Building a rebranding strategy and identifying rebranding costs may seem overwhelming.
We will help you take your brand positioning to the next level.
Rebranding Strategy is all about creating a memorable and persuasive brand idea and monitoring rebranding costs. We all remember Marlin (Nemo’s dad played by Albert Brooks) following Dory (Ellen DeGeneres) around and trying to understand her philosophy of “Just Keep Swimming”. While it might promote sanity, it’s the worst thing you can do for your brand.
By “Business Brand” I obviously mean more than simply your logo, corporate identity, or website. None of these tangible brand expressions is really your brand. Your brand is really more of an idea, a powerful concept of how your audiences see, talk about, and experience your company. You need creative brand ideas that start with a great imagination.
Research shows that the average B2B company spends about 5% of revenues on marketing. In that context, the average rebranding costs about 10%–20% of the marketing budget. Click To Tweet
You are shaping your brand whenever you send an e-mail, hand out a business card, discuss your company with a prospect, place an ad, send direct mail, hand out sales literature, or deliver a speech. From time to time you need to refresh your brand: examine it, look for areas of improvement and differentiation, clarify messaging, and retool visual brand expressions.
In Part 2 of our 3-part Series on Rebranding Basics, you’ll learn:
- The Key Components of a Strong Brand
- How Long It Will Take to Rebrand
- How Much Rebranding Costs
If you need a refresher course in Rebranding Basics, please refer back to the first article in this series: “Your Rebranding Strategy: Take Your Brand Back To The Drawing Board“
Build Your New Brand Right
Although every brand is a blend of ideas, words, visual elements, and touch points, a solid brand is built around four key components:
Strategy — I know this is a cursed word, invoking images of “homework”, dry research, and dull reports. If it helps, call it a Directional Plan because that’s what is needed. Based on client input, online competitive research, and customer phone interviews, the rebranding strategy assesses the strengths and weaknesses of past marketing efforts. If possible, you should identify opportunities for differentiation and improvement. A final document summarizes positioning and explains how your company is different and why customers and other key audiences should care.
Messaging — Your messages must take your rebranding strategy one step further. Determine specific benefits for products, services, and the company itself. Each message must directly support the positioning established in your strategy. Developing a messaging hierarchy establishes important messaging priorities.
How Long Will It Take to Rebrand?
How long will it take to create a new rebranding strategy? There are no simple answers. But you can identify the factors that could make the process take longer. Here are a few areas that commonly introduce delays:
1. The size of your organization (larger companies take longer)
2. The number of decision makers (fewer is faster)
3. The amount of research (online and offline) required
4. The scope and number of marketing deliverables
5. Whether a new name is required? (a separate process with its own methodology and schedule)
6. How responsive your management team is (a common source of delays)
7. How responsive your branding or marketing agency is
8. How involved your legal department needs to be
What Are Rebranding Costs?
How much does it cost to rebrand your company? Again, no simple answers. In general, larger companies spend more on rebranding strategy than smaller companies.
Research shows that the average B2B company spends about 5% of revenues on marketing. In that context, the average rebranding initiative costs about 10%–20% of the marketing budget.
For example, if your annual revenues are $15M and your marketing budget is $750K, you can expect your rebranding costs in the range of $75,000 to $150,000 to overhaul your company’s brand. Of course, complexity plays a role as well. Rebranding large, highly complex organizations generally costs more.
Here at Hivemind Studios, we have created robust branding, web design, and digital marketing teams who work in concert to ensure that you have A Powerful Brand for Digital Marketing.