Strong branding is something that many businesses struggle with. While keeping up with and maintaining day-to-day operations takes up significant resources, brand rot occurs when the company’s overall image weakens, deteriorates, or becomes less clear for its audience and clients. When a company begins to lack a strong, clear brand identity in the minds of its audience, it’s time for a rebrand!
Is a Rebrand Necessary?
Before diving into a major undertaking like a rebranding campaign, the first step is making sure it’s truly necessary. Are there minor issues to fix, or is the messaging of your company muddled enough that you need to focus on your identity? Sometimes, small brand changes can go a long way. Refreshing your visual identity and online presence while keeping your core mission might be a better path. Alternatively, you may just need to refocus on your core principles internally, and it may not require significant external, customer-facing work.
However, if you assess the situation and find that your company appears disjointed internally, where different parts of the company are focused on incongruent goals or that your customers and audience don’t have a clear vision of what you provide…then it’s definitely time for a total rebranding.
What is Your Mission?
The most important thing to ask yourself before beginning a rebrand is simple: What is your core mission? Your company’s main goal, purpose, and reason for being. Everything about your rebrand should come from the seed of your company’s core principles and goals. Having a company mission statement will guide you in future situations and inform your company when making decisions well into the future beyond the initial rebranding.
Whatever your mission is, it should dictate how you want to appear to your existing and potential audience at all times. You want your logo, colors, style guide, marketing approach, and even what digital marketing channels you choose to spend time on– all to reflect and relate to what your core mission is. Rebranding is about finding and maintaining an authentic identity for your organization that people can immediately grasp and relate to. This means that every aspect of the way your company engages with its audience needs to consider your core mission and speak to it in some way.
This includes aspects such as your SEO strategy, your creative design ideas, and your digital media buying needs. All your advertising should tie back into your core mission.
The Importance of Cohesive Brand Imagery and Identity
When approaching a rebrand, it’s essential to consider the cohesion of all your marketing efforts going forward. Your visual and textual identity needs to be the same across all channels and all focused towards achieving your main goals. It’s important not to let any client-facing aspect of your company develop a voice incongruent with the rest of you– whether it be social media presence, blogging voice, or any other form of digital advertising you pursue.
The importance of cohesion means any serious rebranding effort must be well thought out and comprehensive from the very beginning. A well-balanced marketing plan should be developed to bring every aspect of your business together to send a clear, compelling message about your company to the world. Taking this approach on your own can be overwhelming. Seeking the guidance of marketing experts to direct you towards a successful rebrand strategy will give you the best chance at a rebranding that is authentic and complete.
If you’re interested in a rebrand campaign and want to discuss your goals with Katava Marketing’s seasoned experts, you can schedule a meeting today!
