One of your ongoing responsibilities as a business owner is to build up your company's brand image so that it resonates with customers and gives your business a strong sense of identity. Eventually, you may decide that it's time to consider redesigning your company, a process known as rebranding. But a redesign isn't always necessary and may have drawbacks to accompany the more obvious benefits.
One of the key disadvantages of redesigning your company is the possibility of losing brand awareness. After spending time putting your brand into the public consciousness and associating it with your products and identity, a shift may force you to start over again. This holds true especially if your redesign is extensive and changes your company's name, making it unrecognizable at first glance to customers. Consider the brand awareness you've already built up, and try to preserve as much of it as possible during a redesign.
Redesigning a company is an expensive undertaking. The value of a redesign is difficult to measure and may take years to manifest. In the meantime, you're paying for the efforts of a marketing firm, all new advertisements, new stationary and signage and internal training to teach employees about the redesign and what it means. The larger your company, the more you can expect rebranding to cost.
Part of the appeal of redesigning your company comes from the opportunity to make a fresh start. Companies may undertake rebranding following an event that harms their brand image, such as a major lawsuit or accident. It creates a new identity that can help draw attention away from events of the past and focus it instead on your new message. Even if your company isn't the victim of brand damage, a fresh start can still energize your workers and encourage your customer base.
Redesigning your company is also a step in the evolution that every business undergoes. Regardless of how much brand equity you have, if your company appears unable to change and evolve with the times, customers and investors are less likely to take you seriously. A redesign calls attention to new products and targets a new group of customers. If your business expands overseas, you may need a redesign in order to present an image that appeals to consumers with different cultural backgrounds.
