Before you decide to rebrand, you need to make sure it’s absolutely necessary. Rebranding is not something you do without a good reason because of the risks involved.
The best way to know if you need to rebrand is to monitor your sales. If you’re losing customers to the competition, this is a sign that your brand is no longer resonating with them.
Changing market trends often force brands to rebrand. In the case of McDonalds, the company had to change its image from a burger shop to a restaurant with healthy options because a large enough portion of their target market wanted to eat healthier.
Market dilution is a reason many companies rebrand. What this means is that your original target market, which was very narrowly and specifically targeted, is no longer so narrow. Over time, your message has gone from appealing to a very specific segment of the market to no one specifically. In this case, it’s time to retune and work on your targeting.
Companies rebrand when they expand into new markets, merge with other companies or are acquired by other companies. There may be changes in target markets, products offered, or positioning that require rebranding.
You may rebrand in order to shift focus from negative to more positive aspects of your business. In recent years, oil companies have done this, rebranding themselves as providers of the energy of the future, rather than greedy polluters. Hopefully your image problems aren’t as severe as theirs.
Finally, there may be internal reasons. Your employees or associates may no longer believe in the brand and its vision.
In any case, something isn’t working or isn’t viable for the future, and this is why you need to rebrand.
We are the Digital Marketing Training Group. With over 75 years of combined digital marketing experience, we have been providing a recipe for success to people who want to run their own businesses in a multi-billion dollar industry that is growing year after year.
