12 Steps to Completely Rebranding Your Company

The word “rebrand” is completely terrifying when a company first thinks of it.

It can be such an undertaking and there’s a lot of risk involved with taking an established brand and deciding to start fresh by completely transitioning your company to an unknown name, brand and identity. 

That’s not to say it’s not possible. And the pros often outweigh the cons, especially when you’ve realized that your company is being limited by its current brand name. For us, it became clear that the name “Coworkrs” wasn’t a right fit anymore. As a start-up ourselves, we have evolved tremendously from just a coworking space and the name no longer represented who we were as a company, and where we were looking to go.

I know first hand the stresses that come with making such a big decision as we (Bond Collective) just rebranded from the well known shared workspace, Coworkrs, in mid-January. It was something we wanted to do for months and months, but saying you’re going to do it is a lot easier than actually committing to get it done. We decided to make our focus known in our rebrand to show that we are member-centric and hospitality-driven at our core. Meaning before everything else, we listen to what our members are looking for in a space and tailor towards their needs (anything from the office itself to amenities to designing their office). Not only that, we wanted to show the world that we are putting hospitality first- providing a full, inclusive experience for our members to ensure they are productive as possible while working in our spaces.

The process was slow; we spent a lot of time toying with the idea, but it only became real when we set a date: January 18th. That gave us a little more than 2 months to get everything done. Once that date was decided, we were moving full steam ahead. There was no time to look back, and our lives became filled with a bunch of deadlines and decision making.  So, I wanted to share some advice to keep in mind during your company’s rebrand which will hopefully make it a smoother process!

1. The most important considerations to always keep top of mind is to understand your brand and choose a path that reflects where you are going, not who you were. 
2. Change is hard! It is going to take time to wrap your head around a new name and a new logo. Give it time. Sleep on it. You'll get used to it after a while. 
3. Pick a name, logo and brand that is timeless! There are so many "trendy" names out there that are going to be out of fashion in a couple of years. Go with a name that is all encompassing. 
4. Make sure the new brand has the capacity to evolve and it’s not restricting. You never know what the future might hold!
5. Understand that your clients, peers and friends probably won’t care about the rebrand as much as you do. This will give you a piece of mind and allow you to take a deep breath. 
6. Prioritize: Figure out what needs to be accomplished versus what you'd like to accomplish. If you’re a part of a small team, there might be of things you wanted to get done in time for the rebrand, but instead prioritize what was necessary versus not necessary. Focus on the necessaries, you can deal with the other stuff afterwards.
7. Work backwards: one of the first things you should do is find out what the production time on any of your printed goods are, and make sure that you stick to those timelines! Rush deliveries will cost you beaucoup bucks, and it’ll be impossible to stay within your budget if you are rushing everything. Rushes also limit your choices.
8. Make a budget and stick to it! As a startup, we had a rebrand budget, and we had to stick to it: no excuses. Do your best to think through everything when putting together your budget. I’d also recommend putting some budget aside for any surprises that most likely will arise. Staying within the budget is key.
9. Make sure you articulate what your new brand means and make sure that your voice is reflected throughout all of your social media feeds. (If you are heavy on the social side).
10. Understand that you can always make things better after the fact. In some cases, it's just important to get something done and improve it later on. Prioritize! 
11. Get some goodies with your name on it. We got totes and t-shirts for all of our members and they have been wearing them around. “Free” marketing!
12. Celebrate your achievements!