is consistently low sales. There could be many aspects of why a company is struggling to sell their products, whether it’s poor product design, undercutting competitors, or a boring brand. But rebranding can often revitalize sales even if the products and prices remain the same, because customers flock to brands they know and love. In 1999, Dos Equis found success with their “The Most Interesting Man in The World” campaign. Sales were up 22% even when imported beer sales were down 4%.

Evolving business

Sometimes, the gig that you get into isn’t the gig that lasts. Maybe you start by selling a certain product and brand yourself around it, but then you start pulling in related items and your business expands to include much more than for what you’re actually known. A brand should be all-encompassing—a summarizing entity that could fit whatever your products and goals are. If it has stopped doing that, rebranding might be what you need.

Leaving an old reputation behind

Related to #2 on our list, your brand can also carry a reputation for past actions that might shed a different, or even negative, light on your company. Uber is a perfect example: In 2018, Uber underwent a massive rebranding effort around its aesthetic identity as the company attempted to leave behind bad headlines circulating around safety concerns. The old logo used all capital letters and looked harshly masculine. So, Uber’s new logo went for something softer, lighter, and focused on movement (which is the entire purpose of the ride-sharing company). The moves made by Uber’s new CEO and his team allowed the company to leave old mistakes and a toxic culture behind in favor a much brighter future.

New or expanded mission

The mission is the heart of a company’s work, and a brand’s identity should embody it. If your company moves toward a new mission, your first step in rebranding should be to see how you can best represent your mission statement. Should your logo be redesigned? Should a new campaign focusing on the new mission be implemented? The key here is to let your customers know about your new direction and why it matters.

You’re getting older

Companies that have been around for a while tend to have well-established brands with many loyal customers. But a lack of change over long periods of time can mean stagnation for the brand and the audience. If you’re not pulling in new customers or aren’t seeing much growth, rebranding could help jumpstart a new era and excite both a new and existing fanbase. Take caution, though—if you change things up too drastically or too minimally, you could alienate once-loyal customers.

Increased competition

Maybe your brand began as one of a kind in the industry, but as time went on, new competitors sprung up and capitalized on the success made by their forerunner (you). As things shake out and customers separate toward the brands they like, you’ve lost control of the sector and are just one of the other guys. Rebranding can help you stand out once again and rocket you to the top of the heap. If you’re having trouble with competition, identify what no one else is offering or what no one else represents. Then make it your own and spread the word.

Outdated brand name

A prime example of this is Radio Shack’s rebranding attempt to become “The Shack.” Yeah, that happened back in 2009. But all they did was change their name, and because their rebranding strategy was shallow, so was the result. They threw their identity out the window and lost consumer interest. If your company is struggling with something similar, like updating your business model to reflect current day consumer needs more accurately, rebranding could be the answer. But be sure to avoid erasing your old identity entirely. Change a brand name to reflect a changing culture or set of offerings within the company.

You need to raise prices

Times are tough and cost of production has gone up for your products. To keep things running smoothly, you may be looking for a way to raise prices to meet your needs. Rebranding could aid you in doing so—a brand’s identity should reflect both the quality and pricing of its products, because these factors affect the customers that will interact with your brand. Spiffing some things up could help to justify raised prices in the minds of consumers.

Ready to Rebrand?

These are just scratching the surface of all the reasons that rebranding might be right for your company’s push forward into a new era. If you play your cards right, it could make that era one of great prosperity.

The team of copywriters, designers, and strategists at Kraus Marketing are rebranding experts, ready to work with you to give your business a fresh start. Contact us today to learn more about what directions we can take to revitalize your brand.