Why go to the trouble and expense of rebranding at all? The answer is simple and compelling. Your business environment is always changing, and you can’t afford to be left behind. New competitors, evolving customer tastes, disruptive new technologies and many other factors alter the dynamics of the marketplace. The firm that fails to adapt loses.
Most of us in the professional services are so busy doing our work that we don’t have the time, patience or energy to monitor changing market conditions. That means every five to ten years any firm will find itself out of synch with the marketplace and, if it waits too long, struggling to compete and stay relevant. Rebranding offers a cure.
What Your Brand Can Accomplish
- Attract core customers more easily. A powerful brand will help generate leads and close sales. And when core customers are ready to make referrals, your firm’s brand can provide the credibility to back up their enthusiasm.
- Attract business partners. These can be teaming partners for specific contracts, promotional partners for joint marketing efforts or even referral sources.
- Attract top talent. In the war for talented professionals, firms with strong brands have the clear advantage. The best people want to work at the best firms.
Your Brand has Many Parts…
“Your brand is the totality of how your audience sees, talks about and experiences your company.”
Most professional brands are a large variety of ideas, strategies, words and visual elements. The two most obvious elements of your brand — your name and logo — are only a small portion of a much larger picture.
- Your Brand is Part Reputation: Remember our broad definition of a brand above? Much of that definition is speaking to reputation. Put simply: “It’s what people say about your firm when you aren’t in the room.”
- Your Brand is Part Visibility: While reputation — how people react to your brand — is of critical importance, it’s only half of the equation. The other half is visibility: how well exposed is your brand in your target market? Memorable, well-known brands have greater visibility and reach in the marketplace. The more people who have heard of a firm, the easier it is to get new clients and grow.
Check out this infographic on good practices for whether you should rebrand or not…
