Rebranding is not for the faint of heart. It requires copious amounts of time, significant financial investment, and careful planning to ensure a successful outcome. But if you’ve never gone through the process before, the biggest challenge is simply the fact that you don’t know what you don’t know. It’s easy to miss key details, overlook potential roadblocks, and find yourself stalled partway through the process.
Perhaps you began your rebrand with gusto and launched it effectively to external audiences. If so, you’ve likely begun to see the benefits your rebrand brings to your organization. You know your rebrand is supporting your organizational goals and objectives in exciting ways, and you’re eager to reap the full benefits of your rebrand’s potential.
But if you’ve become overwhelmed by the complexity and magnitude of your rebranding endeavor, it might be time to ask for outside help. Maybe the cost of getting this off the ground again is the issue and you’re not sure what expectations to set with executive management around a budget and timing of completion. Or perhaps executive changes or other unexpected developments have derailed your efforts. Employees may keep finding your legacy brand cropping up in unexpected places. Or it could be that your employees don’t fully understand the new brand guidelines and continue using elements of the legacy brand.
Regardless of your scenario, don’t let your rebrand languish uncompleted any longer. It’s time to jumpstart your efforts and take your rebrand the rest of the way to the finish line. Here’s how we can help you close the loop on your rebrand so you can focus on what’s next for your new brand.
Re-evaluate and refine your rebranding implementation strategy
Long before you introduced your new brand to the world, you likely spent a great deal of effort outlining the strategic reasons for your rebrand. You defined your business goals and thought through how your new brand would propel your organization’s value forward. The why was the easy part. However, if you’re like many marketing executives, the how of rolling out your rebrand was more daunting. And that’s understandable. Many marketing leaders never undergo a rebrand over the course of their career.
At BrandActive, we have worked with clients in this exact scenario a number of times — and we have the expertise to help you take a close look at your current state, evaluate the plan you created at the outset of your rebrand, and figure out what needs to be done to get your process back on track.
We’ll also evaluate big-picture questions to determine if it’s necessary to refine your strategy. For instance, did you have to change course along the way? If so, why? Did you run out of money? Was there a leadership change that pushed your rebrand way down on your organizational priority list? Did you have to push pause due to the challenges related to the pandemic?
Understanding and refining your overarching strategy will help us determine the correct course of action to get your rebrand moving in the right direction again.
Conduct a thorough rebranding gap analysis
After the strategy is defined or redefined, a gap analysis digs into the details. In this part of the process, we’ll evaluate what you’ve accomplished to date and identify where there is still work to be done.
Together, we’ll take a close look at what might be missing in the following areas:
- Branded Assets. Have you taken a complete inventory of every touchpoint that carries your legacy brand? What is your timeline for completing the conversion process?
- Budget. Is your budget comprehensive and realistic? How will funding be released and when? Do you need to spread the cost of updating your branded assets over multiple years to make it financially feasible?
- Processes. Are your brand and marketing operations optimized to support your new brand? Have you documented your processes and made them repeatable?
- Employee Training. How are your employees experiencing your new brand? Are they fully trained and on board with how to bring your new brand to life? Do they know where to access digital brand elements such as logos and taglines?
- Vendors and agencies. Do your vendors and agencies understand your expectations for how they support your new brand? Are they consistently representing your new brand in the work they do for you?
Once we understand all the gaps that we need to address, we’ll help you develop appropriate strategies for closing those gaps.
Rebrand roadmap - from development to implementation
This high-level infographic provides a look at the steps involved in your brand conversion from a brand implementation and development perspective. Learn what happens in what order during a typical rebrand so you can build your rebrand roadmap for success.
Close your gaps and complete your rebrand
The positive thing about a gap analysis is that it shows you exactly what you need to do. There’s no need to start from scratch or even alert your entire organization about the steps you’re taking to finish out your rebrand. To address your gaps, we’ll help you simplify this last part of the process and develop a surgical, strategic approach to complete your outstanding to-do items.
For example, we often find that most external-facing elements of the rebrand have been successfully completed. However, there may still be significant gaps that need to be addressed internally. Along these lines, one client discovered that all their professional learning modules still reflected the legacy brand. From onboarding to continuous learning, the legacy brand remained at the forefront of the employee experience. Although there were many courses to update, we helped this client outline a reasonable plan to rectify this in order to emphasize the importance of brand consistency and awareness for employees.
Your gap analysis might show that you’ve done a thorough job of converting all of your digital branded assets. Additionally, 85% of your physical signage now reflects your new brand. In that scenario, we’d help you craft a plan to convert the rest of your signs. And what’s more, we’d work with your vendors to be sure they follow and understand your brand guidelines, use the right materials, and stay on schedule.
The right implementation partner can help you take your rebrand across the finish line
No matter why your rebranding stalled or what gaps you need to close, you have the power to jumpstart your rebrand and complete the good work you’ve begun. The right implementation partner can help you refine your strategy, identify the gaps that you need to address, and bring your vendors and agencies together to take your rebrand across the finish line.
If you’re ready to begin reaping the full benefits of your rebrand, just reach out. We’d love to help you finish what you’ve started.
