Rebranding: 9 Reasons Why You Should Rethink or Update Your Brand

A brand is perhaps the most important commercial identifier; it sets you apart from the competition and connects you to the product or service your business offers. However, throughout the history of any company, there are times when an external or internal factor triggers a change. This change could involve your value proposition, culture, or slogan, for example. When this happens, that’s when rebranding comes into play—and when you, as your company’s brand manager or CEO, must take the step toward that identity shift. Here, I’m going to explain exactly what rebranding is, but above all, I’ll outline the 9 reasons why you should update your brand. Let’s get started.

As I mentioned earlier, a rebranding occurs when a brand changes its logo, slogan, vision, mission, values, name, target audience, or market to create a new brand identity in the minds of potential customers, customers, competitors, and partners.

It’s often said that a brand usually has only seven seconds to make a good or bad impression on the audience. This is when your brand identity really has to pull out all the stops. And that’s why you should consider What impression do you want them to have of you at that moment?. If the image they take away matches what you want to convey, congratulations—you’ve achieved the goal that every company sets for its brand. However, having a visual image that’s attractive and consistent with your value proposition, along with appropriate values and a culture that are visible in your brand, isn’t all that common.

In addition, there is a current trend that affects all brands: the constant evolution of today’s society. If your company wants to To continue connecting with their buyer personas, companies need to evolve at the same pace, and the brand is a key aspect of the company, which must be aligned with that evolution.

A rebranding offers a number of benefits, such as:

• Reaching a New Audience. This is one of the key aspects of a rebranding. If you focus on your company’s mission, vision, and values and communicate them effectively, people will take notice.
• Greater relevance. When you rebrand, you keep your brand up to date. No matter how long your brand has been around, it should always strive to stay current.
• Improve brand recognition. Through rebranding, you can incorporate elements that humanize your brand—for example, by sharing authentic stories that help you connect better with your audience and leave a lasting impression on them.
• Improve Google rankings. With a rebranding, if you know how to communicate it effectively, you can get your audience to engage with the change, create relevant content related to it, and link to your brand—which, from an SEO perspective, will improve your website’s ranking.
• Increase the team’s sense of belonging to the company. When you undergo a rebranding, you can take the opportunity to lay a new foundation for your organization’s culture and communicate those values to everyone, bringing your entire team on the same page.

Typically, this change occurs in very specific situations, such as when a company is repositioning itself in the market, when there is a desire to improve the company’s reputation, when a merger takes place, when you’re seeking to expand internationally, or simply, in the event of a change in leadership within the industry in which your company operates.

Let’s take a closer look at the factors that lead to or prompt a rebranding.

9 Reasons Why a Company Should Rebrand.

We’ve already touched on some of them, but let’s take a closer look at them.

1. The quest to gain a competitive advantage. A well-planned and executed rebranding can help your company take a significant leap forward compared to the competition, excite customers, and counteract the loss of market share or declining sales. To do this, you need to identify what makes your company special and what competitive advantage you have over the rest of your competition. Once you’ve identified that, build your new brand around it.
2. Fixing Misaligned Marketing. If you don’t work with a brand style guide, your brand identity can become a jumble of elements. The use of inconsistent logos, fonts, color palettes, images, content, and tone of voice dilutes your brand image. To present a consistent image to your current and potential customers, you’ll need to optimize and simplify your brand.
3. Modernize the company’s image. Achieving a fresh, modern look is one of the most common reasons for rebranding. If your brand seems outdated, it’s time to update or rebrand it—but don’t confuse “outdated” with “old.” Vintage can actually be stylish. However, it’s difficult to determine what’s vintage and what’s just old.
4. Identify significant business changes. For companies to remain competitive, they sometimes need to adjust their business models and add new services and products. If you used to do A but now do both A and B, it’s time to clarify your message to reflect that. This often involves rethinking your brand to reflect what you do, why you do it, and why people should care.
5. Show a bolder, more human side of the company. One reason for any rebranding effort may be to convey a certain essence that dispels the boredom associated with the brand—even if your products or services are the most boring ones out there. To do this, tell an authentic story and bring it to life through brand marketing campaigns and valuable content that surprises, delights, educates, and inspires.
6. Counteracting a negative image. It’s not easy to distance a brand from negative connotations. Rebranding is sometimes used as a corrective measure, but it isn’t always successful. However, if you have a real brand reputation problem, you should consider rebranding—at the very least, to mitigate that problem.
7. A name change. Changing the name is the most challenging part, but it also provides the perfect opportunity to examine and rethink your entire brand from scratch—an experience you may not have had before. It’s a chance to start with a clean slate.
8. Repositioning for the company’s growth. In many cases—especially if the founders don’t have a background in brand image, branding, or corporate marketing—creating the initial brand doesn’t take much work. However, once you start to grow and compete with other companies, that branding begins to take on much greater meaning and importance. That’s when rebranding makes sense.
9. Merger, acquisition, or international expansion of the company. Changes in ownership or the merger of two cultures often require a rebranding to reflect the company’s new values, vision, priorities, and personality. This is also an ideal time to align the business strategy with the marketing strategy.

Every company, regardless of its size or how long it’s been in business, faces this challenge at some point. Here are a few examples to show you that everyone—from the best-known brands to the newest startups and even the largest B2B corporations—goes through a rebranding process.

Dunkin’ Donuts is an example of shifting market values. The brand downplayed the importance of coffee and dropped the word “donuts,” which was already widely recognized by its audience.

Despite its youth, Airbnb decided to completely rebrand itself. Despite negative comments from users on social media, the truth is that the change had a very positive impact on brand awareness.

Starbucks is a prime example of a globally recognized company that adapts its image from time to time, evolving alongside its customers. This is one of its most recent brand updates.

Burberry is an example of a century-old brand that is adapting its logo and corporate image in response to the need to increase its digital sales.

In this case, it’s an example of a company that’s been around for over 100 years with a simple, old-fashioned image that doesn’t convey any of its values. Instead, they undertook a rebranding effort full of color and shapes.

At MioGroup We believe that the goals our clients set for us should be…to address these challenges with comprehensive strategies, ranging from consulting and brand development to performance and customer retention. That is why we have a team of experts in brand consulting and Branding strategy— shall we talk about it?