Rebranding is a big decision for any organization. It involves time, money, input from multiple stakeholders and, as with most things in business and life, some element of risk.

But if you’ve landed on this blog, you’re likely halfway there already, and now you’re seriously considering your options.

You’re not alone. In fact, most organizations engage in a rebrand every seven to 10 years, with some refreshes in between.

As a marketer, you know there are many reasons for an organization to undergo a rebrand or refresh. Perhaps your brand feels outdated and no longer reflects your organization’s mission, vision and values. Or maybe you’re expanding into new markets, and now you need to appeal to a wider audience. It could also be that you’ve gone through a recent acquisition or two, and your brand is starting to feel fractured and disjointed. In worst-case scenarios, some organizations have to rebrand after facing a crisis.

Whatever the reason, the good news is that no two branding projects are ever the same. In fact, a good branding partner will work with you to understand your specific challenges and goals, and then craft a plan that feels exactly right for you.
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4 Key Phases of Branding

At Sunup, we believe in future-focused branding, developed through four key phases: 1) discovery, 2) strategy, 3) identity and 4) activation. It’s important to look at each core phase to understand what aspect, if not all, is right for your organization at this time.

Phase 1: Brand Discovery

Brand discovery involves understanding everything about an organization as well as its place in the market. That includes gathering and auditing your brand’s marketing materials to see how your organization is currently expressing itself and where you might want to take it. This phase also involves analyzing the messaging and identity of your main competitors.

Goal: Identify your brand’s strengths and weaknesses as well as any opportunities and threats in the market.

Phase 2: Brand Strategy

Brand strategy involves developing a plan for how your organization will position itself in the market, going forward. That includes documenting or refining your brand’s target audience, positioning, messaging, mission, vision, values and much more.

Goal: Find your brand’s “white space” in the market — a place your brand can occupy for years to come while remaining relevant and resonant with your target audience.

Phase 3: Brand Identity

Brand identity involves creating the visual and verbal elements that will define (or refine) your organization. Typically, this phase involves exploring several creative concepts that express your brand both visually and verbally. Then, once your team coalesces around a winning direction, your branding partner should develop a full identity system that’s documented in brand guidelines. A complete brand system usually includes naming and nomenclature, brand/product architecture, messaging, voice and tone parameters, logo rules, color palette, graphic device(s), typography, iconography, photographic styling and more. 

Goal: Create a consistent and memorable identity that will help your brand stand out from the competition.

Phase 4: Brand Activation

Once you have your brand guidelines in hand, you then need to develop a repeatable framework for executing your brand consistently across channels — from advertising to social media. Typically, this means creating branded templates that will be easy for your team to use on a daily basis. Activation could also mean building out a full-scale campaign to bring your brand to market.

Goal: Execute your brand in a way that’s clear and cohesive.
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Triggers to Know Your Brand Needs Work

Now that we’re aligned on the main stages of brand development, ask yourself where your brand could use the most work. Below is a comprehensive list of decision triggers that will help you decide what’s ultimately most important and needs to be in scope.

• Do you not know who you’re trying to reach? Do you have clearly defined personas, or is your target audience largely undocumented? Are you painting with too broad a stroke and turning some core segments off? Or are you getting overly granular with segmentation in a way that’s just not practical?
  
  
• Do you have a compelling value proposition? Is it designed with your audience in mind, or is your value unclear or missing the mark?
  
  
• Does your brand lack clear differentiation? Do you sound like everyone else? Are you copying your competitors — or are they copying you? Is this causing market confusion?
  
  
• Thinking through the lens of first, best and only, what can your brand claim? Was your brand the first to market on anything? Is your brand the best at something? Can you back up these claims with a third-party ranking, award or customer reviews? Are you the only one of your competitors to offer something special? (This first/best/only lens is a great way to sharpen any brand.)
  
  
• Does your brand have soul? Do you stand for something bigger? Have you found your “why”? Are your values in line with your audiences’?
  
  
• Does your brand lack focus? If you laid all your sales and marketing materials out on a big table, would everything look “in family”? Or would some pieces jump out as being wildly off target?
  
  
• Does your brand have equity? If you smashed any major brand asset into a million pieces, would its component parts be largely recognizable? Or is your brand too fussy and complicated?
  
  
• Is your messaging breaking down? Are you putting out mixed signals to the market? Does your audience not really know what your offering is or what your brand stands for?
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• Is your brand easy to understand? Are you speaking in jargon? Is your content all over the place or all about you — and not about your audience? Are you overly focused on features and functionality and not focused enough on big benefits and solving actual customer pain points?
  

• Do you speak from the same page and sound like one entity? While your brand’s tone will likely fluctuate based on context (i.e., by audience and channel), its voice should remain largely consistent.
  

• Is your brand's visual and verbal identity out of alignment with your brand’s overall strategic direction? Do you look and sound slick but in a way that’s not actually going to move the needle on your north star business objectives?
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• Does your brand lack personality? Are you a total bore? Might your brand just as well be forgotten?
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• Is your industry evolving? Are your competitors gaining market share or share of voice? Are you falling behind?
  

• Are you experiencing some form of attrition, whether from your customers, investors or employees? Does your brand just need new life?
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To Rebrand or to Refresh? That Is the Question

Once you’ve answered all the above questions honestly, you’ll know where your brand stands and where you need to take it. Of course, bear in mind that not every branding effort has to be a total overhaul. In other words, you don’t have to rip your brand down to the studs.

Some brands just need a refresh — or, to continue the metaphor above, a fresh coat of paint. That could mean a simple evolution of your current brand identity, like a tweak to your logo, along with a more modern typeface or slightly evolved color palette.

Determine what makes the most sense for your brand, while preserving any equity, and then find the right branding partner. What does that look like? Someone who isn’t just selling you on a rebrand for their own financial gain. Someone who actually cares about your organization and its place in the market. Someone who will help your brand stand out and stand the test of time.