When & How to Rebrand

How To Take Your Company’s Branding To The Next Level

By The Jacob Tyler Agency

Every successful company needs to have a strong brand. Your brand isn’t just a logo, your brand name, or simply a piece of marketing strategy. It’s all of these things and so much more. It’s your brand’s identity. It’s the story you tell current and potential clients or customers that tells them why they should spend their money with you. It’s a central piece of the puzzle of your success or failure.

What do you do, then, when your brand isn’t strong enough or is out-of-date and out-of-touch? If this is the case, then it is probably time for you to rebrand. Rebranding, however, can be a terrifying proposition for companies to undertake. Change is rarely easy, especially ones as potentially costly and risky as rebranding.

At Jacob Tyler, we’re experts at successfully helping our clients in their rebranding efforts with years of experience and success stories on our side, and we want to share our wealth of knowledge with you! To do that, we’ve put together this helpful (and a bit lengthy) rebranding guide to walk you through the essential components to successfully rebranding.

In this guide, we will cover the essential aspects of successful rebranding strategy and execution, including:

• Brand vs. Branding vs. Brand Strategy
• Creative Processes
• Marketing Strategies
• Website Management
• Successful Trends
• Avoiding Common Pitfalls
• Budget Forecasting
• Scalability
• Branding Guidelines
• The Importance of Choosing an Agency
• Case Studies

Brand vs. Branding vs. Brand Strategy

What sets your brand apart and tells your story?

Before we dive into the ins and outs of the rebranding process, it’s important to understand what the differences are between a few things. Let’s take a look at the often confused concepts of brand, branding, and brand strategy, what differentiates each of them, and what role they play in the rebranding process.

Brand

A brand is much more than the definitions you’ll find in the top search results of Google. It’s not just a mark or a logo or a name. Branding is everything a business, organization, or entity does.

Your website experience is your brand. How your receptionist answers your phone is your brand. The condition of your bathroom is your brand. A brand is the thread that runs through every piece of your business. This is why a brand is so important.

If you want someone to know what you stand for, it should be displayed in everything you do, spoken or unspoken, written or unwritten, explicit or implicit. We love it when we see a 100% effort to get brand right, and we’re over the moon when clients get it.

Branding

This one is a little more cut and dry. Branding is all the ownable, identifiable marks that make an organization stand out in the product landscape.

Good branding has the ability to bring a brand name to mind even when the name isn’t present. It’s a look, a tone, and a feel, and even a sound—everything that is uniquely your brand. For example, that sound when your Macbook starts up? Branding. The way the Apple lights up on the lid? Branding.

You’ve probably got this one down. Let’s move on.

Brand Strategy

Brand strategy uses the above points and creates a framework that lays out the who, what, when, where, how, and why of your organization’s communication of its identity.

Just as it is with a communication strategy or social strategy, brand strategy is the roadmap that allows you, your employees, and your partners to build equity in the way you want it to be built. It’s an absolutely critical piece of building something meaningful and for the long haul.

Creative Processes

Discover. Plan. Build. Launch.

Every brand has a unique story to tell. Your story drives every marketing and creative move for a strong brand and digital strategy. Your story should build your brand from the ground up. For that to happen, there needs to be strong creative processes in place to translate your brand’s story into tangible branding.

For a more customized approach, Jacob Tyler will hand select a team of experts and trusted partners for additional support throughout the process including digital search engine marketing and back-end technical support for a complete and focused campaign strategy.

Our Process

Identify Challenges

We start by exploring the primary challenges for your business or industry. This is key for us to understand where we need to go with the remainder of our process. Only by understanding what challenges your brand faces can we see where our destination lies.

With challenges identified, we can then develop cutting-edge solutions through a strategic process where we will discover, plan, build, and launch a custom-tailored brand experience to grow your business.

Discover

This is the most important stage of our rebranding process here at Jacob Tyler. The most important part of our relationship with a new client is getting to know them. We often tell clients we will never know their business as much as they do, but the closer we get, the better our creative will be. Furthermore, we will be able to deliver creative more efficiently and effectively.

Our research isn’t just academic either. We take the time to get to know our clients and their business in person. We don’t just want to know facts or tidbits about what they do. We want to know how their business feels, and we aren’t afraid to roll up our sleeves and get our hands dirty to do so. Sometimes literally!

Plan

Every client strategy is custom and the plan is developed: first, based on the specific target market and, second, by the budget. We choose what we feel the most effective strategy will be and then go from there down the line based on the client budget.

Build

With our strategy approved and budgets in line, we bring our cross-departmental team together to kick off the build process. At the ground level, we create a timeline that lays out expectations for progress and when our client can expect deliverables that need approval leading all the way up to launch. Our strategists, creatives, and account executives then get to work with our developers, social media team and digital media team to start the rebranding process as it relates to each form of media.

Launch

As we reach the end of the build stage, our clients have provided comprehensive feedback and we’ve agreed upon our strategy, creative assets, campaigns, as well as key performance indicators and benchmarks for reporting. The launch date we laid out in our timeline marks the official launch of the rebrand. But the work isn’t done when we press “go.” In fact, it’s really just beginning!

