August 2019 / ENTREPRENEUR.COM / 65MORE THAN JUST A NEW LOOK | THE EVENTTUS GUIDE TO (SUCCESSFULLY) EXECUTING A REBRANDING EFFORT>>>
3 / Hire an expert
Unless you are a huge
company with a big design,
branding, and marketing team,
you should hire an expert for
the project. Find a branding
and design agency that fits
your goals. Research and ask
for recommendations, check
their portfolios, and use these
criteria to find the right fit:
Experience Hire an agency
with expertise on rebrand-
ing projects, an agency that
successfully proved time after
time they know what they
are doing, and how to satisfy
clients’ needs.
Relevance Make sure to
choose an agency that has
worked on similar industries.
It doesn't need to be the same
industry you are in, but it’s
better if you find one like
that. For instance, if you’re
a company offering a SAAS
product, don't go to an agency
that has only done rebrands
of physical products and their
packaging- they simply won't
understand you well.
Design soul That one is hard
to define, but when you
browse different portfolios,
you will always see a general
design pattern. Some agencies
favor soft fonts, others like
bold, radical recreations, and
some agencies go safe and
corporate-y, so make sure to
choose one that reflects the
soul of what you are hoping
to give your brand. This is
somehow subjective, and it
needs an eye for design and
branding, so involve your
design team when makig this
decision.
4 / Research your target
audience
Eventually, your work is for
your audience, the current
customers, and the potential
ones, so you need to make
sure to know who they are,
what they like, what are their
preferences, and that what-
ever you are doing will reflect
a better way to serve them.
There are many types of
research that you can conduct
to ensure your rebranding is
successful, including:
> Brand awareness research
> Brand perception research
> Brand identity research
> Brand loyalty research
> Brand values research
> Brand message research
> Brand strategy researchMake sure to cover all your
bases; begin a qualitative
analysis, interview customers,
and hold internal and external
focus groups (we did tons
of that before our project
started), and gather all you
can about your customers'
emotions and perceptions. Use
this data to formulate your
quantitative research surveys,
so you can measure, compare,
and assess exactly what you
need to do. And a bonus point,
doing this made it much
easier to convince the major
stakeholders in our company
that this project is indeed a
priority.5 / Involve your experts
Marketing teams tend to be
protective of projects like
this- they love leading the
whole thing, and making every
call. But out of experience, in
rebranding, inclusion is key.
Collaborate with your design
team, your UX/UI designers,
your art director if you have
one of those, and someone to
represent the business side.
Having people that represent
different aspects helps you
see the problem from various
angles- you need these inputs.
But make sure to make the
roles and decision-making
process within this mini team
crisp and clear, so as to not
hinder progress.6 / Be unique, but stay relevant
Every brand wants to be
unique and different, and it's
understandable- we all want
to stand out, and be visually
pleasant and remarkable. But
in our pursuit of uniqueness,
many times we forget being
relevant.
When we started the Event-
tus rebranding project, we
also aimed to be unique, and
were first looking for a radical
change in our logo/icon, but
then settled for the current
logo that is a re-imagination
of the concept of the logo we
once had, done in a new, sleek,
and modern way, because that
concept is relevant to us, andrepresents who we are as a
company. Going radical would
have defied the purpose of the
project.7 / Plan the switch
When you switch to your new
brand, it's not just about your
website, logo, colors, and
icons. You have to plan for
that switch accurately. Create
a list of all your collaterals,
documents, sales kits, every
communication asset you
have, and make sure to have
a plan for how you will
update everything to your
new identity. You will need
to redesign and reproduce
everything: your blog design,