To rebrand or not to rebrand?

To rebrand or not to rebrand?

by | 1313:0707:1919 | Branding

Recognising the need for a rebrand

Opportunities abound when the reasons are right

The world of business is in constant motion; technology advances, clients’ needs adapt, new competitors emerge.

Some companies stay stuck doing business the way it has always been done, while others grab the opportunities when change arises. Rebranding can be sometimes be the change to realign with changes in the marketplace by presenting your company in a way that is more compelling to your target audience.

Proactive rebranding situations

Sometimes a company might seize an opportunity to rebrand, such as in these instances:

New line of business or market: the existing brand identity may not be attractive in a new market, or it may be restrictive. A rebrand may provide opportunity for growth, opportunities and expansion. (E.g. when Apple removed ‘Computer’ from its brand name so it could present itself in a wider market with varying products.)

New audience: if you need to appeal to a new audience, a rebrand may be necessary. This doesn’t necessarily mean a name change, more of a facelift or perhaps a sub-division for targeting a different audience. (E.g. when McDonald’s started referring to itself as MickeyD’s in commercials to target a younger demographic.)

Relevancy: When a company realises its brand is losing relevancy or is looking dated in clients’ minds it might be time to address the brand identity.

Predicted growth: If a company is planning on expanding growth, especially internationally, a united brand helps provide a recognisable identity.

Reactive rebranding situations

A company might rebrand in reaction to a significant event, such as these:

Merger or acquisition: Often mergers mean that companies join their brand names together, such as Pricewaterhouse Coopers, Conoco Philips and others.

Legal: Many issues may cause a company to rebrand, however the most common is when a company hasn’t done their research and ends up in a brand name that belongs to someone else. Trademark wars are costly, always do your research!

Competitive influences: After competitor research and market analysis some companies find their brand is lacking; negative customer perception or it feels outdated. This impact on sales may instigate a rebrand to be able to compete effectively and from a stronger standpoint.

Bad publicity: If another department or branch of your company has had bad PR a split in the business to distance from these negative implications can prove fruitful. E.g. When Anderson Consulting split from Arthur Anderson after the tie to the collapse of Enron and became Accenture.

If your company falls into one of the above categories then perhaps it is time for further research and make sure your reason for rebranding is sound.

Ask yourself the following questions:

  • Are you entering a new market?
  • Are you introducing significant new services?
  • Have new competitors entered the market?
  • Does your visual brand look tired or irrelevant, in comparison to your competitors?
  • Are you struggling to attract top talent?
  • Are competitors hiring your employees?
  • Do you have a house of brands that all look completely different?

If you answered yes to any of the above, then it may be time to properly assess your brand through various forms of research; internal, customers, industry leaders, competitive.

Proving the need to rebrand is essential to get internal and senior management buy-in.

Remember, though, branding isn’t just about a logo. Branding starts with identifying what you stand for, how you want to be perceived, the company culture, what your driving force is, what your values are? (You can read more about what branding is in our blog coming soon.)

The result of rebranding

People make real purchasing decisions based on perceptions. The more you can influence those decisions in a positive way, the better off your business will be. Buyers of products and services take weeks or months to decide who to purchase from – and they can eliminate a firm in seconds based on a weak brand or ineffectual message.

 

Benefits of rebranding

Confidence: Internal rebranding is just as important as presenting yourself positively to the market. Employees will feel more secure about their future prospects within the business and they will be proud to present themselves as a representative when with clients.

Competitive advantage: Being more relevant and appealing to customers will have an impact on leads and conversion of (web/event/meeting) visitors into prospects.

Renewed focus and revived direction: Knowing what the company vision and values are mean everyone is supporting and promoting a common goal. Alignment across the board will result in clarity and consistency and a company that speaks with one voice. This can be extremely powerful.

 

More to come soon on the process of rebranding…

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    Exhibitors: key planning considerations

    Exhibitors: key planning considerations

    by | 1717:0808:1717 | Events

    The power of exhibitions

    If you take time to plan ahead...

    Exhibitions allow you to further virtually all of your strategic sales and marketing goals at once, from sales and brand building to market research and media relations.

    Other companies will all be vying for the attention of visitors, i.e. your customers, but by planning your exhibition and following a few simple steps you can ensure that nothing gets between you and your prospects.

     

    Know your objectives

    Even a company that knows nothing about exhibiting would find it difficult to come away from a busy show without generating new business. After all, the business comes to you.

    However, those companies who put more effort in, reap bigger rewards. So plan your entire show campaign before you start, beginning with setting realistic, quantifiable objectives for participating.

    Objectives give you a way to review results and assess the success of the Exhibition. Consider how the Exhibition fits in with the rest of your marketing strategy and then decide on specific and measurable goals.

