There’s a number of reasons on why you would do a rebrand and there’s a number of reasons as to why you would NOT do a rebrand. A few reasons you shouldn’t rebrand is that it can get expensive, confuse your audience if it’s not done right, and it can take away from your work since it requires a good chunk of time and attention.

A few reasons as to why you should do a rebrand include new ownership, you’re outgrowing your audience, a new era/culture in your work or maybe you’re hitting a milestone like 5/10/15/50 years in business etc.

If you’re in the boat of thinking of rebranding or in the midst of starting a rebrand, here are a 5 ways you can keep track of your sanity.

1. First things first, you need to ask yourself WHY you’re doing a rebrand. If you can’t answer that, you’ll be setting yourself up for failure right from the get go. By knowing your why, you have a roadmap showing you what you need to do. Perhaps your audience has changed, maybe you have new ownership or you’re looking to take your business in a new direction. If you don’t give yourself a direction on where to go before you even start, it’s going to get VERY expensive. Not only with time, but also if you’re hiring or outsourcing. Without direction, it’ll cause more fixes, adjustments, frustrations, redirection and cost you $$$$.
   
2. Get some input, but keep it limited. Ever heard of the saying ‘too many cooks in the kitchen’? There’s a lot of truth to that. There’s loads of value to market research and getting input, but if you start including too many people in your decision making process, it’s going to cause confusion, frustrations, and you might end up struggling with some power play/decision making/over stepping boundaries. When you’re start looking for people to pitch to, ask questions to, keep your questions open ended and talk to people who fit your target market. Get input from those that you’re currently serving and those you WANT to serve.
   
3. Make a list of the things you need or want to rebrand. As mentioned before, it can get expensive. If you don’t have a big budget, focus on smaller items and how you can make those changes. You may find that you don’t need a total logo overhaul, you just want to change the colors a little bit. Other things that can go into a rebrand include photography, website, brochures, business cards, packaging, social media etc. If you feel you want to rebrand all the things, and your budget is tight, just start small. Change some colors, fonts, simple layouts and ease into a big reveal like logo/website/print/packaging etc. Even with a tight budget, I still always recommend trying to hire out some things. Hiring out will save you time (money) and it’ll provide you the opportunity to avoid the idiom ‘seeing the forest for the trees’. If you’re too close to it – it’s hard to visualize the BIG vision.
   
4. Create your budget. A budget is going to help you prioritize what you can do first or what can wait. Pretty cut and dry.
   
5. Set up a timeline and process. You’ve got your why, your research, list of items and your budget. Now it’s time to set up your timeline and process. Be realistic with this and understand there’s a better chance that you’re going to go PAST your ‘due date’ than you are before it. Life happens, unexpected things pop up and can get in the way. If you plan to launch in a month, plan for two. If you get done before 2 then HUZZAH! But if you don’t, then you can feel a little bit more at ease with out so much pressure on yourself.

Rebranding is a lot of work but it can be a ton of fun. Engage with your audience to share your big reveal or launch. Build up to it and provide some fun sneak peeks, invite conversation and input (refer to #2), give yourself grace and patience. Mostly – HAVE FUN!

I hope this was helpful and happy (re)Branding, friend!