Back in the late 1990s, Target’s image was a low-cost discount retailer that was no different than its competitors Kmart and Walmart. Then Amazon happened and changed the way people shopped. As ecommerce gained more and more traction, the market share of Target took a nosedive. To revive the company, management devised a rebranding campaign that transformed Target image completely. Today, it’s one of the largest retailers in the US with stores everywhere. Target’s successful rebranding campaign is an excellent example of how businesses can completely transform themselves by implementing the right strategy.
What Is Digital Rebranding & Why Do You Need It?
When there is a significant shift in your business values or the target audience changes, it’s time to think about rebranding. Customers tend to associate your logo, products, color choice and design of your website, social media postings, etc. with the values that you offer. How you perceive your business, why it’s different, and what it can bring to the consumers should be expressed coherently through strategic design, content creation, and product offerings. Rebranding is not just about creating another logo or getting your website a completely new look. It’s more about aligning your business values with the content. If your business has been around long enough, chances are you’ll need rebranding at some point to refresh your image and remain competitive.
What Digital Rebranding Entails
After we have figured out the Why, it’s time to focus on the How: How to effectively carry out a rebranding campaign.
First, you need to redefine and create an ideal customer persona. This is an important step if your user demographics have changed. You’ll base your web design, social postings, and practically everything else on this user persona, so make sure to take time to delve into it.
A complete overhaul in appearance means that you’ll need more than just a new logo design or website redo, even though it never hurts to focus on creating the best logo or web element designs that represent your new image. Making major changes to your digital marketing strategy is necessary as well.
Old content that no longer represents your business values needs to be replaced. When creating new content for the business, pay attention to the tone of voice that is representing you. If your business is navigating towards a young active generation, you don’t want to sound too formal or didactic.
Apart from replacing your current social media image with a new image that is a better match with your revised values, you also need to look into your current SEO strategy. For many businesses, doing rebranding means they are switching to new product offerings. The keywords that you ranked for in the past may no longer be relevant. However, SEO is not a switch-on switch-off process that can easily be changed overnight. Therefore, businesses need to create a detailed long-term plan for keyword changes. In the meantime, leverage the power of digital marketing including pay-per-click, social media marketing, and email marketing to promote your new brand.
These Brands Successfully Did It. What About You?
Apple was on the verge of bankruptcy in 1997. What turned the company around and propelled it to today’s status was the vision Steve Jobs had. He completely rebranded the company by focusing on creating elegantly designed products that have solid performance and better graphics. The success of iPhones, iMacs, iPods, as well as its signature earphones, is a solid proof that its rebranding campaign has been more than successful.
Walmart was once considered a cheap department store that affluent people don’t frequent. In 2007, the company decided to do a rebranding campaign and replace its then slogan “Always Low Prices” with “Save Money. Live Better.” The new slogan puts a positive spin on what Walmart has been doing by shifting consumer’s thinking patterns about saving money and leading a better lifestyle. The campaign has been so successful that Walmart was rewarded the REBRAND 100 Global Award of distinction in 2010.
Whether your business can successfully rebrand or not depends on your strategic thinking. If you’d like to go over your rebranding and digital marketing strategies together, please contact us!