Three Signs It's Time to Rebrand Your Company

Your business is like a computer in one way- sometimes you need to reboot. And one of the best ways to reboot is to rebrand. Rebranding refreshes and upgrades the image of the brand in the eyes of the target market and includes elements such as a new logo, slogan or name as well as a redesigned website and fresh content. But how do you know when it is time to rebrand? Below are three of the signs that should prompt you to consider augmenting your brand through a rebranding project.

Your Brand Fails to ‘Connect’ With Your Target Audience
If you have lost the attention of your target market, this is a major reason for rebranding. All demographics evolve over time which means their needs and tastes will change as well. A brand that is still targeting old tastes and needs is ultimately outdated. Reaching your target market is crucial to business success and therefore if your brand is failing or underperforming in this area, it is time to consider rebranding.  You can tell that you either have already lost or are on the road to losing your target audience if they no longer engage with your social media pages, if there is a reduction in responses to periodic promotions (like promotional competitions and giveaways) and if they reduce their patronage of your brand. Sometimes you can get the message straight from the horse’s mouth. In other words, through surveys and polls, you can hear from the target demography itself how your brand is impacting them.

Your Business Dynamics Have Changed
Businesses, like pretty much everything else in this world, evolve. Consequently, a brand that has been on the market for a few years is likely to have undergone some amount of change. Perhaps there has been a change in the product being offered.  Or maybe you have grown, incorporating other elements (additional products or services) or to suit the evolving needs of the market. A change of ownership also alters the very nature of a brand. If a merger has happened for instance, you’ll need to decide whether the two merged entities will share a single identity or whether they will remain distinct. Sometimes it is the brand’s vision that has changed, necessitating a change in branding.
 Ultimately, if your brand has evolved over time, the strategies you use to reach your target market may no longer be effective.  It is always important for the brand’s PR strategy to be perfectly aligned with the brand’s identity, so when this identity changes, the PR strategy has to change as well.

Your Brand’s Identity No Longer Stands out Above the Competition
If your competition has caught up with you on the PR front, it is definitely time for a PR overhaul. If your PR strategy has remained unchanged so long that your competition has been able to catch up with you, a change is due. The last thing you want is for your target market to be unable to differentiate between you and the competition. When it gets to that stage, you will be losing precious sales to your competition.
Entrepreneurs and business managers need to keep their fingers on their operations’ pulse in order to detect the signs that point to a need for rebranding. Timely rebranding is also important as rebranding projects typically do not produce immediate results; instead, their impact is typically felt and seen weeks and even months after their execution. And of course, the earlier these signs are noticed, the sooner a rebranding project can be conceptualized and executed.