Relaunching your brand could help you grow your business to its next level. What do you need to think about before the big branding overhaul?
A relaunch does not mean changing everything in your business. It could mean changes in packaging, product upgrades, a new market position, or any combination of several changes in your brand’s fundamentals.
There are many reasons to relaunch – a desire to upgrade a dated image or to become more competitive, for example – but whatever the reason, it’s important to get it right. There are too many failed relaunches in the real world.
How can you get your relaunch right? Here is what you need to think about:
1. Your users
Your users are the most important part of your business. Forget the products and shiny ecommerce portal, without your customers, you have nothing.
So before deciding to relaunch, think about who your current loyal users are and why they are loyal to your ecommerce site. For most brands, loyalty isn’t just about what they well, but a combination of things – the feelings and emotions that the brand evokes. Don’t throw that all away by changing the look and feel of your brand.
2. Your “calling card”
What is it about your brand that makes it familiar to your users? What makes your brand recognisable? This is another area that you need to pay attention to.
If you do decide to change your packaging/branding, perhaps consider retaining some of the initial elements of your current brand, to help retain a bridge with your current customers.
To do this, think of the visual signs – colour, shape, font or design – that customers associate with your brand. This is a trick used by all of the big brands: Coca Cola is red and white, Nike has its swoosh and Marlboro has the cowboy.
They understand the importance of a consistent visual identity, which can go a long way towards creating an enduring brand.
3. The change
Finally, if you do decide to relaunch your brand, make sure you communicate with your current customers so that they understand why you are changing and, more importantly, why they should stick with you.
This does not have mean hosting a major “town hall” meeting with customers. A simple sticker on the new packaging, or an ad on your ecommerce site showing what is better about your new service could easily do the trick. Or you could also send an offer that rewards loyal customers to stay with your relaunched brand.
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