By: Chris Piehler
In any company lucky enough to stay in business for a few years, the question is bound to come up eventually: “Well, how about a rebrand?” Rebranding offers the promise of refreshed products and marketing materials, a renewed sense of purpose, and an opportunity to show your customers and competitors that you’re keeping up with the times. But before you start sketching that new logo, take a moment to ask yourself five questions to clarify what you really need.
- How has the story of your company changed? We’ve often shared our advice on how edtech companies can share their users’ stories, but companies themselves have underlying stories as well. Rebranding makes sense when that story has changed considerably, whether with new leadership, new products, or a shift in emphasis.
An example we’ve seen is when edtech clients decide that they want the education community to see them as more of an “ed” company than a “tech” company. In those cases, rebranding to clearly communicate a change in your mission is a logical step in the life of the company. On the flip side, “We need something new to talk to our customers about,” is not a valid reason to rebrand.
- Does your company need rebranding or just refreshing? A true rebrand starts with a thorough (and therefore time- and money-consuming) reconsideration of your company’s mission and all of the products and services that you will share with your customers and other companies.
A refresh, by contrast, can be as simple as tweaking a logo and shifting the tone of your blog to better represent the changing voice of the company. Deciding up front which of these approaches to take will save you hours of time and oodles of frustration down the line.
- Do you have the bandwidth to rebrand on top of your regular work? If not, can you afford freelancers? Rebranding is like renovating your house: it always takes longer and costs more than your think it will. (And it often requires some cleanup afterwards.) It’s tempting to say, “Oh yeah, we can work on it here and there,” but it’s more productive to create a project plan and see if it’s feasible with your existing team.
If you have the budget for it, hiring outside experts to help can ease the workload—but don’t forget that even with the best freelancers, someone from your team will still need to manage the project to make sure you don’t end up with a botched rebrand like the one that gave the world tronc.
- Which is more important to your brand: novelty or familiarity? Here’s a case where the unique dynamics of the edtech marketplace come into play. On the tech side, innovation is king, queen, and court jester; on the ed side, administrators see enormous value in working with familiar and trusted brands. When you’re pondering a rebrand, don’t let the allure of the new overshadow the appeal of the reliable.
If “reliable” makes you think “boring,” consider it this way: you’ve worked hard to build up brand equity in the education marketplace, and rebranding can sometimes alienate long-time customers who were comfortable with the “old” identity of your company. The big business decision here boils down to this: will rebranding help you gain more customers than you might lose?
The good news is that you don’t have to make this judgement call in a vacuum. Which brings us to our last and most important question:
- What do your clients or prospects want from you? No matter how much your team is clamoring for change, you shouldn’t commit to the seven-step process of a successful rebrand without consulting your clients and industry partners. A simple survey can help you discover what’s working and what isn’t. After all, you’re not rebranding for yourself, you’re rebranding for them.
Now that you’ve taken the time to consider these key queries, you should be able to answer one last question: “Do I really want to rebrand now?”
Thanks for sharing!
