Some tips and tricks for rebranding and re-establishing your small business.

Your brand is your company’s culture. It is the voice and face of your company to the customer and everyone that is outside the company. If you’re considering rebranding your business, you have to think about many things, like how it will affect your customers.

A brand is made up of all kinds of different things. It has the ability to stimulate growth, expand, increase profits, strengthen its workforce and gain competitive advantage. When thinking about rebranding, you have to think about all of these factors and if the changes will make your consumer happy.

Why should you rebrand? This is a common question amongst businesses when they start to notice changes in their performance in their market. Most of the time, management or employees are blamed for a struggling business, when really changing the branding is all that you could need.

Take a look at these steps to start the conversation about if rebranding is right for you.

Determine current identity and what the new identity will be

The number one thing to do is ask lots of questions about how your business is working. Before you start making changes, you have to evaluate your company as a whole to make sure you don’t try to fix what isn’t broken.

You have to think about how current brand could fit your business better. In order to do this you have to remind yourself of your business’s mission statement. You also should consider talking to loyal customers and employees to learn about concerns they have and their opinions. Also, make sure to measure your market to find how industry has changed since you first started the company

Decide what changes need to be made

Once you have officially decided that rebranding is right for you, the first step is to document the changes that need to be made. Coming up with a plan of action is the best method to ensure that everything gets changed appropriately such as figuring out what’s wrong, how it will get fixed and when all the changes will take place.

Another step is to determine all the marketing pieces that need to be changed. This can include your social media accounts, logos, website and so much more. Another method to see how to make your branding better is to research your competition. This gives you the chance to see what they’re doing well and how you can do better than them.

Research customers

While you may think you know your customer base like the back of your hand, there is always room for improvement. During this rebranding process, think about if targeting a new market is a good idea. Sometimes appealing to new demographic might bring in new customers and change vibe of the business and ultimately match the new voice you’re creating for your company. A larger customer base also changes the bottom line and keeps your business fresh with new people becoming loyal to your company.

Employees into brand ambassadors

While your company is going through all of these changes, don’t forget the people that make your company what it is. Include your employees in the rebranding process since they are such a big part of company culture and the brand itself.

Once your new brand is established, make products with new branding for employees. This can be anything from sweatshirts to pens. This way they feel like they’ve been involved in the entire process. It’s also an inexpensive way to market your business.

Initiate changes and communicate new identity

Once all the changes have been made, make sure all of your employees are up to speed on the changes since they’re the ones that have to live up to the new brand. Setting a specific launch date and announce it on all forms of social media and even create advertisements. It gives you the opportunity to tell the story of why you wanted to change your brand and how it’s going to help the company.

Rebranding is primarily an internal process that is then viewed externally. When making the changes, your entire company must commit to them and be honest with the feelings of the changes. Once all of these steps have been accomplished, the final step is to take action and make it happen.