Brand Rollout: How to Do it Successfully
So you've got a new brand...
It's an exciting time! Hopefully your new brand is something you love and feels like it represents your business in exactly the right way. But with your new brand in hand, now what?
It’s now time to take that beautiful new brand and share it with the world! Doing this, though, doesn’t happen with the snap of your fingers. You may have the best brand ever, but if it isn’t implemented well, it won’t make the impact you want it to - with potential customers or to your bottom line.
If you’re like most people, you may be unsure how to even begin thinking about announcing your new brand or implementing a larger brand rollout strategy. Well, that’s exactly where we can help!
Asking the Right Questions
The place to start is to think through what brand rollout approach would best fit your business. Some questions to ask yourself are:
- How do you communicate with your stakeholders?
- In-person, presentations, memos, etc.
- How do you communicate with your employees?
- Team meetings, emails, webinars, etc.
- How do you communicate with your customers?
- Email, social media, blogs, direct mail, advertisements, etc.
- How does your organization operate?
- Warp speed – move fast and pivot faster
- Out of the gate - jump on opportunities and then work to adjust as needed on the fly
- Slow starters – take time in the planning stage, but then hit the ground running
- Tortoise mindset – make sure all possibilities have been thought of and/or discussed before moving forward
- What do your customers get most excited About?
- New shiny things, behind-the-scenes looks, being part of the club, detailed information, etc.
- How would you describe your organization?
- Bold, traditional, methodical, trailblazer, innovative, industry leader, community based, authentic, inclusive, etc.
Brand Rollout Approaches
We hope those questions gave you some good food for thought and shined a light on how your organization’s personality and procedures nudge you towards a brand rollout approach that will work well for your business.
*Here’s a secret, though. There's no wrong or right approach.*
The approaches below fall across a wide spectrum. Read through each and think about where makes the most sense for your business to land.
Hype-building brand rollouts can be a fun way to engage your audience and bring them along for the ride as your business is rebranding. It gives customers, and potential customers, a peek behind the curtain in a way that builds excitement before your business’s ‘big reveal’.
Hype building will include some sort of teaser announcement. Whether that’s in the form of social media post, e-newsletter or video, it should all be created with the goals of building anticipation and audience engagement.
If your business’s style is ‘surprise and delight’ then the overnight switch approach for announcing your new brand is for you.
This approach doesn’t mean rush to switch everything in 24 hours. The change may happen all at once, but that can only be effectively pulled off if each element that needs to be updated is thoughtfully designed and carefully teed up for the switch.
Does your business tend to move a little on the slower side? Do projects have lots of cooks in the kitchen (i.e. stakeholders)? Do your processes ensure all that all the boxes are checked before moving forward? Then a slower rollout is going to be your best fit.
A longer runway allows slower-moving businesses to fully implement the change. You might start with incorporating your new brand and logo on your marketing materials and business cards, then move next to redesigning the website, then your storefront, etc.
Rollout Best Practices
While there isn't a one-size-fits-all approach for rolling out a new brand, there are some best practices every business should follow.
GO ALL-IN
Making a big brand
announcement or incorporating
your new logo but then leaving
it at that will cause confusion
with your customers. Ensure
your brand rollout is complete
so your business doesn’t look
disconnected because of a
watered down implementation.
PLAN
No matter your approach, take
time to plan out your brand
rollout. A rushed launch will look
sloppy and unprofessional. Plan
for your brand launch well in
advance to give yourself time to
get all your ducks in a row. Make
sure you account for lead time
with vendors as part of this.
BEGIN INTERNALLY
Getting those involved internally
on-board with the new brand
concept is crucial. Catching your
employees off guard can lead to
uneasy feelings and a lack of
excitement. Avoid this by
keeping key stakeholders in the
loop.
MAKE YOUR EXTERNAL LAUNCH EXCITING
A new brand is a big deal!
You’ve put a lot of time into
making sure your new brand
uniquely represents you and
the story you want to share.
Announce it with some
enthusiasm. Your excitement
will help elicit more buzz.
BE CONSISTENT
Make sure you have assets for
every platform at the ready so
your announcement and rollout
can be seamless. The worst is
when you see a business trying
to re-purpose an asset that
clearly wasn’t made for the space
available. No square pegs in
round holes, people.
BE AUTHENTIC
How does the new branding
build interest in the story? Why
is that interesting to the outside
world? This can be more formal
like a case study or much more
casual through social stories.
SHOW, DON'T JUST TELL
Creating content that truly
captures a reader's attention is
tricky to do. It can be immensely
impactful to enable the reader to
experience what you’re trying to
share through actions, feelings,
and visuals, rather than putting
the importance all on a
description. We’re visual beings
after all, so conveying your
message through imagery that
captures the essences of your
brand is a great way to do this.
SELL A FEELING
Inspiration, bliss, security,
belonging. Whatever feeling
your business and new brand
gives people, highlight that.
Emotions are powerful
connectors, more so than just
pushing your product or service.
KEEP THE CONVERSATION GOING
Make sure to engage directly with
your audience after your
announcement to keep up with
how people are talking about your
news. Social media is a great tool
for customers and businesses alike
to chat back and forth through
direct messages and post
comments. That communication
can be just as critical to the success
of a campaign as the launch itself.
And if you don't feel like you've 'got this', no problem. If you get stuck at any point along the way, reach out. We're here to help make your brand's introduction to the world seamless and exciting!
Šek Design Studio
Ph: (218) 461-9581