When is the right time to rebrand and what questions should you be asking?

Rebranding is exciting.

It’s an opportunity for you to reconnect with, or refresh, the vision for your organisation. It enables you to reinspire people about who you are and where you’re going. And it creates a buzz and a freshness as you carve out a more definite and refined identity.

But there’s also many a cautionary tale of when businesses have jumped into a rebrand without really asking themselves a few tough questions first - questions that I think could have saved time, expense and reputational damage.

So why bother?

A successful rebrand always moves you away from something old, towards something new.

BUT, it’s not about whitewashing (the market is too smart).

Nor is it about satisfying a leader’s boredom.

And it’s most definitely not about pretending to be something that you’re not.

It is, however, about recognising that who you were is not who you are, and who you want to be.

It is about sensing that your brand currently feels uncomfortable or misaligned.

And it is also about knowing that your old identity restricts growth.

So, what is driving your wish to rebrand?

• Are you merging, and do you need to blend the strengths of two identities?

• Are you expanding your offer, to add C to A and B?

• Are you shedding something to become more specialist or niche?

• Are you recovered and improved – so that the view people might have had of you is old or wrong?

Whichever of these reflects your position, one thing must be true for a rebrand to land well – something MUST have changed.

Some of the questions I’ve found leaders asking are ‘how do I know if ENOUGH has changed? When is the right time to start the journey?’.

The following questions capture my response to helping people figure this out. Taking each in turn, give yourself some space to consider the following:

• If something went seriously wrong in the past, can you, hand on heart, say ‘it's sorted’?

• Is there recognition amongst customers, stakeholders and staff that the business has changed? What’s really changed?

• Is there a misfit between your stated vision and your future aspirations?  What do you dare to dream about?

• Does your current brand restrict you from being a credible player in a different market? (Geography, product, service, audience)

• Is your brand associated with people that are no longer there?

If you find yourself answering yes, it’s likely to be a good time for you to explore rebranding.

Coming back to my own personal stuff, I never dared to dream what might be beyond my last treatment. But here I am, daring to dream, and about to take the next steps into my future…

I hope this blog will help you to take yours too.