“May you live in interesting times.” A proverb which has been (wrongfully, as it turns out) ascribed to Chinese culture, we are certainly living in interesting times at the moment.
Businesses are facing huge challenges as COVID-19 continues to pace through the world, and some areas are hit worse than others: travel, tourism, and events in particular are feeling the pinch.
But there doesn’t need to be a global pandemic for a business to struggle. When a business starts going through challenging times, there is sometimes a clear external source for the trouble. New regulations, a change in industry priorities, a new technology which makes yours redundant: something that you can point the finger out.
Most of the time, however, it is simply not possible to find a simple cause, and that is when it can feel impossible to fix the problem.
It is tempting to just react and do something, anything, to see if the situation can be changed. These reactionary changes can include changing personnel, changing offices, changing the website, or more.
In some cases, however, the problem is far more deep rooted than a simple website refresh, and this is much more common with tech startups and scale-ups. That type of business grows so quickly that it’s possible to bed issues into the very fabric of your business.
If so, that requires a deeper look into the foundations of your company – and it could mean that the best way to launch your business into the next stage of growth is a rebrand.
What is a rebrand for launch?
A rebrand can mean a variety of things. Like most things in marketing, it can operate on a sliding scale, allowing you to choose the level of intensity depending on your business needs and the position you have within the industry.
A rebrand specifically designed for a launch can include:
- New mission: deciding to take the business on an entirely different course
- New vision: choosing a new desire for the business’ goals
- New values: finding something else that is important to you as a founder
- New logo: if your old logo is dating you, then you need to be visibly moving with the times
- New font: hating that out of date style of font. Change it
- New colours: perhaps the most obvious element of branding, you can alter your brand palette
- New customers: if you are pivoting your offering, then you may even have an entirely different segment of purchasers to target
As you can see, a rebrand for your startup could involve just one of these elements changing, or it could mean all of them.
But before you announce to the team that you are completely redesigning everything about the brand, stop and think about why you are considering this change.
In some cases, a rebrand for a startup or scaleup can bring a revitalising breath of fresh air – and act as a catalyst to launch into an additional sector or niche. But that does not mean it delivers those sorts of results every time.
If you have not yet permeated your niche fully, changing your brand may just confuse and dilute the impact you are seeking. You could, in fact, be creating an uphill struggle of yourself when you are already facing one.
Disagree with me? Email Claire now!
Shona Wright
Shona covers all things editorial at TechSPARK. She publishes news articles, interviews and features about our fantastic tech and digital ecosystem, working with startups and scaleups to spread the word about the cool things they're up to.
She also oversees TechSPARK's social media, sharing the latest updates on everything from investment news to green tech meetups and inspirational stories.
