Few things make execs roll their eyes faster than hearing the phrase “we should rebrand!” And it’s fair – rebrands tend to be expensive. Measuring ROI on a rebrand is indirect and it takes a long time to see the impact, compared to more tactical marketing activities like advertising.
That said, sometimes a rebrand is necessary.
So, how do you know if your company actually needs a rebrand?
Business activity or strategy that could necessitate a rebrand:
- M&A activity that resulted in multiple brands that can’t or shouldn’t be maintained separately.
- Reputational issues, either from the past that are hindering growth or a large crisis that is having significant negative revenue, recruitment or investment effect.
- Major strategy, product or market shift. This can look like entering a new space with new ICPs or geographies, evolved market trends or dynamics that left the company on its heels, a new platform approach or a lot of other major changes in the business’ direction.
A stale brand
You can think of these as symptoms of potentially needing a rebrand, or at least refresh. Some top indicators of a stale brand that is dragging down performance are:
- Marketing budget isn’t going as far as it used to and historically strong performing activities have waned over the past 2+ quarters.
- There is noted confusion with other brands or feedback from sales/CS that “no one knows who we are.” Note – if you’re a start-up or are under $10M ARR, this one might not apply as you’re likely still in a brand building phase.
- Analysts, influencers and media are non responsive or you see significantly less engagement from them. Also if a trusted analyst tells you there is brand confusion.
The due diligence of rebranding
Think of the following as a diagnosis stage where you’ve noted the symptoms or reasons for a rebrand, but now you’re running the tests to confirm that a rebrand is the right course of action. These activities will also provide important insights to inform a rebranding strategy if that is indeed the direction.
Important to note that the findings of all of the following activities should be reviewed as a collective set of inputs. Looking at only one set will give you an incomplete view that may incorrectly sway your decision making.
Market analysis: This includes things like your foundational TAM/SAM analysis, competitor audits, and investment or consolation trends. If the company is stagnant on increasing market share, if the space is noisy with lots of competitors or new entrants are getting sizable traction the market may be telling you it’s time for a rebrand.
Business strategy: Understanding the goals of the business and the timeline is critical to any decision on a rebrand strategy given the time, investment and performance impact that a rebrand could have. Ask yourself: Is there a plan to exit via a sale, IPO or acquisition and what is the timeline of that? What is the high level product strategy and direction and how does the brand support it?
Current brand performance analysis: Analyze how your brand is performing today and its trend over the past year. Are branded search terms still working? How is organic traffic to the site? Brand studies and surveys are also an option here. While they are an investment, they can provide valuable insights for how your brand is or is not memorable, how it compares to competitors and more.
Customer brand loyalty: If you have an advisory council, this is a good topic to get their feedback about but you can also glean how customers are feeling by the frequency and type of engagement. Do they visit your booth at shows to grab swag and talk to the team? Do they share/comment and defend the brand on social media? Do you have a good pipeline of customer case studies, testimonials and speaker opportunities? All of this together can help inform the state of customer loyalty to the brand. Of course, product strength, the post-sales experience and the customer success team all have impact here, so work with internal customer-facing team members to get their perspective as well.
Resources available: Rebranding is expensive – in time, brain space, team effort, and agency costs. BUT maintaining multiple brands or working around a brand that is stale is also expensive and can degrade marketing performance more over time.
Rebranding is a complicated endeavor that can have amazingly positive impacts on a business, but it’s a major initiative that should always be given due consideration. A CEO not liking a color palette or a new CMO who wants to “make it their own” are NOT good reasons to rebrand.
Leave a Reply