Successful rebranding requires careful coordination across messaging, visuals, and team alignment. A well-planned rollout begins with early scheduling and includes a comprehensive checklist to update all brand touchpoints. Internally, team members must understand and embrace new values or strategies. Externally, launch events, promotions, and marketing campaigns help build excitement and attract new attention. When executed correctly, a rebrand reinforces customer trust and energizes business growth across every audience segment.
For the past several weeks, we’ve been talking about rebranding – when it’s time to rebrand and which parts of your brand should be refreshed when you undertake a rebrand. But once you have your new brand, how do you bring it to market?
Launching a new brand for a company can be a tricky needle to thread since you have three distinct audiences that all need different messages from you:
- Your team has to be read in on the details of the rebrand, the reasoning behind it, and what operational shifts the rebrand will require.
- Your existing customers need to be reassured that while your brand’s look and some offerings or services could change, you’re still able to help solve their pain points.
- The rest of your audience needs to see the new brand and be intrigued enough to explore and possibly convert.
Fortunately, with careful planning, you can get those messages out and celebrate your new brand with growth! The M&R team has put together some tips for rolling out your rebrand that can help you navigate the process smoothly and effectively.
Step One: Schedule the Rollout Before You Start the Rebranding
Your rebranding planning should include the rollout as part of the rebranding itself, not as a separate thing. A successful rebrand requires a huge amount of planning, and knowing what you want the launch to look like can actually help during the entire process.
For starters, you need to have a good idea of when you want to launch your new brand. Assigning a date now, at the start of the process, gives you and your team a set final deadline by which everything needs to be completed. Working backward from there is a great way to build a timeline for the entire rebranding project.
The timing consideration is important for another reason—your rebrand needs to make sense given your company’s unique calendar of operations. If you’re a gift retailer that does 50% of your annual business between Black Friday and Christmas Eve, a December launch may not be a great idea—you run the risk of introducing market confusion right at the time when you most need exceptional brand recognition.
Choose a time when your team will have the capacity to help customers with the transition but when your audience will also be paying attention.
Another thing to consider from the start is what potential problems could cause a failed brand launch. As you’re thinking through timelines, are you providing enough time for each phase of the project and a little extra time for contingencies?
Step Two: Make a Comprehensive Rebranding Checklist
When you rebrand, you need to launch your new identity as consistently and completely as possible. You absolutely do not want people to show up for your brand rollout event only to see your old logo still plastered all over the place.
Your rebranding efforts have to be just as consistent as your regular branding efforts. While it may be impossible in some cases to completely remove your old brand from a location (especially if your shelves are full of branded products or packaging), you should make all efforts to update every single touchpoint your brand has with your audience.
So, during the early planning phases of your rebrand, sit down with your team and assemble a comprehensive list of every branded thing your potential and returning customers interact with:
- Logos, colors, and fonts in your store or shop signage
- Employee uniforms, branded apparel, and vehicle markings
- Your website, digital ads, social media accounts, and business listings
- Domain name if your rebrand involves a new name
- Print materials, including flyers, brochures, rack cards, and business cards
- Email, presentation, and newsletter templates
- Promotional merchandise and swag items
Even pay attention to the little things. Do you have branded retail bags at your register? Do your landscaping service trucks have magnetic door signs? If there’s anything that carries your branding, it needs to be updated before you launch.
Step Three: Get Your Team on Board With Your New Brand
You also need to consider the non-visual aspects of your rebrand. Suppose your rebrand involves a new mission statement, vision statement, or core values. In that case, you need to make sure that your team understands that new operating principles may emerge from this process and that they should be prepared to adopt them.
Depending on how long your team members have been on board and how long it’s been since your last rebrand, that last bit may take some work. Routines and habits cement themselves quickly in the workplace, and the people who have been diligently serving your customers in one way for years may find it hard to shift to a new model of service.
The best thing you can do to help ensure that your team is on board with the rebranding is to start working with them at the beginning of the process. Seek their input along the way. Listen to what they have to say about what is and isn’t working with your current brand.
You should also make sure they understand why this rebrand is needed. If they feel like you’re just changing things to be changing things, they’re going to resist fundamental shifts in the way they do their work. But when you provide a good explanation – especially if you have data to back up your rationale for the rebrand – they’ll be more willing to back your vision when they understand that it will benefit your business and their livelihood.
Step Four: Plan a Show-Stopping Rollout
Your new brand means opening a new chapter in your business’s story, and new beginnings should warrant a celebration. Planning a launch event is a great way to:
- Introduce your new brand to your existing customers.
- Invite potential customers to explore your company’s offerings.
- Build almost instant recognition for your new brand.
- Celebrate with your team the conclusion of a long and complicated process.
Launch events can take many forms, and many businesses choose to have two launches – one internal and one external. That’s also a great idea – starting with an internal launch event gives you a chance to reinforce your new brand identity to your team, create a sense of excitement around this new era for your business, and celebrate together without the demanding presence of customers.
One option that many businesses choose as part of a rebrand is a “brand reveal” video. These highly produced and energetic videos serve as hype reels for your new visual identity, and you’ll be surprised at how excited your team will be to see and interact with it.
Your external launch event can take dozens of different forms. Whatever you choose to do, it should match your new brand identity in tone and voice – and provide participants with plenty of opportunities to become new customers.
Rollout Marketing Push
Your rebrand should have its own marketing campaign. In the weeks or months leading up to the rebrand, you can begin hinting at big things to come and a launch date.
When the day arrives, you should be prepared to roll out your new brand everywhere – online, in traditional media, and anywhere else you would ordinarily use branded content to message your audience.
Another rollout marketing effort that you should consider is an email to your existing customers. Just before or immediately on your new brand’s launch, get a message out to all of your current customers or clients, showing off the new brand, explaining what (if any) changes they can expect to experience, and – above all – expressing your sincere thanks for their continued loyalty.
Public Events
Retail businesses and service providers with a physical location that’s open to the public usually hold one or more on-site events. Depending on the nature of your business, this event can be a big outdoor barbecue with live music and giveaways, a consumer-education fair with booths containing useful information (especially effective for medical practices), or another event that helps your audience engage with your new brand.
Private Events
B2B businesses can also benefit from an in-person event, especially if their service area is small. A more personal event can be effective here: instead of opening things to the public, invite your existing customers along with leads that your sales team is working on. Use the rebranding as an excuse to put happy clients together with leads, and watch the referrals happen in real-time.
Promotions
Any business can launch its brand with promotions to entice new customers and encourage existing customers to explore your new brand experience.
M&R Is Ready to Handle Every Step of Your Rebranding!
From building a complete development and launch strategy to managing your social media platforms throughout the transition and celebration, we’re your turnkey partners for your rebranding. In our 17+ years, we’ve helped companies in nearly every vertical navigate their rebranding efforts and emerge with a new, successful identity!
Call 478-621-4491 and talk to a member of our Sales team today!
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