For B2B marketers, there can be many reasons to undertake a rebranding effort. Potential motivators for a refresh of your company’s brand icon and positioning include:
- A fundamental shift in the marketplace
- The evolution of your company’s value proposition over time
- The desire to enter new markets and/or target new audiences
- The need to consolidate several divisions or subsidiaries under a common thematic umbrella
A website refresh is the most crucial component.
For most companies, their current website is something that has expanded and changed over time to meet momentary needs. These needs may have included the addition of new products, the acquisition of another company, the birth of a new division, and so forth. So the company website has become somewhat bloated, with too much content and too little focus — and no longer reflects what the company truly stands for. A comprehensive, from-the-ground-up website refresh may be required to meet your new branding needs.
Content marketing is the ideal vehicle.
While you can certainly communicate the big-picture message behind your rebrand in just a few sentences, you need opportunities for deeper and continued engagement to truly tell your brand story. This story could include:
- A look at how your brand has evolved with the marketplace
- What led you to redefine your corporate image and underlying brand promise
- The steps your company is taking to live up to that brand promise on a day-to-day basis
Fine-tune your message to specific audiences.
Just as you would with an email marketing campaign, look for ways to effectively segment your customer and prospects — in order to craft relevant messaging pieces that are geared toward specific segments. For instance, the implications of your new positioning and brand promise could be different for an existing customer — as opposed to a prospect who is just beginning to learn about your company. Think through the pain points and hot buttons for each audience segment, and shape your presentation to address that segment.
Plan a strategic rollout to appropriate inbound channels.
Each social media channel has its own strongpoints. Consider how your key messages can be communicated across a variety of media and formats, along with which social media channel would be the best avenue to generate engagement with that content. Some of the possibilities are:
- Creating a LinkedIn post that links to a white paper on the biggest challenges your core customers are facing.
- Use Facebook to post a provocative question about a particular industry issue, while inviting people to actively join the conversation.
- Compose an intriguing SlideShare deck with questions you’ve crowdsourced from current and potential customers. Answer each one with a thoughtful response that reflects the depth and breadth of your knowledge and expertise.