Mid-sized Businesses Tackle Rebranding

The idea behind a particular article I read in BtoB Magazine last month made a lasting impression.

After reading BtoB Magazine’s “Smaller firms tackle rebranding” dated August 9, 2004, all I could say was – “Yes, this is happening to our mid-sized clients!” Several times this year already, Johnson Direct has been hired to handle the complete overhaul of a client’s image and brand – from the logo and tagline to all printed literature and advertising to Websites and e-media.

By Grant A. Johnson, Johnson Direct

Essentially, the article, “Smaller firms tackle rebranding,” describes how midmarket companies are striving to stand out in the face of growing competition and commoditization. Companies in more traditional businesses are seeing their product lines become commodities, and they have to compete on price when they are used to competing on quality. They have to reinvent their value proposition. Applied Robotics was recently in this situation, and hired a firm to rebrand the company.

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What I liked most about the article its description of how deep a rebranding campaign must seed itself within the organization to be executed successfully. On the surface, the rebranding for Applied Robotics included a new tagline, collateral, Website, advertising, PR and an event presence. Dig deeper and you’ll find that it also included a restructuring of services – narrowing its marketing focus on just a few specific industries. Finally, at the core of the effort was the internal launch to get employees on board. “Everyone has to have a desire to build the brand.”

I think BtoB’s coverage of this story is right on target. In handling the rebranding efforts of Proven Direct, Accurate Response, Milwaukee Water Works and others, we’ve learned that the best success comes from a total dedication to the meaning of rebranding and how this process gives a new identity life.

I want to share with you our recent experiences in creating, or re-creating, brands – addressing a few of the most common questions – “what’s in a brand,” “why rebrand?,” “built a new brand, now what?” – and more.

What’s in a Brand?

Often, our clients come to us when they are exploring new names internally or have asked their employees or customers to invent a new name for the organization. Many times, too, the client’s upper management simply wants a new, fresh look for its logo.

In many instances, upper management realizes that its current company name is not aligned with its business model, nor does it reflect the depth and breadth of the services it provides customers.

At Johnson Direct we welcome the opportunity to lend our services to this effort. An outside perspective can help ensure that the new name carries the image upper management is looking for and more importantly, we can ensure that it is communicated clearly and properly.

More than a Name

Changing a name is not enough. Proper rebranding demands the help of various support mechanisms. Updating collateral material, laying out branding guidelines, developing a new logo, website design, letterhead and envelope design, and communicating your new identity with employees, customers, prospects and other publics, etc. - all become part of the effort. A full service partner like Johnson Direct can handle all of this in a cohesive, brand-enhancing manner.

A few clients already knew their old image was keeping them from growing and prospering to their full potential. However, other clients didn’t realize their brand image was holding them back – until we presented the challenges and proposed a brand rebirth.

Why Rebrand?

So, what are the tell-tale signs of a stale or stunted brand image? Here are just a few:

1. The company name doesn’t represent its services/capabilities.

Perhaps it never did. But in most cases, over time the company added new product lines and/or new services and the company’s name simply doesn’t represent the new and improved capabilities.

Proven Direct Case Study

2. The current perception of the company and its products/services is stale.

Reputation – it can be your best friend, or your worst enemy. When customers and prospects find it difficult to pay attention to your new marketing efforts because they can’t get past your old marketing efforts, a rebranding campaign may be necessary to breathe new life into a mature business/service/product.

Accurate Response Case Study

3. Your organization is implementing important, new initiatives.

Often, an old foundation isn’t strong enough or sophisticated enough to support new construction. When a business faces new challenges or moves into a new direction, a new brand identity can be the key to jump starting the change. Rebranding may be necessary in this situation because it feeds the sales and marketing efforts that will define and promote the new initiatives to employees, prospects, customers and other important audiences.

Milwaukee Water Works Case Study

Enter Direct Branding

Most marketing efforts can be developed to stimulate a desired response. Direct mail is tried and true direct response medium because marketers have had a lot of practice testing formats, designs, offers and response mechanisms. However, most marketers don’t apply these same theories, practices and processes on other marketing efforts – advertising, public relations, Website design and marketing and e-mail marketing.

At Johnson Direct, ALL of our work is focused on DIRECT RESPONSE & RESULTS. The majority of our clients work with Johnson Direct on a variety of programs – from logo development to Website development - and many benefit from our multi-channel approach to marketing.

As direct marketing experts, we are able to apply our results-driven thinking and strategies to all of our marketing services – because each has the potential to become a direct response tool. Testable. Trackable. Measurable.

Question: If you had the opportunities to test, track and measure
each and every marketing effort and then apply the outcome of
knowledge to your next effort – wouldn’t you?

Answer: Of course you would! Your organization would spend
smarter and grow faster as a result.

New Brand, Now What?

For many of our clients, a new Website can and should be the comprehensive, relevant and strategic core of their marketing efforts. All other marketing tools and methods – space ads, publicity, direct mail, etc. - can be guided by the research and strategies used to develop the new site. The circle is completed when the ads, PR and direct mailers drive qualified traffic to the Website and the new site in turn converts traffic to tangible leads.

The bottom line: If your Website is strategically planned, designed, executed and wisely marketed, it will create a strong foundation for all other communications and marketing efforts.

To facilitate future growth and remain competitive, a rebranding effort must be supported by an integrated and measurable marketing campaign that includes the re-positioning of the brand identity and the promoting of it via advertising, public relations, Website and e-mail marketing, direct mail, trade show and event marketing, etc.

In developing a strategic marketing plan, our experience has shown that concentrating initially on a few specific initiatives can provide the greatest impact. As additional opportunities are identified, the plan can then easily be expanded to include secondary efforts.

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