7 Methods for Rebranding Your Business without Losing Customers

• Written by Michael Bass

After several years marketing your products or services, you may find that you’re no longer focused on the same goals as when you started. By meeting the demands of customers and expanding your horizons, your current marketing efforts may not mesh with your original brand. When this occurs, it could be time to rebrand your products or services. Rebranding your business is a major undertaking. If you’re not careful, you could lose some of your customers. People may be confused by your new image or name.

Use the following 7 methods to rebrand your business without losing customers.

Make Sure Rebranding is the Right Strategy

The first step is to ensure that rebranding is the right strategy. Otherwise, all of your hard work will be for nothing. This is a major process and will require a lot of your time. If you’re not prepared for the work, then you may want to come up with another strategy.

Set a Launch Date for Your New Business

If you decide to move forward with your plans to rebrand, then set a launch date. Make sure you choose a realistic date. Consider the amount of work that is needed and set a reasonable date when you will stop operating as your previous brand and begin operating as your new brand.

Choose the Right Name and Logo Design

Before you get any further with your plans, you should choose the right name and logo for your new brand. Choose a name that is relevant to your new direction.

If the reason for rebranding is that your old name and brand no longer reflects your current direction, you want to ensure that this doesn’t happen again.

Start Creating Your New Website

Next, you’ll need to start creating your new website. Once you purchase your domain, you can place a basic “coming soon” page on the root of your domain. In the background, start building your new site.

You can make a complete copy of your existing site, simply changing the name and logo, or build a new site from scratch. If you’re building an entirely new site, make sure there is some connection to the old site. This could be as simple as using the same color scheme.

You want to make the transition as comfortable for your existing customers as possible. If your website is drastically different from your existing site, customers may be confused or believe your new site is an entirely different business.

Announce Your Rebranding on Social Media

Once you set a launch date and put up your “coming soon” page, you can start mentioning your rebranding on social media. Send out regular updates whenever you complete another step in the process of rebranding.

Customers will get used to seeing posts about your rebranding. Your followers will be well aware of the transition leading up to the launch date.

Create an Email Campaign for Existing Customers

Next, you’ll want to double down on your efforts to ensure customers are aware of your rebranding. Along with announcements on social media, you should create an email marketing campaign for your existing customers.

Send out a newsletter letting your customers know about the transitioning process. Let them know the date of the rebranding and any steps that they’ll need to take to continue using your services or products.

As your launch date approaches, send out a follow-up email to make sure customers got the message.

Take Down Your Old Site

When the launch date arrives, you can take down your old site. Set up redirects for crucial pages. You’ll want to retain any SEO momentum you had with your old site, as you begin transferring your content to your new site.

Replace your old home page with a short message redirecting customers to your new page. This will help any customers that missed your emails or social media announcements realize that you’ve created a new site with a new name.

Begin your rebranding process using these strategies. In addition to rebranding, you should consider gaining conversion-ready prospects. Learn more about my done-for-you system.

 

Image Sources:
Hennington, C. (Posted: May 1, 2015). Featured image: Rebranding your business re-energizes it. Retrieved from https://www.fgmarket.com/blog/rebranding-business/
Holt, S. (2016). Image of Business Launch: How to launch a new business. Retrieved from http://www.resell.biz/blog/how-to-launch-a-new-business/
Tangient LLC. (Posted: May 31, 2016). Image of announcement: Announcements. Retrieved from https://msdiazclass.wikispaces.com/Announcements

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