Closing the book on your rebrand? 3 steps to ensure a happy ending to your story

Rolling out a rebrand can take years. And after investing so much time and energy into the implementation process, it’s natural to wonder, “Are we done yet?”

You and your implementation team are understandably eager to turn the page on your rebrand and move on to your next endeavor. But don’t close the book on this chapter of your organizational story too soon. There are a few loose ends you still need to tie up.

The end of your rebrand is just as important as the start. You need to be able to show the c-suite, your board, and your whole organization that your rebrand delivered the results you expected.

Take these three steps to ensure your rebrand gets the storybook ending it deserves.

1. Measure your rebrand’s outcomes to quantify success

Before you officially launched your rebrand, you likely laid out goals and metrics to define your project’s success. Now it’s time to measure your outcomes against the objectives you set out to achieve.

Evaluate how well your brand is performing in the market

Brand awareness is one important metric to consider. To discover whether your new brand is performing in the market the way you envisioned, plan to:

• Survey your audience to determine if they are embracing your brand as you hoped they would (and uncover any areas of lingering brand confusion)
• Monitor social media channels to see if followers are talking about and interacting with your brand
• Track impressions, likes, and other forms of social engagement and compare those against historic numbers
• Ensure SEO performance has reached pre-rebranding levels or higher

It’s critical to continuously track how well your audience buys into and embraces your brand identity. Therefore, be sure to gather this data at the tail end of your rebrand implementation so you can benchmark your results against past and future performance.

Assess implementation-specific KPIs

It’s also important to evaluate how well you’ve met your implementation goals. Specifically, report on your KPIs in the following areas:

• • Branded assets. You can typically call this portion of your rebrand a success when 80% of your touchpoints are fully transitioned and you have a solid plan to convert any remaining assets as part of normal operations. Note that high-priority, consumer-facing touchpoints should be 100% complete (or very close to it).
  • Budget. Make sure all expenses are charged correctly so you can evaluate whether your rebrand stayed within the scope of your initial financial projections. And don’t forget to factor in cost savings. Have you engaged lower-cost vendors, streamlined your procurement process, or reduced/rationalized the number of assets you’ll need to produce in the future? If so, quantify those efforts. Reduced costs are a strong measure of success.
  • Timeline. Rolling out your rebrand on time is another key performance indicator. Explain any areas where the process required less time — or took longer — than anticipated.

Conduct a project retrospective to gather qualitative feedback

Don’t just assess your quantitative KPIs. Invite your teams to be candid about what the implementation process was like for them. Allow them to share their joys and challenges before you move on to the next big project.

Explore questions like:

• What went well? What could have gone better?
• How well did our workgroups collaborate to reach a successful conclusion?
• Are there any areas where the implementation stalled out before we reached the finish line? How did we jumpstart our efforts to get back on track?
• What lessons did we learn along the way?

Taking an honest look at the entire rebranding process from strategy to implementation is a valuable exercise. It allows you to celebrate successes while mitigating any weak spots so future projects run more smoothly.

2. Audit your branded assets for quality and consistency

It takes a village to roll out a rebrand, especially in terms of converting all your branded assets to reflect your new identity. But the larger your organization, the more likely it is that your brand has been inconsistently applied somewhere along the way.

To identify any gaps or discrepancies, conduct a thorough audit of your branded touchpoints. In particular, evaluate the visual appearance, quality, and durability of physical assets like signage, fleet vehicles, work wear, ID badges, packaging, and marketing collateral.

Ideally, you’ll visit each location so you can verify brand consistency first-hand. But if that’s not possible, ask workgroup leads to submit photos of the assets in their departments and share any observations or concerns they may have.

And finally, take a thorough look at your website, digital platforms, and third-party channels to address any brand discrepancies in those areas, too.

3. Assess how well employees are delivering your brand promise

Employee engagement is the final area to evaluate before declaring your rebrand a success. After all, you expect employees to live out your brand values and ethos each and every day. You’re counting on them to deliver your brand promise to your audience and adhere to the guidelines you’ve laid out.

Consider surveying employees and asking pointed questions about what the brand means to them. Ask them to share their perceptions of the reasons behind the rebrand and the value it brings to the organization.

Ideally, you’ll find that your team members have fully embraced your new brand. But if results indicate lingering confusion or resistance, plan to invest in workshops and brand training exercises to get everyone on the same page.

Brand inconsistency is another red flag to watch for. If you discover your team is making mistakes when applying your branding in their daily work, you may need to review and optimize your brand and marketing operations. Scrutinize your processes and shore up any gaps in documentation so employees aren’t trying to figure out the do’s and don’ts of your new brand on their own.

It’s time to communicate and celebrate your rebrand’s success

Milestone achievements deserve to be celebrated and commemorated. Runners who complete a marathon proudly hold their medal high. Authors hold readings of their new books when they’re published. And you should celebrate the official end of your rebrand implementation, too.

Consider rewarding employees with new branded swag or apparel, holding a series of wrap-up parties, or asking your CEO to personally thank the people responsible for your rebrand’s success. Be thoughtful about how you communicate the results you’ve achieved to internal and external stakeholders alike. And do everything in your power to make sure the final page of your rebrand truly delivers the happy storybook ending you’ve all been waiting for.