If you’re a small business, it’s so crucial to set yourself up for success the first time around which is why branding is essential to the start and growth of your business. But not everyone has the luxury of investing in a fully custom brand. That’s why this week’s blog post is dedicated to the art of rebranding and 5 things you should know for a successful branding do over.
We get it…sometimes investing in a fully custom brand when you first start out isn’t always realistic. You are trying to navigate who your target audience is, what you have to offer that people actually need, and how to price things in a way that people will actually buy from you. And we all know that it’s so expensive even to start a business, but we’ll wait to talk about all the money it takes to even begin a business another time.
New to branding and don’t really know what it is or know how important it is for your business? Check out our previous post on branding.
This week, we’ll be focusing on the art of rebranding, and if you could have a branding do over, what you should think through…
If you’re at a place where you are rebranding your business, you’ve probably recognized a few signs telling you it’s time…
1. Your name no longer fits your vision.
2. You're embarrassed with your visuals and your website.
3. There’s so much competition in your industry, and you don’t know how to stand out.
4. How you want your business to be perceived and how it’s actually perceived do not align.
5. You don’t have a solid strategy or your strategy has changed.
6. Your audience isn’t connecting or engaging with your content.
7. You're outgrowing your DIY brand.
8. You’re not able to hire the right people.
9. You are shifting to a new target audience.
10. Your services and offers are changing.
If you’ve been around for a few years, you’ve probably figured out a thing or two about your business and recognize the signs that it's time for a rebrand.
If you got a good grasp of your vision but things in your brand are not aligned, here are five things to note for a successful branding do over.
1. Your Target Audience
When you first started your business, you’ve probably heard many people, coaches and small business owners alike, tell you to narrow down and understand who your target audience is. If you haven’t read our previous post on the importance of knowing and understanding who you serve, you can read it here.
Now, if you decided that you didn’t want to narrow down your target audience when you first started your online business because you were still trying to figure out who your ideal clients would be, you’re not alone. Some people start with a broad audience to test and experiment and then narrow down who their people are from there. The best thing you can do now in this phase of a rebrand is to take the time to understand who your dream clients are, what they need, and how you can help them in your own unique way so you can connect and serve them well.
If you narrowed down your target audience the first time around and understand how to solve their problem, congratulations! This is one of the hardest things to do.
2. Your Services and Offers
Now that you’ve keyed in on who your target audience is, let’s make sure that your services and offers align with their needs and in a way that’s different from your competitors. This can be really tricky if you’re a multi-passionate individual who has several skills to offer, loves them all, and has loads of ideas swimming around in your head.
The best way to grow and scale a very streamlined business is to provide a specific offer or service that people actually need. When you’ve gone through and narrowed down your target audience, what is it that they struggle with and how can help solve their problem in the quickest way possible? Your services should be a clear solution to solving their pain point.
The other thing to note about your services is being able to communicate what you do and how you offer a powerful and unique solution to your target audience. You can have a great service for your ideal clients, but you’ll need to be able to communicate this to your target audience or they’ll enroll with a competitor who can connect with them.
3. Your Positioning
If you’ve ever struggled with knowing how to stand out from your competitors, you probably struggled with how to position your brand. And maybe you’re here because your business wasn’t successful standing out the first go around so you’re needing to do a complete rebrand.
No matter the reason, it’s important to establish your unique positioning. In other words, how are you and your business different from your competitors? With so many people starting businesses these days, it’s more important than ever to set yourself apart. A great way to start thinking about how you can differentiate yourself from everyone else is by doing things no one else is doing.
If you take a look at your top competitors, what are they doing that you can do better? What are some things that are missing from their services? Can you serve a different target audience than they are? Can you streamline your process in order to give your clients a better experience?
How you position your brand can be hard, but also really fun to do. You get to tap into your own unique superpowers and use them to make your business special.
4. Your Visuals
Your visuals aren’t just about making something look pretty.
Many people may argue that your visuals are not a very important part of your business because they can appear to be a superficial part of branding. But your visuals are a way to tell your target audience who you are and help them get a taste of your brand personality. If you think of your brand as a story, your visuals play a part in communicating your message and how to tell that story.
Based on first impressions, people will immediately judge if they like a business or not just by how it looks. If you think about it, your visuals alone can help people distinguish how it sets you apart from your competitors. If your business looks like everyone else out there, how will your target audience know how one brand is better than the other?
Designing your visuals well also plays a huge role in how something functions. Design has the power to help people stop and pay attention to your brand. Design helps your content be easier to read and understand. Design helps your brand look and feel more professional. And design helps create a better customer experience when done really well.
5. Your Website
We can’t emphasize enough the power of your website. It’s not just a place for people to learn more about your brand, but it’s a place where your target audience can get to know what you offer, what makes your business unique, and how they can enroll in one of your services.
Visuals can help with how your target audience can navigate through your website, but it’s also vital that you build your website with strategy in mind. How can you tell your brand story through your website? How do you guide someone through a great experience so that it’s easy for them to choose to work with you?
I know a few people who heavily rely on referrals and haven’t made their website a priority. But word-of-mouth referrals can be super volatile. To create a flow of leads and potential clients, you need a great website that helps you generate those leads and sales consistently.
Branding is much more than just your name. It’s much more than your services. It’s much more than how it looks. But together, they all play an essential role in the success and growth of your business.
To recap, when you’re at a place in your business where you’re either outgrowing your brand or just need to drop a metaphorical grenade and start over, the 5 things to think through for a successful rebrand are:
1. Your Target Audience
2. Your Services and Offers
3. Your Brand Positioning
4. Your Brand Visuals
5. Your Website
If you need some extra help with the branding process, click here to grab our free How to Build a Brand: A 4-Part Branding Roadmap.
Our branding roadmap includes an interactive checklist and goes further into the branding process for you to build a cohesive, successful brand!
Until next time,
Happy Branding!
