Rebranding can be a daunting task. From logo changes to updating your social media, here’s a step-by-step guide to rebranding successfully.
So you’ve decided you need a rebrand. Regardless of the reason for this big decision (from a change in company structure or product line to a complete shift in the market or industry), rebranding is a great way to revamp your business in order to capture new audiences, excite existing ones, and set yourself apart from your competitors in a fast-changing marketplace.
However, successful rebranding is no easy feat. It involves a lot of moving parts, both offline and online. Now, the former includes everything from updating business contracts, insurance plans, and tax records to office stationery, business cards, and internal documents. You need to prepare a solid strategy that takes into account all those aspects of the business.
In this post, let’s take a look at the online aspects of successful rebranding. Here’s a quick yet comprehensive five-point checklist that you must tick off to ensure your new brand identity is successfully implemented across the web – in every digital corner where your brand has a footprint.
#1 Identify Your New Brand Name
The first step when it comes to giving your brand an online makeover is to pick the right domain name for your business website. Brainstorm with your team to come up with creative domain names that may not be an exact match to the actual brand name.
Check the availability of the domain names you shortlist and, if there’s one available, act fast to purchase it quickly before the price shoots up. You can use a business name generator to generate new names for consideration and check domain availability instantly.
#2 Update Your Website
Once you have decided on and purchased your desired domain, it’s time to set up redirects (specifically, permanent 301 redirects) from your old website and update everything on your new website.
In a nutshell, here’s everything you need to update on your new website:
• Logo and visual styling according to the new style guide.
• SEO aspects like title tags, meta descriptions, and URLs with new branded keywords.
• All website copy and content including the ‘About’ page, contact information, and blog.
In fact, you should most certainly publish and promote a blog post (like this one) to announce the what, why, and how of your rebranding – explaining the exact reasons for the change and your new positioning.
#3 Update All Online Marketing Materials
Apart from updating all offline marketing materials such as flyers and business cards, you need to take care of updating all online marketing materials as well. This includes updating your:
• Email newsletters (with new email address and signature), templates, and downloadable resources for your audience (such as e-books).
• Guest posts, sponsored content, and brand mentions on other websites, while also revising the author bios.
• Pay-per-click advertising on search engines and social media.
#4 Update Your Social Media Handles
Your old brand may already have a decent following on various social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. All such major social media platforms allow you to change your information without too much trouble.
Also, don’t forget to update all the supplemental profile information as well, like the business description, logo, and so on. Publish a well-written, engaging post on each platform to announce the rebranding.
#5 Update Your Online Business Listings
To maintain the consistency of your new brand across the web, don’t forget to update your company information in online business listing and review platforms such as Yelp and Trustpilot.
Plus, if you’re a local business, it is absolutely vital to properly update your Google My Business listing.
Rebranding can be one of your best decisions in the long run, but as you can see, it requires proper planning and implementation. Make sure to take care of all the points discussed above for successful online rebranding.
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