It’s the moment you've been waiting for… you invested in new branding and a new website, you have beautiful new colors, fonts and photos to show the world and it’s finally time to hit “publish” so everyone can see what you’ve been up to for months. 

But wait - did you think through how you’re going to launch your rebrand? Have you implemented the changes internally? Are you prepped to communicate what this means for your audience?

You see, many times people think that a rebrand is just this casual thing you do whenever you get tired of the way your website or brand aesthetics look. But that couldn’t be further from the truth!

A rebrand is a BIG deal and involves so much more than just changing your colors, creating a new logo or leveling up your website. 

It’s a process that really involves digging into what you want to convey to your audience, how you want them to feel when they find your website or social media and ultimately how you can tell your unique story with strategic messaging.

Because of this, you want to make sure that you have steps in place to cover all of the bases AFTER your rebrand to ensure that your current audience stays engaged, your existing customers are reengaged AND you attract NEW customers!

After working with tons of branding clients and being in the world of branding for quite some time, I’ve noticed that the “after” is where people tend to go wrong and a few common things tend to be forgotten.

To help you avoid that in your own rebrand, here are the 4 most common things that small businesses overlook after a rebrand:

1. Strategically Announce your Rebrand

Picture this: you spend months working with a brand strategist to craft the rebrand for your business, you have beautiful new photos to use on your website and social media accounts, your logo has been refreshed and looks more “you” and your website is insanely user friendly and a great resource for your audience.

You’re so excited to launch your rebrand to the world, so you whip up some images on Canva and click “post” on Instagram with a caption saying something like, “NEW BRANDING, WHO DIS?!” 

And the crowd goes quiet… 😞

Why? Because it’s not strategic. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen this scenario and as a brand designer, it makes my heart break a little because I know the amount of time (and money) it takes to bring a brand to life. 

The last thing you want is to invest in a rebrand just for your audience not to respond. As mentioned, your brand is more than just new pretty colors and an awesome new logo.

It really serves as an improved way to communicate your unique story and capture your ideal audience. But the only way you can do that is when you tell people what your rebrand means for them.

Are you offering new services? Did you get rid of old services?

Are there new ways to work with you 1:1? Do you have a new course or membership?

Did you launch a new blog or podcast with your rebrand? Maybe a newsletter?

What’s the best way for them to use your website?

All of these things should be strategically communicated through your rebrand launch so that it actually engages people instead of just giving them a pretty picture to look at!

If you aren’t quite sure how you should go about announcing your rebrand, I break down 3 “non-salesy” ways to promote your brand launch in THIS blog post.

2. Adjust Your Messaging

Oftentimes when people decide to rebrand, they’re doing so because something is changing about their business and they want to attract the right people to it.

This often comes in the form of new products or services, a new course or something of the sort.

For example, let’s say you’ve been a done-for-you service provider for years and you’ve primarily worked with people 1:1, but now you’re pivoting your business into courses.

That’s going to attract different people, which is why you have to consider how this affects your messaging.

This won’t be the case for every single rebrand, but you want to make sure that you’re not just updating your colors, fonts and logos, but you’re also communicating any changes in your messaging by clearly calling out who you specifically serve and who your services are perfect for.

3. Make Internal Changes

When you think of branding, you naturally think of all of the external things that your audience will see - your website, social media, contact forms, etc. 

But what tends to slip the mind when rebranding are all of your internal pieces that are just as important!

This includes things like your email signature, slide decks, any branded client communication forms (such as invoices, proposal sheets or onboarding forms), merch, stationary, etc.

Any piece of collateral that isn't necessarily front-facing to your audience on a daily basis still needs to be rebranded so that your brand stays 100% cohesive!

Now, I completely understand that brand design involves A LOT, so if you can’t get to all of these things at once, that’s okay. Just make sure that you have a plan in place to revisit them when you have the time so that you don’t compromise the lack of consistency for your audience or clients.

This is one of the main reasons I encourage working with a brand designer so that nothing falls through the cracks and you’re completely taken care of from start to finish!

4. Update All Collateral

Lastly, that brings me to all of your collateral. As I just mentioned, you want to make sure that every single thing throughout your business is cohesive and on brand. 

For example, if someone finds you on social media and navigates to your website and the two have completely different vibes, they’re probably going to be a bit confused. 

This is the exact opposite of what you want, which is why updating ALL of your collateral, which  is essentially the collection of media that promotes your brand, is key. 

Here’s a quick fire list of common collateral pieces to include in your rebrand:

• Website and Landing Pages
• Logo
• Business Cards
• Brand Photos 
• Social Media Templates

And if you love a good visual like me, here’s a more in depth look for your brand touchpoints:

That’s just a few of the most common pieces, but if you want my take on collateral pieces that are most overlooked for brands, CLICK HERE!

Overall, deciding on a rebrand is just one piece of the puzzle. Don’t be tempted to stop there!

Use your rebrand to your advantage by attracting your ideal people and guiding them through your customer journey very strategically.

And if all of this sounds a little too difficult for you to manage on your own, I’m always here to help!

Your designer friend always,