New brand. Now what?
Rebranding is more than just swapping out a logo or refreshing your website design. It’s about redefining your company’s identity to better align with your future vision and ensuring that your audience both understands and embraces this new chapter. Whether you’ve undergone a subtle refresh or a complete overhaul, here’s how to roll out your new brand to the world effectively.
Implementing these steps can seem like a monumental task, but with careful planning and execution, your rebrand will not just introduce a new look, but also pave the way for future growth.
Rebranding is a bold step towards growth and renewal. With these strategies, you’re not just changing your brand’s look; you’re setting the stage for its future success. Remember, a brand is much more than a logo or color scheme — it’s the heart and soul of your business. Treat it with care, and your audience will notice and appreciate it.
Everything doesn’t have to be perfectly aligned to the new brand guidelines overnight, especially if you don’t have a large team. Make a realistic timeline and execute against it to avoid burnout and mistakes.
01. Announce the Change to Your Audience
The first step in your rebranding journey is to communicate the change. Start with a clear and compelling announcement that explains the why behind the rebrand. This can take the form of an email blast to your subscribers, a series of social media posts, or even a press release if your scale justifies it. Your existing customers will appreciate the heads-up, and potential customers will be intrigued by what’s new.
Use this opportunity to highlight what’s changing, what will stay the same, and most importantly, how this will benefit your audience. The key here is transparency; your customers value honesty and will appreciate understanding the rationale behind the rebrand.
Sprout Social also has a cool article about how to do this on your social media properties.
02. Update Brand Touchpoints
Consistency is your new best friend. From digital to physical spaces, every point where customers interact with your brand should reflect your new identity. This means updating all your brand touchpoints including, but not limited to:
- website & sales pages
- email signature
- email sequences or newsletters
- social media profiles & templates
- email signatures
- business cards
- internal templates
- media kits
- pitch decks
- onboarding materials
- lead magnets or opt-ins
- your storefront or signage
Ensuring uniformity across all channels not only reinforces the new brand but also prevents any confusion about your company’s identity. It might seem like a daunting task, but the trust and brand recognition it builds is worth every effort.
Start by making a list of everywhere your clients or prospects might interact with your brand, then create a plan for updating each one.
03. Update Your Software & Tools
Consistency should extend to every tool you use to interact with customers. This includes your email marketing platform, customer relationship management (CRM) system, invoicing software, and more. Uploading your new branding elements to these tools helps maintain a cohesive brand experience for anyone interacting with your business.
It might require some time and effort to update these systems, but ensuring that every customer touchpoint reflects your new brand is critical in avoiding confusion and building a professional image.
Again, make a list of what needs to be updated and then create your plan of attack.
Need more help? Check out these resources.
Don’t see your tool listed? A quick google search “customizing your brand in [enter tool name here]” should work!
04. Create Your Canva Brand Hub
Ensure you and your team can create consistent, on-brand content quickly by setting up a Canva Brand Kit. This is a centralized hub where you can store your new logos, color palettes, font styles, and templates.
Having a Brand Kit not only speeds up the content creation process but also maintains brand consistency across all materials produced by your team. Whether it’s a sales presentation, a social media post, or marketing materials, your Canva Brand Hub will be the single source of truth for all things brand-related.
If you don’t use Canva, you might use Adobe Express or Figma. Consider what you need to update to make it as easy as possible for you and your team to create new content quickly and on-brand.
Want more details? Click here for instructions.
05. Educate Your Team and/or Contractors
Your employees and contractors are as much a part of your brand as your logo or slogan. They need to understand the new brand — its voice, tone, and personality — to effectively communicate it to your customers.
Hold workshops, training sessions, or even informal meetings to walk them through the new brand elements. Make sure everyone can confidently answer questions about the rebrand, speak about what it signifies, and use it in a cohesive and seamless way to create content, interact with clients, and evangelize your business.
Not quite sure how to do this? Click here for some insights to help you roll out your new brand internally.
- “Your Company Rebrand Won’t Pay Off Without Training” (Entrepreneur)
- “How do you train your team to use your brand name and logo?” (LinkedIn)
06. Launch a Marketing or PR Campaign
With your new brand ready to go, it’s time to shout it from the rooftops. A well-planned marketing and/or PR campaign can help introduce the refreshed brand to both existing and new audiences.
Consider using targeted ads that highlight the rebrand, sharing behind-the-scenes content about the rebranding process, or unveiling new product lines that align with the new identity.
From a PR perspective, you might also consider guest blogging or doing a podcast tour to drive new eyeballs to your rebrand.
This is your chance to be creative and make a splash. Use storytelling to your advantage — how did your brand evolve? What inspired the changes? Stories resonate with audiences because they’re engaging and relatable.
This Hubspot article might help you get started.
Leveraging Your Brand Day-to-Day
As important as a brand launch is, to really get the most bang for your branding buck, you’ll want to continue using your new brand consistently across platforms and mediums.
The key to using your new brand well revolves around consistency. Any and all content created from here on out should use this guide as the basis for developing both copy and design.
- Use your brand guidelines. A brand guide provides a set of rules for using your brand assets and can be used to ensure alignment of strategy, messaging, and visual identity across your business. Think of it as the user manual for your brand or a 101 course on your business. Keep in mind that your brand is what people say about you when you’re not in the room (to paraphrase Jeff Bezos). We advocate for printing it out and keeping it at your desk for easy reference or, at minimum, keeping it super accessible in your files. You should be referencing it often, maybe even daily, as you go about your work. Using this guide judiciously over time is guaranteed to build your brand equity and keep your happy customers coming back for more.
- Templatize your brand. One of the best ways to ensure all visual and messaging elements are consistent across all platforms and materials, is to templatize the assets you regularly use (e.g., social media posts, newsletters, workbooks, presentations, etc.) across your business. This allows you to maintain a consistent look and feel without having to reinvent the wheel every time you create something new. Pro tip: Also make sure to set up your brand colors, fonts, images, etc. in any software programs you regularly use (e.g., Canva, Flodesk, etc.) so that it doesn’t require any extra work to maintain brand consistency.
- Conduct regular audits. Conduct regular brand audits to identify any areas where consistency may be lacking or where customer/market changes may require updates or refreshes. Encourage customers to provide feedback on your brand, products, or services, and use this feedback to improve over time. Be open to adapting and evolving your brand strategy as your business grows and the market changes.
