To Re-Brand or Re-Calibrate Your Brand – That is the Question

There will come a time – if it hasn’t come already – that you will need to take a good, hard look at your company’s brand and decide whether you need an extreme makeover or maybe just a tweak or two.

Most marketers – especially in B2B – think of rebranding like they view flossing – they know they should be doing it but they just never get around to it. So they keep slogging along with a brand that doesn’t fully represent them anymore and which doesn’t position them properly versus the competition. If this is YOU then you may be sending a message that you don’t want to send and, as a result, generating a headwind for all your sales and marketing efforts.

My favorite example of this was a company that incorporated a computer punch card, like they used to use in mainframe computers in the 60’s, into their original logo when being computerized was a big deal and that was a differentiator. Thirty years later they still had the punch card there in their logo but it was sending the complete opposite message – old fashioned, out of date, dinosaur – when the company had aggressively evolved and was actually continuing to lead their industry in technology. There was clearly a disconnect between their brand and who they really were. Talk about a headwind for sales and marketing!

That’s kind of an extreme example. For most companies all that is required is a recalibration of the brand that takes into account their current position in the market versus the competition, in relation to their customers, and positions them to compete for the best employees and, if you are a public company, in the financial markets. You may need a more dramatic rebranding if you’ve been part of a merger/acquisition, or you need to position yourself for new markets, or perhaps you are marketing internationally and you need to take that into account.

Whatever your situation, your marcom agency can help you diagnose what you need – Re-Brand or Re-Calibrate – and can position you to compete with a brand that perfectly represents the company you have become and which will propel your sales and marketing efforts.