Ever felt like something is missing in your company? Are your sales and regular clientele stagnant? Does your logo get left behind in a cluster of other logos in your niche? Maybe your company is in desperate need of rebranding. 

But what does it take to rebrand successfully? Read on to know more what exactly is rebranding and know the telltale signs that indicate your company needs one. 

 

What is Rebranding? 

Rebranding can be anything from changing your business logo, products, packaging, messaging, or the entire company process. When companies rebrand, they either aim to change any of these business facets:

• Visual identity such as logos, typography, imagery
• Brand voice such as messaging, taglines, website copy, ad copywriting
• Brand practice such as customer service, business policies, production, hiring

A business may rebrand one area and keep the other areas intact. For instance, companies may do a rebranding of their offerings while keeping their business logo and imagery the same. On the other hand, they may also do a logo overhaul while maintaining the same unique value proposition.

Moreover, there are two different types of rebranding. One is REACTIVE wherein a company responds to a negative backlash that has changed the audience’s perception of the product and company, in general. And the other one is PROACTIVE, wherein founders and shareholders are seeing growth potential and would want to connect to more customers. 

Overall, the whole point of rebranding is not surface-level. It still digs deeper into the core of the business. The rebranding should be aligned with the business’s brand core values. Whether or not the company is changing the visual identity or brand voice, this all boils down to the fact that your brand is no longer competitive. 

That said, entrepreneurs and marketers must have a keen eye and clever intuition to notice the signs. This is how a rebrand is useful to give your company new brand identity and image. 

One of the goals of rebranding is to continuously persuade new and old customers’ perception of the company. To sum up, most businesses go through the colossal rebranding process to achieve:

• A new brand identity that makes them stand out
• Reconnect with the target audience and existing customers

But when do you know it’s time for a brand overhaul? We’ll give you five signs that could be under your nose the entire time. 

 

5 Signs Your Company Needs a Rebrand

If you feel that your company is stuck for the past months or years, maybe you haven’t noticed these five apparent signs. 

 

1. New target market

Rebranding may be necessary when your target audience has changed. Let me give you a scenario. Say, for example, you’re currently running a graphic design company that caters to startups. Maybe your proposition or messaging is no longer fit for decision-makers in startup companies. 

This is when you know you have to change your brand voice so you can also connect to huge enterprises and medium-sized businesses. That’s because merely banking on your current messaging means you’re not attracting the bigwigs. 

Additionally, if you feel like your target market’s behaviors have changed, it’s probably time to adapt to customer preferences. For instance, if your female audience is now looking for other preferences, you can create a different brand messaging. 

J.Crew rebranded as a result of their audience wanting more. That said, they added evening wear, bridal wear, and even accessories to their collection.

 

2. Outdated imagery

This is one of the most common reasons for rebranding. When you feel like your imagery isn’t captivating anymore, then it’s time to spruce things up. When you look at your logo, put it side by side with other more established logos, do you see your logo as memorable? 

Maybe you felt your logo was relevant 10 years ago. However, changes in the market and the competitive landscape will make your logo irrelevant over the years. Ultimately, you’ll need a complete logo redesign to corner the market as you did 10 years ago. 

Here are some signs that your company needs a new logo:

• Your logo isn’t modern
• It doesn’t fit your brand anymore
• It doesn’t look good with the recent rebrand
• Doesn’t communicate your brand message
• The typography is outdated and illegible
• Logo colors need an update to be more effective
• The logo shape isn’t relevant to the recent market
• The logo can’t be stripped down to its basic elements (not scalable)
• Your logo isn’t memorable anymore
• Complicated logo
• Your logo looks similar to other logos

If you think that your logo doesn’t connect with your audience anymore, then you’re probably right. Make sure that your logo is always fresh and represents your brand in the best possible light. Check out these successful logo rebrands for inspiration.

 

3. New offerings

If you see potential in new offerings, ensure that your branding also reflects these new offerings. For instance, if you’re running a fast-food chain that sells fried chicken and you see a massive opportunity in the vegetarian market, then it’s high time you rebrand or launch new brands. 

One example is GAP’s target audience expansion. The brand wanted to cater to various demographics but didn’t want to do a complete brand overhaul. This is because they still want to connect with their current audience and didn’t want to confuse them.

That’s why GAP decided to launch different brands for various markets. There’s one for an elderly market, as opposed to their original younger demographics. Then there’s also a business-casual line called the Banana Republic. And lastly, they created an affordable, low-end trendy brand named Old Navy.

 

4. Mergers and Acquisitions

When companies merge with other companies or acquire a smaller one, rebranding may be necessary. For the most part, it’s to comply with the legal requirements. 

However, a complete logo redesign may also be required to best represent the new company under new units and management. You may need new logos, new fonts, new colors, a new language, and most probably a new website. 

Just ensure that your rebrand doesn’t backfire like what happened to Verizon when it acquired Yahoo. It acquired Yahoo and merged with AOL, which led them to form a new subsidiary called Oath. 

The rebranding attempt was a flop. Changing the name, they established the Verizon Media Group for the new name and logo. 

 

5. More competition 

Were you one of the pioneers in your niche when you launched your business? Is the number of competitors rising? Is your brand still ahead of the game amidst the vast competition? 

If you feel like your brand is drowning in a sea of competition, then a rebrand may be a good idea. Change up your imagery, make your logo more modern, change your value proposition. Better yet, change your messaging to capture your target audience more. Whatever it takes to corner the market, rebranding may be the only key to survive.