Is Your Business Stagnant? It Might Be Time For A Refresh.

For many businesses, COVID-19 pressed the “pause” button, making everything stop for a seemingly endless moment of time. When the economy came back to life, things were the same in some ways but vastly different in others. Some of those changes were temporary; others look like they’ll be around for the long haul.

In this ever evolving environment, you might be tempted to finally take the bull by the horns and launch a rebrand. In fact, today probably presents an unmatched opportunity to completely refresh what your company stands for. Nevertheless, undertaking any type of company overhaul requires more than a modicum of thought. You want to approach your rebrand with the precision of a surgeon to get the best possible return.

Leaning into uncertainty

Consider how Airbnb navigated its own pandemic-spurred redo: As people stopped traveling, Airbnb’s team dove inward to rethink the company’s positioning. The result was a magnificent pivot. Rather than waiting until classic tourism made a comeback, Airbnb transformed its public face by offering unique (and sometimes exotic) armchair travel experiences for incredibly reasonable prices. The platform still offers traditional overnight stay opportunities, but it has certainly expanded its reach and broadened its appeal.

Your business might not lend itself so easily to a rapid-fire change à la Airbnb’s “Online Experiences” launch. Nonetheless, nothing is truly off the table right now. Consumers have radically changed the way they approach brands; they’re more open-minded than ever, and they’ve adjusted to a different way of shopping and living.

Sure, a U.S. Chamber of Commerce survey showed that 56% of businesspeople believe their environment will return to normalcy within the next six to 12 months. But “normal” won’t look like it did at the beginning of 2020. Remember: Before March, most companies weren’t focused on offering workers hand sanitizer, American workers didn’t wear face masks in most occupational settings, some organizations pushed back against telecommuting, and free employer-based COVID-19 testing wasn’t around.

In other words, 2021’s “normal” is up for grabs, meaning now might be the best time to launch your own company’s glow up.

Considerations for a successful pandemic-era rebranding

If you’re gearing up for a rebrand, get ready to take some pointed actions. You’ll want to make the most of this one-of-a-kind chance to give your company a revamp that appears natural and appeals to your target audiences, including internal stakeholders (such as employees). Here’s how to take your first steps:

1. Reassess your corporate goals. Now is not the time to hold onto legacy icons that might not prove relevant—even if your icon is royalty. Instead, be like King Arthur Baking Company, a business known for its superior flours. Not only did the organization scrap its King Arthur Flour name, but it retired its knight logo in the wake of the pandemic.

So why did the well-known brand toss aside its generations-old image? The decision actually had its seeds in pre-coronavirus days. However, COVID-19 proved to be the perfect time to unveil a King Arthur that wasn’t solely focused on providing a key ingredient, but also on becoming a more powerful force in the home baking industry.

This example highlights a move from customer acquisition to customer service and retention. Studies show that in previous years, more than 40% of businesses made acquiring more clients a sole objective—even though that process is costlier than keeping and upselling a current one.

If you’re still operating using an acquisition framework, dust it off and reconsider your overarching goals. Could it be wiser to concentrate on satisfying current fans rather than working to move more people into the sales funnel? Snagging leads certainly makes sense—but not at the expense of the folks who are already your advocates. Crunch some numbers and use your metrics to determine which goals are most vital to your survival and scalability.

2. Explore all the possibilities of a brand refresh. As the Airbnb and King Arthur examples show, brand refreshes involve more than simply changing up logos and fonts. They’re a way of reintroducing yourself to the public—like IHOP did when it briefly became IHOb in 2018.

The IHOP story was one of controversial reinvention. By replacing the “P” with a “B”—which stood for “burgers”—IHOP reminded hungry patrons of that menu item’s launch. The move wasn’t without its naysayers, many of whom felt that the move was a little too cheesy, but IHOP garnered press and interest, proving that it wasn’t just a tired player in the burgeoning breakfast market. In fact, the company had some game and proved its mettle.

As you’re thinking about your own company’s refresher, brainstorm all the ways you can make big splashes. Just remember that everything you do should count. Don’t just embrace a revitalization campaign because you think it’ll make your business trend on Twitter for a microsecond. Instead, make sure your refresh is genuine and pivotal.

Brit Booth, vice president of marketing at rapidly growing animal-free food technology company Perfect Day Foods, suggests diving into rebrands with some well-defined parameters in mind. “Be clear on what a rebrand means to you, whether it’s the entire visual identity or a refresh of certain items,” says Booth. She also notes that this is important to the way you budget and source talent as well as your rollout’s timeline.

3. Consider costs. Many businesses are surviving on startup-style shoestring budgets. Is yours? If so, you’ll want to scour the ledger as part of your investigation into rebranding. Rebrands are likely to set you back up to 20% of what you budget for marketing. That’s not exactly peanuts.

This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t embark on a rebrand, of course. It just means you have to weigh the costs against the benefits. For instance, start any discussion about a corporate refresh by considering what your competitive differentiators are, how you can maintain and build upon those differentiators, and what the evolution of your business might look like. Although no brainstorming idea is a bad one, not all ideas will appeal to your core and target customer bases.

As your concepts start to come together, try to put numbers to your brand reboot. Every type of brand refresh comes with a price tag. For instance, revamping your brand identity could cost at least $30,000 per quarter, whereas a full-scale reboot could add up to nearly three times that amount. Be selective in making your final choices, always keeping your bottom line in clear sight to ensure your rebrand doesn’t send your profit margins diving.

4. Focus on your team’s culture. A brand refresh is just a pretty Band-Aid if you’re not going to consider your internal culture. Because employees are your greatest advocates, your business’s culture sets the tone. They’re the ones who help your clients, so they have to exemplify the essence of your branding as well.

Nothing feels stranger than a rebranded organization whose workers aren’t on board with the rebrand. Sure, the outward appearance of the company could look terrific. But if turnover starts climbing, there will be a disconnect between what’s advertised and what’s provided.

Besides this, remember that you’ll have to hire at some point. You want to attract people who can support your brand, so make your ideals obvious from the get-go. As a Glassdoor study revealed, 77% of individuals said they would look at an organization’s culture before agreeing to work there. Similarly, SHRM research indicates that around 20% of American workers have left a job because they felt a cultural mismatch.

Be sure that your rebrand spark ignites the interests of everyone—not just customers. Put work behind having serious (and perhaps challenging) conversations with your people as you move toward a refresh. Expect some questions and perhaps pushback. That’s only understandable, and it will help your reboot take hold internally and externally.

So is it time for you to make a fresh start? Despite all the downsides brought by COVID-19, the silver lining might be an opportunity to take your company into its next season of life.

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