As you may have noticed, MAI recently rebranded our company with a whole new logo!

Before moving forward with any rebranding initiatives, it’s important to have a good understanding of exactly what is considered rebranding, and why companies do it.

Rebranding can be defined as when a company chooses to change any component of their brand as part of an overall marketing strategy. This change could be a new logo, updated messaging, or even a whole new company name. Any change that strategically alters the way a company communicates to its audience can be considered rebranding.

While this definition is pretty open to interpretation, rebranding should not be taken lightly. Changing any aspect of how you communicate with your audience, especially if you have a loyal brand following, can have both positive and negative implications for your brand, so it’s important to make sure you are making a change for the right reason.

So what are the right reasons to rebrand? There are many, and only you can decide if a rebranding is right for you, but some examples of the right reasons for a rebrand include:

• New target market
• To renew impact in current market
• Anticipated growth
• Change in products and services offered

Those would be considered proactive reasons to rebrand. But sometimes companies rebrand in reaction to an event or issue. Examples of reasons for a reactive rebrand include:

• Following a merger or acquisition
• Your brand or logo is too close to another company
• Addressing a negative company image
• Adapt to industry or competition changes

So what are some of the wrong reasons to rebrand? One of the biggest mistakes for rebranding is boredom. Especially if your brand is new, you need to give your brand time to fully develop and gain a following before thinking of a rebrand. Unless your brand is really conveying the wrong message, boredom is not the right reason to rebrand.  Simply trying to utilize the latest and greatest trend is another example of a branding tactic that can have negative implications. If the trend loses popularity, your brand may lose also.

Having a strong brand can differentiate you from your competition and turn current and potential customers into loyal, lifelong, customers. In the end, your brand should connect with your customers, it should be familiar and reliable, so be careful when considering making any changes.