7 Things You Should Never Do During a Rebranding Project
Rebranding is about reinvention: to rethink your brand and to make your customer see you differently.
If this is not your goal… Perhaps rebranding is not the thing for you. Check out our blog on when to rebrand for more info.
If you do want to overhaul your public image, great! But watch out for these 7 common mistakes in rebranding projects.
1) Have an Opinion
Ok, ok. Of course you will have an opinion. But you shouldn’t start with a strong opinion from the get go. Rebranding is about exploration and discovery, of both your company and your customer. So come with an open mind and do your research.
And if you’re working with a professional branding agency, let them to their work. Don’t jump to conclusions too quickly (and make sure your branding agency doesn’t either). Your agency should not tell you what your brand is, but rather tease out your company story and then figure out how best to communicate that story to create an emotional connection with your customers.
2) Use a Cliche
Just don’t do it. Whether in your brand message, your logo, or your name, avoid cliches at all costs. The purpose of your brand is to communicate your company’s unique personality…and by definition, a cliche will never be unique.
3) Say “I can get that cheaper on 99designs”.
Wrong. You don’t get a brand on 99 designs. You get a logo on 99 designs.
And your logo is not your brand. Don’t jump into logo design too quickly. First you need to define your brand: the emotional connection you want to create with your customers.
4) Throw Everything in But the Kitchen Sink
You may have a countess number of amazing brand attributes that you’re like to communicate to your customers, but you need to focus on only a few. Distill your message down to the few core attributes that matter most to your customers. If you do this, you can create enough intrigue in your brand to get your customers to ask questions and learn about the rest of your amazing qualities.
5) Be Generic
This is closely related to using cliches. Nothing about being generic will set you apart, so don’t use generic words in your brand messaging.
Not sure if something is generic or not? Here’s a simple test: Ask yourself if any other company wouldn’t say the same. If the answer to that is yes, then it’s not a unique brand attribute and it dosen’t belong as part of your core brand.
For example, probably pretty much every company on the planet would say that they can be trusted and want to deliver success, so “trust” and “success” are out of the question.
This applies to names and logos too… Let’s just put it this way. Nothing about your brand should be generic.
6) Come Up With Your Own Spelling
Back in the day it might have been “cool” to replace an “S” with a “Z”, but those days are long since over. Odd name spellings are hard to communicate, and hard for customers to remember. Don’t make the mistake of doing this and missing out on customers that are looking for your company, but simply can’t find it.
7) Use Domain Extensions in Your Name or Branding
It’s not 2001. We’ll go ahead and assume today that if you have a business, you have a website so no need to tell us about the .com ending in your name. It’s expected.
Now we can poke fun at these seemingly obvious things to avoid, but the truth is these traps are incredibly easy to fall into. So when doing a rebranding project, seek out a quality partner to help you develop a unique brand that stands out and resonates with your target audience.
