Rebranding is the process of altering your brand message and identity to better suit your business’ needs. There comes a point in every business’ journey where you will need to go through a rebrand.
Knowing when to rebrand your business is a question that I get asked a lot. How will I know when the time is right to rebrand? Are there any situations that I will encounter in my business when rebrand will become essential?
Here are six ways to know when it’s time to rebrand your business:
1. Your brand name no longer reflects your brand vision
Naming your business is one of the hardest things to do when first starting out. How do you decide what to name your business? Is the name you want available? Can you get the domain name and associated social media handles for the name? Do you name it after yourself or do you go with a different name? All of these questions come with naming your business.
However, there may come a time in your business where your brand name no longer reflects the vision for your brand. I’ve worked with clients who have decided to keep their business names and clients who have decided to change it.
For example, a client of mine, Sam Burgess, changed her business name from Social Mouth Ltd to Small and Mighty Co. When she started her business, she was a social media manager and came up with the name Social Mouth as she wanted to give small businesses a voice online. After a little while in business, she realised that what she was passionate about wasn’t just about managing someone’s social media account. Sam was and is a content marketing consultant for small product based businesses. She believes that small businesses can do mighty things – hence her rebrand to Small and Mighty Co.
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2. You’re failing to differentiate yourself from the competition
If you’re finding yourself competing with others in your industry then this could be a sure fire sign that you need to rebrand. I’m a strong believer that once you have a well defined and successful brand that speaks to your ideal client, you won’t need to compete with your competition.
The reason for this is that people buy from people. By building a strong brand and a loyal audience, you are creating a community of people that are going to want to buy what you are selling.
Create a brand so strong, that you don’t see the competition as competition but as part of one big community that can support each other.
3. Your business model or strategy has changed
If your business model or strategy has changed since you launched the business then it’s likely that you will need to rebrand so that it suits the new direction.
I very rarely work with new business owners on The Flourish Experience as I strongly believe that you should ‘live’ in your brand before making the investment to work with a high-level branding expert.
I don’t think you should or even need to invest a lot of money in branding your business at the very beginning. The reason being that in the first 18 months to two years of running a business, A LOT can change! You may find that what you first set out to do, isn’t in fact what you want to do at all.
Instead, there are many different ways that you can start to create a brand when you first start out without investing a huge amount of money. There are templates, workbooks, courses all designed for the newer business owner.
4. You’re struggling to raise your prices
If you have raised your prices but have noticed a sudden drop in enquiries or bookings then you may panic and decide to put them back down again. You may feel that putting up your prices was the wrong thing to do which is why no-one is buying.
When in fact, it may not be your prices that are the issue but the brand that you have no longer reflects your new pricing.
By rebranding in this instance, you are able to reshape the way your clients perceive you and therefore the price of your services should be less of an issue.
5. You’re trying to connect with a new audience
If you are pivoting your business to connect with a new target audience then a rebrand is likely to be one of the steps that you need to take during this change.
Your brand needs to be reflective of your ideal clients and if your current brand doesn’t match up to the new audience you want to reach, then you’ll need to pivot this also.
6. Your brand isn’t unique
As I mentioned in point three above, you don’t need to invest a lot of money in branding your business at the beginning. There are website templates, workbooks, courses and much more designed for those just starting out on their business journey.
The issue with website templates, however, is that they don’t give your brand a unique look. This is fine at the beginning and I definitely think it’s the way to go for most new businesses.
When you are ready to up-level your brand, you should invest in working with a brand specialist who can work with you to create a brand that is unique to you and your audience.
Define Your Brand AND Grow Your Audience
Sign-up to receive my free 8-page PDF guide and discover the steps you need to take in order to grow a successful and sustainable online business.