Whether it’s a merger, refresh, introducing revenue share deals, or an overhaul, rebranding can be an amazing way to generate excitement and tap into a new audience.
But what does this look like, and how do you do it? In this article, we’re taking a look at the five mediums we believe are key for communicating your rebrand.
1. Your website
Free-to-use image sourced from Unsplash
An essential part of any modern-day business is its company website. Starting with a solid name and URL is an obvious but essential step. If you’re considering renaming your business during your rebrand, business name generators can be a great way to explore your options.
There are lots of useful tools online to help guide you in this decision. For example, this quiz can tell you how strong your business name idea is.
During your website rebrand, you should also remember to:
- Update all links to and from your website.
- Revisit and revise your metadata. This includes page titles, descriptions, and image tags.
- Send updated logos, descriptions, and taglines to any affiliated partners who mention or link to your site.
- Update your SEO terms and keywords. (You can find out more about the roles of SEO and brand awareness here.)
- Update your listings in search directories.
The nature of this digital platform means you have control over the exact instance your rebrand goes live. It’s imperative you time this well and ensure all consumer touchpoints are aligned. Depending on the nature of your business, this will most likely include your social media too. Make sure you establish a single source of truth for all assets related to your rebrand — traditional solutions like Dropbox may cause mistakes.
You can sell your products directly from your website or start selling branded products on Amazon, taking advantage of a substantial built in network and audience.
2. Your media
For a professional rebrand, wipe away any traces of your old branding where possible and practical. Continuity across your channels will prevent confusion that could risk compromising your rebrand. In terms of social media, this includes bios, banners, headers, and display pictures, as well as the content you’re producing and sharing.
Rebranding can and should be an exciting time for your company—a time for growth and renewal. So, why not share your excitement? Utilize your existing channels to build anticipation and perhaps even an air of mystery surrounding your launch. Create a promotional plan encompassing your different channels and use this time to engage with your existing audience.
As a general rule of thumb, the more interaction the better, and there are some great examples of interactive marketing campaigns out there to inspire you.
A great way of doing this is to create competitions and giveaways regarding your product/service. The typical entry requirements are to follow a brand, share the post, and tag some friends in the comments. This can be effective in expanding your brand reach and sparking curiosity in a new audience.
Image sourced from instagram.com
Don’t underestimate the power of blogging. Not only can this drive SEO, but it can help establish you as an industry expert and support knowledge learning in your chosen field. There’s lots of information on how to build a free WordPress blog out there.
Social media can also be utilized outside your pages. Engage relevant influencers and share your enthusiasm with them. Influencer marketing doesn’t just have to be about paid partnerships and sponsored videos. Gifting PR packages is a great way to get the right people to interact with your brand and create a buzz about changes. Companies such as Revolve and AirBnb have even gone as far as to arrange influencer holidays to celebrate their launches.
Obviously, the amount you’ll be able to stretch to will be impacted by your budget, but sending out samples of your products is a handy way to garner the right sort of attention cheaply.
3. Your people
It’s not just about getting your external network to talk about your rebrand. The first—and arguably most important—medium should be your people. Their input will offer an invaluable starting point in guiding your revamp and has several benefits.
Firstly, it allows you to gain insight into the company and its internal perception. It also enables your workers to feel empowered, acknowledged, and involved in the brand’s direction. This is vital when generating a buzz around a rebrand. Additionally, involving staff helps them understand how the rebrand will affect them and what should be expected.
Communicating this to staff doesn’t have to involve a huge budget, but be sure to dedicate time and resources to present your vision and progress to your team. It’s important to not undermine the effort your staff may have put into the old brand while being clear about why the new brand is a better fit. You might want to use this time to share any major dates, including your launch plan and company events that are taking place.
While rebranding can be a lot of work, it doesn’t end on launch day. This is a pivotal moment and should be acknowledged as such, but how you do that is up to you. However, from experience, a set launch day can be a great way to familiarize sales teams with new materials via workshops and training.
These early days are a great time to gauge reactions and collect feedback from key stakeholders. And, while it’s great to expect success, it’s still best to set aside contingencies for any tweaks that may be needed in the initial stages of your rebrand. As a general rule, it’s good to assign time for business continuity management (BCM). Having the right software for BCM can aid in this process.
Ultimately, though, your aim is to get staff motivated and educate them on your new brand so they can successfully spread your message. So, train, listen, and celebrate!
Free-to-use image sourced from Unsplash
4. Your phone system
Being able to efficiently communicate with customers is vital for any business, let alone one going through a rebrand. Having a manageable phone system can ensure you’re maintaining a crucial touchpoint for customer feedback and keeping your finger on the pulse. Features such as an interactive voice response (IVR phone) system allow incoming calls to be easily fielded while saving valuable resources and time.
Every customer touchpoint should be employed to best effect. For example, communicating key brand messages during queued calls is a great way to engage both existing and potential customers.
Utilizing call waiting features can also be hugely beneficial to your brand, and you can use on-hold marketing to share information about your rebrand, the events you’re hosting to celebrate it, and special offers.
Not only can these methods result in process improvements, but they can save you time and money too.
5. Your emails
From mass marketing to marketing automation, emails have become a staple tactic in most organizations. Their importance shouldn’t be underestimated, with 77% of marketers noting an increase in email engagement in the last year.
Furthermore, Statista reports that 46% of smartphone users prefer to receive communications from businesses via email. It’s therefore important to ensure your emails are mobile-friendly.
Testing your emails can result in a higher return. A great way of doing this is to use A/B testing. For this, you segment a sample of your subscribers into two groups, with each receiving a different variation of the same email. This is an effective way of discerning the best language and visuals to use.
Spam testing can also increase your delivery and open rates to ensure your hard work isn’t going to waste. Likewise, brands providing personalized web experiences received an average uplift of 19%. This demonstrates the importance of tailoring email and web content to your audience.
Image sourced from neilpatel.com
Depending on the nature of your rebrand, you might decide to reveal it to your business partners or loyal customers first. This is a nice way of cementing your relationship with key stakeholders and garnering feedback.
Utilize UTMs (urchin tracking modules) when building emails to calculate click-through rates and traffic to your website. This is a great way of looking at the traction of your rebrand and measuring the success of emails.
To conclude
Rebranding can be a really exciting time for your business—but it’s not without its challenges. To ease this process, ensure all mediums are synchronized in their changes from old to new branding. From renaming your company to updating phone systems, there are numerous free and accessible online tools to aid in this process.
Make sure you have a multi-medium plan in place and ensure staff are aligned and involved in its conception and implementation. This should include an email marketing schedule with tested, personalized, and mobile-suitable content.
Remember, this is a new chapter for your brand. Embrace it, celebrate it, and actively listen to your key stakeholders to keep the momentum going.
Bio:
Tanhaz Kamaly – Partnership Executive, UK, Dialpad UK
Tanhaz Kamaly is a Partnership Executive at Dialpad, a modern cloud-hosted business communications platform that turns conversations into the best opportunities with features like parking calls, both for businesses and clients. He is well-versed and passionate about helping companies work in constantly evolving contexts, anywhere, anytime. He has published content featured on platforms like Recruitee and Zentao.
Check out his LinkedIn profile.
