There are many misconceptions about branding, one of them being a brand is a logo and a slogan. Both are undoubtedly important but they are a small part of a much bigger picture. A brand is a promise between you, your customers, employees, partners and other stakeholders. Brand building is a process that takes active management and investment. If you have limited experience with this process (or if you’re all too familiar with the potential pitfalls) then hiring a rebranding agency is the most efficient way to go from point A to point Brand.
Strong brands are the result of years of dedication. Deciding to rebrand your business shows a commitment to being relevant: to your consumer and in the market. Ultimately rebranding is commitment to growth.
Reasons to hire a rebranding agency:
- New locations
Markets have their own consumer cultures, heritage and behaviors. When expanding internationally it is important to research whether your existing brand narrative, messaging and visual identity resonates with the new audience – if the answer is no it’s time to update your brand.
- New audiences
If you reposition your business to target a new customer — whether through product, place, price, or promotion — your brand needs to follow suit. For example, if a fintech company serving baby boomers releases an app for millennials they may as well brand it as a completely different product, right?
- Complex architecture
Throughout a company’s life it may acquire various technologies, services, products and businesses. We’ve had many clients approach us for rebranding when their product hierarchy is confused due to a lack of consistent messaging across the board. When companies merge so do their brands. Developing a new brand that accurately reflects the new entity prevents confusion and builds consumer trust. If your business is a collection of many sub-companies and lacking an overarching brand narrative, call a rebranding agency to clean it up – all stakeholders will benefit.
- Market changes
The markets change and so should we. If you feel your message isn’t resonating with the modern consumer consider a brand makeover to stay relevant. In one of our previous articles we covered how B2B companies reposition their brands to connect with buyers on a more personal level.
- New mission and philosophy
Your mission and values guide all decisions, including brand. If your philosophy and mission are changing and your company pivoting, you must reevaluate your brand accordingly. Do not forget that when it comes to innovation-led companies a brand can add lots of value in identifying your product-market fit.
- If all you have is a name in Helvetica
Why do smart companies rebrand? They know good design makes a business while the absence of one can break it. If your name, logo and visuals are generic and similar to other businesses gaining consumer mindshare will be hard. A generic logo and stock art in materials will hurt your brand and it will be easy to get lost amongst the noise. A strong brand helps you stand out from your competitors’ by highlighting your differentiators. Even the best companies change their brand identity – and oftentimes gain recognition only after they’ve rebranded. Did you know that Google started with the name “Backrub”?
So you’ve decided it’s time to think about rebranding. Why hire a rebranding agency if you could do this in-house? Well, let me tell you about…
The value rebranding agencies bring:
- Create a clear path for a complex process
Rebranding is a complex process that seems obscure to those new to it. The cost of branding mistakes are high – one a wrong move can see you create an unfavorable image that favours your competition over you.
Most clients come to us after attempting a rebrand in-house: struggling to reach a consensus and getting lost within the process. Rebranding is a balance of art, science and business. It can be a frustrating exercise and passion often run high. A professional provider will approach the task from a neutral perspective. They help to avoid common mistakes and will guide you through their tried and tested process.
- Use the knowledge and fire power of multiple of experts
A quality rebranding agency will have various experts at their disposal: strategists, marketers, designers, developers, production managers and art directors. Unless you’re a large corporation you will have no need for the same team in-house. Remember, good branding is rooted in strategy and research — there is way more than design work to be done.
- Streamline the rebranding process
The rebranding process has to be agile, especially for a high growth business. Yes, you heard right – it’s not only developers that know what it means to be agile! There are multiple work streams in the branding process, way more than you may imagine. Attempting to manage them yourself whilst maintaining your usual work schedule is a shortcut to high stress levels.
A good rebranding agency will not only relieve you of these duties but can connect you with additional suppliers. Need business cards printed in Beirut? They know a guy there. Struggling with your conference booth design? Give them the dimensions and they’ll fix it. You won’t need to worry about who will is responsible for content, collateral and so on – a strong rebranding agency is a well oiled machine. They act as an extension of your marketing department, liberating you from the hassle so you can focus on your job.
- Align all strategies
As soon as the rebrand is complete it’s time to spread the word- this calls for marketing. In reality the brand work and marketing strategy should start simultaneously. The success of your marketing efforts rely heavily on your brand as it forms the framework for all communications. Hiring a rebranding agency avoids retrofitting and streamlines your marketing and brand strategy efforts. By unifying branding and marketing you guarantee the effectiveness of future marketing efforts.
- Optimise rebranding services and costs
Rebranding agencies typically offer multiple business critical services. For example, we focus on naming, brand strategy, visual identity, production and marketing. Working with a trustworthy agency avoids the need to manage multiple individuals. This optimises your costs, increases your access to services at short notice and alleviates your team from the stress of supplier management.
- Obtain a long-term supporter and advisor
A new brand is an investment, not an expense. It needs to be exciting – the more seamless the process, the more excited you’ll be.
Building a relationship with a rebranding agency means you do not part ways on brand launch – they will always be within your reach, available for advice, mentorship or future work. Every agency is emotionally invested in their client’s success as their performance is a measure of their own efforts. Rather than disappearing on payment of the last invoice a good agency will stick around, becoming your long-term growth ally.
If this helped you make up your mind check out our tips on what to look at when evaluating a rebranding agency. Investment in your brand is a serious step in your company’s evolution and finding the right partner for it can be life changing.
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