Your Guide to Changing Your Branding - Guest Blog

Changing your branding is not something to be taken lightly and should only be done when necessary. That’s because your brand is how people remember your business. Imagine if McDonald’s suddenly swapped its golden arches for an image of a burger. They suddenly become just a burger shop, without anything to easily differentiate them with their competitors. It’s a similar thing with your business’ branding. By changing your logo, font and colours, you put your customers off balance and it takes time for them to readjust to your new branding image.

However, sometimes changing your branding is the best decision for your business. It may be that you’re offering new services or products, have a change of ownership or your old branding no longer reflects the direction your business is taking. Today we’re going to discuss all you need to know about changing your branding.

Changing Your Branding: A Beginner’s Guide 101
When you rebrand, it can be a partial or complete rebranding. You can choose between:

• Replacing the logo, but keeping everything else
• Changing the colours and font, but keeping the logo
• Adding phrases to your logo
•  Expanding your branding with additional colours and graphics
• Editing the logo​​
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In the end though, your new branding still needs to reflect your business, in that it must:

• Be consistent
• Focus on your ideal customer or client
• Be unique
• Reflect your brand’s personality
• Be easily recognisable
• Tells your business’ story
• Can be used in many places and in many ways

Pros and Cons of Rebranding
When you alter your branding, you’re doing it with the desire to grow your business. In order to make the right decision, you need to weigh up the pros and cons.

The pros of rebranding include:

• Get new customers
• Increased engagement on social media
• Meet new goals
• You get to start again!

The cons of rebranding include:

• You can lose customers
• You’re no longer instantly identifiable
• It takes time to rebuild your business’ recognition
• ​It can be very costly

A great way to promote your business, rebranded or not, is to list it in a directory. Business Networking NZ offers a free NZ business directory listing and it’s a great way to increase your online presence. Come and add your details today!