Questions to ask before rebranding — PART II
Some important answers need to be understood before your team can take on a rebrand. We covered some of those questions in our first blog. Here are some additional questions to consider before beginning your rebrand journey.
What is your brand promise?
Look at Allstate Insurance. When you read the following words: “You’re in good hands with Allstate,” whose voice did you hear? It probably wasn’t your own. It was the deep, distinctive, reassuring voice of Dennis Haysbert. Feel better?
Now, who protects you from mayhem? Allstate. Americans have been made to feel that we aren’t safe without Allstate insurance. The company’s brand gurus have taken one of the most mind-numbing experiences, that of sitting with an insurance agent for an hour or two, and turned it into a positive experience. That’s because the company realizes its archetype, the Caregiver, and has promoted it to the nth degree.
The same is true when branding an organization. The brand is the people, the feelings delivered from person to person, and the goal is the same — make a lasting connection.
Think of the American Red Cross. What do you see? Disasters, most likely. And people rushing in to help. People who care. Carrying a child. Passing out food. Searching a pile of debris. The images may be awful, but the feeling is positive, emotional, and satisfying.
Whether promoting a service or a product, the heart of your brand has to be the same. It has to beat from within.
What is your brand personality?
If you don’t know who you are, you can’t begin communicating your message to the people in your organization and the public.
Are you a leader or a worker bee? Do you prefer a table for two or a party room? A stadium show or headphones? A four-star hotel or a campsite? All of these are facets of your character. They are what you see in yourself and what others see in you.
Think of five or six words you believe describe your company. Now reach out to customers you trust and ask them to list five or six more if they all match your list, outstanding! But if you only have one or two matches, you’ve got some work to do.
A great way to determine your personality is to determine your archetype. Each person has an archetype. And the same is true for companies. For example, Coca-Cola’s archetype is the Innocent. Coke embraces unity and simplicity, whether teaching the world to sing or spending every Christmas season with the polar bear family.
Pepsi falls more toward the Explorer archetype. Pepsi races toward the future. Refreshing? Maybe. Fun? You betcha.
The key is knowing your archetype and building a brand around it. Personality puts the “person” in your brand and gives it life. But it has to be real if you want it to make a connection.
What do you want customers to feel about your brand?
One of the most integral aspects of a brand platform is brand positioning. Like an arrow aimed at a target’s center, brand positioning means that all brand activity produces a singular positive result. It’s what you want the consumer to think of first. Immediately.
Positioning is the quality of a brand that makes it iconic. It is the focus. It sets you apart. It’s the reason customers come to you and keep coming back. It’s the offer you make and the promise you fulfill all rolled into one concept.
To determine your customers’ feelings about your brand, you can ask them. Utilize the following research models to access the pulse of your customers:
online surveys
person-on-the-street interviews
focus groups
It doesn’t have to be an in-depth essay from each. Just a word or two will do. And when you start seeing a commonality or repetition of the words people choose, don’t ignore it.
Look in the mirror. What do you see? Next, talk to other people in and outside your organization to gauge how close you are to where you need to be. Gathering these data points is crucial to getting answers and setting yourself up for a successful rebrand.
