(Re)branding

Although I enjoy discussing the various aspects of creative and strategic marketing, my blog entries would lack relevance if the content deviated from my main purpose—providing information that helps you promote your brand or company. I recently read an article by Jacqueline Renfrow (2010), of Direct Marketing News, regarding the most important things to know when rebranding your company. In the article “Six ways to use strategic marketing during a rebranding,” Renfrow interviews NFI senior vice president of marketing Susanne Batchelor. When Batchelor joined the company, NFI did not have a cohesive brand. I am going to discuss Batchelor’s top tips to utilize strategic marketing in developing a brand.

The first tip is relevant to companies that have multiple brands or services. Batchelor stresses the importance of making sure everyone in each aspect of the company is in agreement about the new brand or marketing campaign. She elaborates by saying, “if everyone is not on the same page, you will have a significant amount of additional work (¶5).” Next, you need to be sure to equally market the brand internally and externally. The idea being that your employees will most likely be the ones interacting with your consumers—it is important to be sure the brand message is understood internally. Batchelor continues by addressing the target market: “As much as you want to, you can’t market to everyone… concentrate on your top 50 or 100 customers (¶7)." In regards to your company’s sales team, Batchelor recommends meeting with the sales department and emphasizing the importance of utilizing your new logo and not representing the new brand with evidence of the old brand. The last piece of advice Batchelor discusses is making sure you utilize social media properly. When you are using Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn (and I will be presumptuous enough to add YouTube) to market your company, you should be sure to design your profiles to represent one cohesive brand—uniformity.

If your company were to consider rebranding, I would highly recommend reading Renfrow’s article in its entirety—which can be accessed by clicking here.

As one last remark, I would like to extend a thank you to those who have tweeted links to this blog and mentioned my brand and myself. If you’re an avid tweeter or a company that is just beginning to use the service, go ahead and follow me by clicking here.

Happy branding, folks!

Source:

Renfrow, J (2010). “Six ways to use strategic marketing during a rebranding.” Direct Marketing News. Retrieved on February 1, 2011, from http://www.dmnews.com/six-ways-to-use-strategic-marketing-during-a-rebranding/article/191290.