The 5 Stages of Rebranding: How to Transition Your Brand Successfully

Rebranding can be a daunting task. 

It’s not easy to change the way people see your company, or to get them to forget about your old brand and start associating you with your new one. But it’s not impossible. 

In fact, if you do it correctly, rebranding can be a very successful strategy for growing your business. There are five stages of rebranding that you need to go through in order to make the transition successfully.

In this blog post, we will discuss each stage in detail and give you some tips on how to make the process as smooth as possible.

Step One: Assess Your Brand Vision, Mission and Values

If you already have a brand vision, mission and set of values in place, now is the time to reconsider them. 

If you don’t have these yet, now is the time to sit down as a team, figure them out and define them. 

Simply, your vision, mission and values are the cornerstones of your brand, and you can establish these by answering 3 key questions:

• What are we doing? This is your vision. It doesn’t just focus on where you want to be, but where you want your audience to be and is the focal point for every decision you make
• How are we doing it? This is your mission. Your company road map if you will, and if this changes, your message needs to change too
• Why are we doing it? This creates your values. Why you have that vision and why you’re committed to your mission

Because your brand is constantly evolving and changing, any changes to your mission, vision, or values will need to be reflected in your rebrand. 

This might imply updating the appearance of your logo, renaming it, or coming up with a new tagline, for example.

Step Two: Market Research

To achieve a rebrand that is effective, you must first understand what you’re doing connects with your consumers and fits in with the market as a whole. 

To reestablish your target market, focus on:

• Age
• Gender
• Location
• Job Role
• Economic Status
• Interests and Hobbies
• Education Level

To find these out, take a look at your web and social analytics in your CRM system, which you can gather by asking customers to fill in surveys, for example. 

Here, what you’re trying to work out is if your target demographic has changed. Perhaps your audience isn’t who you thought it was, or maybe there’s potential customers in a demographic you’ve not considered before. 

Then, take a look at what the market is doing – are there any new trends in branding? 

Bear in mind though that not every trend will stand the test of time, so keep longevity in mind – you don’t want to launch a rebrand to fit a trend, only for the hype to pass after a few months. 

Lastly, look closely at your competitors too. 

Take a look at what’s working for them and if there’s any elements to influence your rebrand. 

Of course, inspiration is fine but always remember your branding design, concept and messaging must be unique, otherwise you’ll never stand out in the crowd.

Step Three: Work Out Your USP

A successful rebrand should bring even more attention to what makes you unique. 

So ask yourself – what do you do that no one else does? To find this out:

• Note down all of the unique features and benefits of your product or service 
• Identify the aspects that cannot be copied or reproduced
• Define what emotional needs you meet from a customer perspective
• Define what’s in it for the customer

Gathering this information will help inform your rebranding strategy.

Step Four: Redesign Your Brand

By this stage, you’ll start to see things take shape. 

Before you start rebranding though, you should create a list of each facet you want to change – you can get this by looking at all the places and times your customers will come into contact with your brand. 

Once you know what needs to be updated, you can start creating mockups. 

Usually, a rebrand will update:

• Your Logo: this should be simple, memorable, and appropriate for your target market. It should also be adaptable to the various channels through which your company communicates (for example, website, social media platforms etc.).
• Colour Palette: your brand should have three colours: base (to reflect your personality), accent (should pair visually with the base colour) and neutral (which acts as a background to complement base and accent colours). It’s worth noting here that colour can increase brand recognition by 80%, so use colour psychology to help you pick colours that work well with your brand image. Check our previous blog here to find out more about how to choose colours that fit your brand.
• Typography: similar to colour, the fonts you use need to match your brand’s personality. Typically, brands will use 2-3 fonts: main text font, headline font and accent font
• Imagery: the pictures and imagery you use in your marketing assets must support the core message of your brand and be a reflection of your target audience/market

Step Five: The Launch

Before you show off your rebrand to the world, you need to make sure you have everything in place first. 

Internal teams should be made aware first – known as a “soft launch“, which should happen 4-6 weeks prior. This is a great way to get everyone on board and iron out any kinks before going public. 

So you don’t leave anyone out, make a list of all internal and external sources that need to be informed, including: 

• Board members
• Partners
• Sponsors
• Employees
• Customers
• Community
• Influencers
• Media

Then once you’ve identified your launch audiences, you need to create a narrative behind it. 

Here, you should focus on why you’ve chosen to rebrand, the thought processes behind the new look and what it means for the future. 

By doing so, you’ll add the all-important human element to the change, and help your audience relate to your brand on an emotional level. 

Moreover, you’ll want to build hype – tell your audience something new is coming, and you’ll start creating a buzz that gets people talking. You could even tease your audience with a sneak peak so by the time you launch, they’ll be eager to see what’s new.

The Takeaway

Businesses should rebrand every now and then. 

There are many reasons to reconsider your branding, including the need to appeal to new audiences and distinguish yourself from competitors.

It’s also a fantastic method to stay up to date and demonstrate your company’s growth. 

Finally, it may be a requirement at times, especially if your company’s reputation has gotten worse over time. 

Whatever the reason, rebranding can help a firm become more distinct and memorable to customers.

In the meantime, take a look at our graphic design service here.