Did you know Nike only paid $35 to create its logo? That just goes to show that you don’t need a lot of resources to create an effective Brand. And it only becomes easier if you’re rebranding a business that has already created positive brand awareness.

Don’t be fooled, though. Rebranding is still something to take caution with. Rebranding can help your business, but it can also hinder a lot of the progress you’ve already made.

Luckily, we’re here to teach you about mistakes that can cost you a lot of time and money, and how to avoid them. Read on to learn nine of the biggest things to avoid when you’re rebranding a business.

1. Not Keeping Current Brand Awareness in Mind

This goes back to what we just talked about. If you’re not keeping the brand equity you’ve already built in mind when you’re rebranding, then you’re going to confuse your audience. They expect one thing from you and your brand, and you must continue to give them that with reinvention in mind.

If your current target audience is filled with corporate clients and you rebrand in an attempt to gain new ones, you can’t switch everything up and create a cartoon logo with a skateboarding mascot. It might not be received well with your current audience, and you run the risk of losing a lot of them.

2. No Reasoning Behind It

One of the first things you should figure out is why you’re even rebranding at all. Is this something that’s going to help your business grow, or are you just attempting different things and hoping one works well for you? It’s important to get specific with yourself before you start throwing out new design concepts and proposing a complete overhaul.

Sit down and outline the specific things you want to focus on with your rebrand. What are you looking to accomplish? What do you think needs to be improved upon, what do you think your audience would want to see?

If you’re stuck, you can also look to your audience. Run polls on your social media, ask questions, and have conversations about what they like about your brand and what they think you could improve upon. Remember, you don’t have to take everything they say to heart when you’re creating a plan.

Create a consensus of the most popular opinions and then sit down and work from there.

Announcing it with a press release can also let others know about your plans and open things up for feedback if you allow it. If you don’t know how to write a press release, you can learn how here: how to write press release

No matter what method you choose, creating space to understand your goals is going to make it easier to make an overall outline for your rebrand. If you could use some help, there are always services available, which leads us to our next mistake to avoid.

3. Avoiding Consultation

Contrary to what you might believe, reaching out to a marketing firm for help is a great idea. You might think you’re capable of doing all the research and creating everything on your own — and you might be — but having some help from an outside source who’s trained in this field is OK to do.

In many cases, with the right firm, it can take your rebranding to the next level.

They’ll have marketing insight that you might not, and they’ll be able to guide you through the process. You’ll be able to hand your ideas over and trust that they have the knowledge and expertise to guide your business down the right path.

Let’s face it, you have a bias towards your brand that a marketing consultant simply isn’t going to have. Not only will they be able to help you succeed on your path, but they’ll probably help take it to a level you might not have thought possible.

4. Ignoring Your Plan

It’s easy to veer off the path you originally set for yourself, but it’s important to follow the strategy you originally set. Don’t undervalue the brand awareness you’ve already built, and don’t undermine the research and actions you’ve taken that have helped you get to where you are now. In some cases, that inconsistency is going to have a negative impact.

Once you’ve sat down and mapped out a plan, it’s important to stick with it. The things you learned throughout that entire process are going to help you define where exactly you belong in the market.

When you know your place, it’s easy to develop a plan that helps your brand grow to new heights. You gain an understanding of the things your competitors might be doing, but then you get to drop in and make it all your own.

5. Following the Competition

While knowing and understanding what your competition does is important, it isn’t everything. If you start following the things they do too closely, then things can start backfiring. It also undermines everything you already have.

Marketing trends are important, and fitting in with the market you’re entering helps you become accepted, but it isn’t everything. If you can create something that kind of mimics the competition but brings something new and innovative to the table, then you’re going to attract attention.

Don’t be afraid of trying new things.

6. No Consistency

What you do bring to the table needs to remain consistent, though. Not only does it need to make sense for your previous branding, but you also have to ensure it’s apparent across every social media and advertising channel.

It’s easy to set out for a rebrand without taking that into account, but it’s a mistake that, truly, is easy to avoid. Your customers and audience deserve a consistent experience with all your platforms, and it’s important to ensure that’s exactly what they’re receiving.

7. No Timeline

While you don’t need an exact timeline to follow, it’s important to give yourself goals before you embark on something of this magnitude. It can have a real effect on your day-to-day operations. Things can get pretty complicated and expensive if you’re not careful, and it can cause your business to suffer in the process.

Creating a schedule can help keep things on track, and it can ensure that your rebrand is consistently going in the proper direction.

Your timeline doesn’t need to be too strict, but it should be enough to keep you on track for completion.

8. No Style Guide

Without a brand style guide, you’re leaving yourself open to a lot of inconsistencies. Not only is creating one going to make it simpler for you to train new hires (when the time comes), but it’s going to help you identify yourself among the crowd.

Take the New York Times for instance. While most publications follow the AP Style guide, the New York Times has its own style guide that a lot of smaller publications follow. This usage not only helped the NYT become one of the largest publications in the world, but it also helped it establish itself among the competition.

A guide is going to help your brand establish its voice, colors, imagery, and even how the logo should be used whenever it’s needed.

During a rebrand, having a small set of principles that you carry through everything can make a world of difference. It gives you a solid point of reference no matter what the circumstances are, and you know where to turn from the beginning.

9. Getting Too Carried Away

This is quite possibly the biggest mistake you can make. Getting too carried away with new ideas during your rebrand is a sure-fire way to not only confuse and overwhelm yourself but also your audience and the people in your company.

It’s easy to get excited and want to delve into different colors and typographies, but you must start simple and work your way up.

That’s why taking solid steps to move forward (like creating a plan or a style guide) sets you up for success. Not only are you ensuring that your business is set up for the long haul, but you’re also allowing yourself to remain grounded throughout the entire process.

Rebranding a Business Is Easier Than You Think

While creating concepts and rebranding your business can be an exhaustive process, it’s made a lot easier by avoiding small mistakes from the beginning. With thorough research and planning, the process is less trial and error and more enacting actual change for you and your brand.

If you’re interested in more tips, or just want to keep up with the latest in business and tech, check out the rest of our website.