Rebranding is a very challenging move in itself. You are always concerned about whether your customers will connect with you, what if you lose your existing customer base or what if it’s not relatable, etc.
However, if you are considering rebranding — There must be a reason for it, right? It’s possible that your brand is becoming irrelevant or people are not getting what you have to say or people buy your product but then forget you.
Multiple reasons. Either you can live with what exists (in fear of losing what you have) or do rebranding (but successfully) after careful research and a clear strategy.
So let’s understand how to do rebranding correctly using digital marketing — obviously because we are in 2024.
Here’s a step-by-step guide to pull off rebranding with digital marketing.
Table of Contents
- Assess Your Brand’s Current State
- Create Your New Brand Identity
- Revamp Your Website
- Create a Social Media Strategy to Announce Rebranding
- Invest in Paid Advertising
- Monitor and Analyse Your Results
- Adjust and Refine Your Strategy
- Conclusion
- Frequently Asked Questions
1. Assess Your Brand’s Current State
Before you jump into rebranding, you need to know where you stand. Think of it as taking a snapshot of your brand’s current health—because without knowing your starting point, it’s tough to plot the course to where you want to go.
So grab your diary and note down how is your brand perceived and what needs to be fixed. Ask yourself questions like — What are the strong points of the current brand?
Maybe your logo is iconic, but your messaging feels outdated. Or perhaps your products are great, but your customer service has been lagging.
Or see the platforms where you are active. Since we are talking about digital marketing — analysing current platforms where you are active should be your topmost priority.
Pinpoint these areas so you can build on your strengths and address your weaknesses in your rebrand.
2. Create Your New Brand Identity
Your brand identity is more than just your logo or colours—it’s the personality of your business. It’s how you communicate with your audience and what they feel when they interact with your brand.
For example, you always feel elite when you buy an iPhone. Similarly, people feel adventurous and thrilled when they have Red Bull. Because these brands have created a narrative that makes people emotionally attached.
The reason for the successful branding is a strong brand identity. Let’s understand how to create a brand personality.
Define Your Brand Persona
Start by thinking about your brand as a person. If your brand walked into a room, what kind of vibe would it give off? Is it the friendly, approachable type? Or more formal and authoritative? This can be confusing. However, you can figure it out with the help of a branding agency.
And please take help from experts only as it can define rebranding success or destroy your brand completely.
Then decide the tone of voice that matches your brand persona. Is it casual and conversational or more polished and professional?
Now take a step further to analyse your visual identity. For example — if you’re rebranding to appeal to a younger audience you might want to keep brighter colours and a more playful font.
Take Meesho for instance. They rebranded and changed the logo from pink and white to bold purple, mustard and white.
Tell a Compelling Brand Story
A brand story is a backstory of your brand. How did it come into existence, what was your thought when you first started it?
Then comes brand storytelling. It includes how you communicate that story and bring your brand personality in front of people.
Your story is great, but how you are telling it defines if people are willing to listen or not. So, the next step is to figure out a communication strategy.
You can communicate with a relaunch campaign. For example, when Dunkin Donuts went under rebranding they announced it with this simple social media post.
3. Revamp Your Website
Your website is your digital storefront—so when you rebrand, it needs to be at the top of your makeover list. It’s often the first place potential customers will interact with your new brand, so it has to make a strong impression.
If you are thinking about changing the visuals of the brand or changing messaging — make sure it shows on your website.
Update the content of your site to reflect your new brand voice and logo. Mail Chimp — an email marketing software company used this strategy when it underwent rebranding. They also mentioned what they are changing and what will remain the same in their blog.
You can read the blog here.
4. Create a Social Media Strategy to Announce Rebranding
Social media is where your brand comes to life. It’s the perfect platform to showcase your rebrand and connect with your audience on a more personal level.
But remember, one post is just not enough to announce rebranding. You need a full-fledged social media campaign to announce rebranding.
Here’s how you can implement it with the help of a social media marketing agency.
Posts that spark curiosity
We recommend building hype first around the relaunch. Let your audience guess what’s happening. Maybe you can put out behind-the-scenes of reworking on logo or do a post without your logo on it. You could even post reels where your employees are trying to find out disappeared logo.
Launch Event
Consider hosting a live stream or an online event to reveal your new brand. Engage your audience with Q&A sessions or giveaways to make it interactive. There are endless ways of hosting a launch event too. So seek quirky ideas from a social media marketing company for a successful brand relaunch. Once you’ve announced your rebrand, keep the momentum going with content that reinforces your new identity.
5. Invest in Paid Advertising
Paid advertising can give your rebranding efforts the boost they need to reach a broader audience quickly.
Use platforms like Google Ads, Facebook Ads or LinkedIn Ads to target your new audience. Tailor your ad copy and visuals to reflect your rebranding.
Use the targeting options available on each platform to reach the right demographics. Focus on those who are most likely to resonate with your new brand. You can easily go wrong here as targeting is way more complex than it looks.
On top of that, you need to know the right ads platform for your industry. So, partner with an SEO company to target the right audience.
Additionally, don’t forget about retargeting campaigns. These ads can help bring back visitors who’ve interacted with your brand before, now showcasing your rebrand.
6. Monitor and Analyse Your Results
Continuous monitoring is key to understanding the impact of your rebranding efforts and making necessary adjustments.
Keep an eye on website traffic, social media engagement and conversion rates. These metrics will give you insight into how well your rebranding is performing.
Additionally, keep track of sales, the number of repeat customers, from where you are getting most sales, what is the perception of customers after rebranding etc. This will help you see if there’s any improvement in business after rebranding.
7. Adjust and Refine Your Strategy
Based on your analysis, be prepared to make adjustments to improve your rebranding strategy.
Use the insights from your monitoring efforts to make data-driven decisions. This may involve tweaking your digital marketing strategies or updating your content.
Even if you are seeing good results with existing strategies, keep adapting to new trends. Digital marketing is an ongoing process just like traditional marketing.
We understand it’s frustrating to manage it in-house as you need to hire professionals, manage them, train them etc. But it’s necessary to keep it ongoing to attract more customers and become a bigger brand.
If you are not able to manage everything in-house, hire a digital marketing agency to do it for you. But, please don’t discontinue it.
Conclusion
Imagine the transformation your brand can undergo when you embrace strategies like data-driven market research, compelling social media campaigns and immersive content marketing.
Think about the brand loyalty you can cultivate with fresh messaging and a new brand identity. However, if done wrong — your brand might take a wrong turn.
Because the truth is, in today’s digital age, rebranding without a robust digital strategy is like setting sail without a map. You might move forward, but you won’t reach your desired destination.
However, if you are ready to take a leap of faith and make your brand not just seen but felt, connect with us at hello@florafountain.com.
Our expert team will conduct a brand audit and provide strategic rebranding ideas. Additionally, we will implement a powerful digital marketing strategy that will redefine your brand.
Frequently Asked Questions
Vasim Samadji is a partner at Flora Fountain, where he leads the Business and Marketing Strategy divisions. He is a seasoned professional with an MBA in marketing and over a decade of experience working with multiple MNCs. Vasim is a firm believer in the power of creation and he is...