    Some of the main objectives are:

    • Lead generation and building a database for sales
    • Cross or upselling current customers
    • Building customer relations 
    • Educating new customers
    • Market research; testing a new product, analysing market perception/awareness
    • Brand building; raising awareness, market positioning
    • Product launch/showcase through demostrations or workshops
    • Identify new distribution channels or partners
    • Generate coverage on relevant media / industry channels

    Set a Budget

     

    Once core objectives are set, determine the tasks to be done and estimate the costs involved so that a detailed budget can be drawn up. Don’t make the mistake of blowing your entire budget on stand design – remember to allow sufficient funds for promotion, staff training, subsistence and post show activity for following up leads.

    Design your stand to meet objectives

    Choose a design that fits your brand (and budget) and your stand will say a lot about your company. The key is to attract attention amongst all the other stands and your competition. This doesn’t mean that you must have the biggest double decker stand with expensive event technology. Clever, simple design can be just as eye-catching.

    Some considerations for your stand design:

    • Not everyone knows your brand; say what you do
    • Promote benefits, not features
    • Less is usually more; simple and clear will stand out
    • Ensure essential text is at eye level or above – not hidden behind a table or sofa
    • Plan where your furniture will go to compliment your stand – inform your designer of plans before he/she starts to create ideas

    Attracting visitors to your stand goes beyond design.

    If your objective is for C-level meetings on the stand have you planned your furniture or meeting room set up accordingly?
    If your objective is to meet as many new leads as possible, do you really want lots of comfy sofas for people to lounge about on?
    If you are launching a new product have you thought about how best to represent this; maybe through video demos, on-stand presentations, invited one-on-one trials?
    How will people remember you and your company over the competitor; humourous staff, pretty promo girls, fun gizmos, personalised gifts, on-stand engaging entertainment, the best lunch spread?

     

    stand staff

    The amount of stands you walk past where staff are disinterested, too busy chatting, or eating smelly food are too numerous. Don’t be the exhibitor that let the visitor get away because they were put off by an employee who didn’t have the answers to their questions.

    It is estimated that 80% of the success of your stand is down to
    the people fronting it, so make sure yours are suited and well trained for the job.

    Choose your team carefully
    The number of staff manning the stand and mix of skill sets should be goal-driven; do you need technical staff to explain the detail? Top managers to meet blue chip clients? Energetic sales people for maximum engagement?

    Don’t skimp on numbers
    Exhibitions are hard work. Allow for adequate cover during busy periods and rest breaks and the costs of bringing one or two more people will be outweighed by increased productivity. Rule of thumb is to allow 1 person per 5 sq. metres, double in busy periods.

    Stand selling is a specialist skill
    Set aside a day to teach the fundamentals of how to encourage visitors onto the stand, how to open and close conversations and how to qualify visitors. Visitors fall into 3 categories – the really interested, the curious and the don’t want to knows. Staff have to be able to approach all 3 groups, categorise them immediately and allocate when and who will follow up.

    Use incentives to motivate staff
    Targets will depend on your show objectives but encourage staff to exceed them by offering incentives and light-hearted competitions.

    Plan your lead taking and management
    Think about the type of information you want to collect from prospects at the show – how you are going to get it, record it, store it and follow it up. Do you want a scanner to do it automatically (usually rented by the organiser)? Or will you have ipads for staff to complete while with a prospect? Or will you simply collect business cards and have a way of filing them at the end of each day?

    Don’t waste your expensive exhibition time by not having goals for the team. Your sales team should come back to the office with business cards, prospects, follow up meetings and a juicy report for management to prove the ROI of the event.

    Promote your presence

    Research has shown that 83% of the most successful companies at a range of exhibitions (in terms of business generated and leads collected) were ones that took the trouble to inform their prospects and customers before the show. 

    Don’t rely on visitors finding you on the Exhibitor list – there are hundreds of other companies all vying for their attention.

    1. Send a personal invite by email to relevant customers, prospects and partners.
    2. Invite people to your stand through your social channels, clearly stating your stand number.
    3. Include a banner on your website, e-newsletters, social platforms up to 6 weeks before the show.
    4. If you have something newsworthy send a press release to the trade media – or work with the organiser PR team to help do this.
    5. If you have a large budget, promote your brand and products by advertising in the show website, catalogue or daily paper.
    6. One step further could be to take a sponsorship package to really splash your brand in front of your audience, through multiple channels pre-show, onsite and after the event. Usually these can be tailored to meet your objectives. 

    ***

    So what do you do nextt?

    Get started! Draw up a timetable of key tasks, and working backwards from the event to determine who is responsible for what and deadline dates for completion.

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