Upon launch, we test everything that can be tested to make sure it’s working properly. Whether that’s a website, an interactive trade show booth, digital display ads, social media campaigns or something else entirely, we triple check to make sure every single thing is built properly, working as we promised, and in a way that delivers results for our clients. This process can take anywhere from hours to a couple of weeks depending on the size and scope of the rebranding project.

Solution

After launch, the work is not over, however. We still need to be sure the project is truly a solution to the challenge we set out to solve. To do that, we find the best metrics to gauge the success of the project, not only right now at the client’s current scale but in the future as the client grows as well.

Once we have tested our creative and solutions, we modify until we hit the right conversion, Cost Per Lead (CPL) and Cost Per Acquisition (CPA) for the specific project. Experimenting and adjusting post-launch until you have the answer is essential. No rebranding project should be assessed with the same metrics you have used before just because they worked on previous projects. You need to find the right one for the individual brand and project. Just as every brand is unique, so is every project.

This adaptability needs to continue as your company grows, as well. Continuing to find new solutions as your company grows is key. Ideally, your rebranding project will foster continued company growth, and your solutions and metrics used to gauge success might need to adapt and grow along with it.

Marketing Strategies

Developing successful brands by creating detailed and impactful solutions that reflect the visual soul of your business.

A successful rebrand does not look the same for every company or project. Depending on your specific industry, client base, size, goals, or countless other factors, there are a wide variety of marketing strategies that might be important for you to be truly successful. That is why it is important to understand the entire spectrum of marketing strategies and how they play into your rebranding efforts.

At Jacob Tyler, we categorize these strategies into a few distinct categories: Insight & Research, Visual Communications, User Experience, and Design & Development. Let’s take a look at these categories, how they play into your rebranding efforts and the specific strategies that make up each category.

Insight & Research

Successful rebranding requires thoughtful, disciplined, and creative strategies to move them forward. Our extensive analytical and strategic methodologies provide a strong foundation to build a unique brand experience that will drive results for your business.

Insight & Research Services:

• Brand Architecture
• Brand Standards Guide
• Focus Groups
• Positioning
• Brand Audit
• Brand Tone + Voice
• Messaging
• Style Guide Design
• Brand + Product Naming
• Competitive Analysis
• Market Research
• Technical Audit

Visual Communications

Visual communication is paramount to your brand’s success. Be it logos, signage, packaging or digital displays, We craft eye-catching designs across all mediums that engage, excite and ensure your brand’s message is communicated with a single glance.

planck before and after logo by jacob tyler[/caption]

Visual Communications Services:

• Logos + Corporate
• Identity
• Environmental Graphics
• Packaging Systems
• Marketing Campaigns
• Printed Collateral
• Tradeshow Booths
• Annual Reports
• Outdoor Advertising
• Advertising Campaigns
• Direct Marketing
• Media Planning
• Content Writing + Editing
• Photography Direction
• Public Relations Services

User Experience

Technology is constantly evolving, and your brand must evolve with it to remain successful. We ensure that your brand anticipates what’s next and remains relevant. We monitor your digital presence and implement a flawless user experience that increases engagement with every click, tap or swipe.

User Experience Services:

• Wireframes
• User Interface
• Site Architecture
• User Flows
• User Testing
• Statistics Analytics
• Prototyping
• Customer Journey
• Information Architecture
• Content Strategy

Design & Development

With a mobile-first mentality for the front-end and a flawless CMS on the back-end, our award-winning websites put our customers first. We create intuitive, simple, and engaging experiences for all users, on any screen size—and from any device.

Design & Development Services:

• Web Design
• Online Marketing
• Email Marketing
• SEO
• Responsive Development
• CMS
• Online Advertising
• eCommerce
• Mobile Apps
• Video Direction

Website Management

Stay true to your brand’s story.

The website is quite often a consumer’s (or business’s) first impression of your brand. This is where you have 3 seconds to pull the visitor in with an effective message or brand story. It is a make it or break it moment in many ways because if a user leaves, a very small percent ever return. Thus, it ends up in a loss of sales and brand equity.

Successful Trends

Harnessing trends that are sound and the right direction for our clients.

Harnessing trends can be monumental toward effectively rebranding your company. But how do you know which trends are worth jumping on and which ones are just a flash in the pan? Even once you’re sure a trend is a successful one, how do you use it to your advantage without the whole thing seeming forced?

In Touch With the Right Trends

These are questions that brands will likely struggle with for the rest of time, especially in our world where social media is ubiquitous and more and more importance is placed on how viral something is or what’s trending right in that moment.

However, not all trends are worth the effort, and this is something especially vital for brands undergoing the rebranding process. After all, few things can instantly make a brand seem more out of touch than unsuccessfully trying to jump onto a current trend.

There’s nothing less cool than obviously trying to look cool. Even worse, if you’re not careful this can even lead to serious PR headaches if you’re too eager to ride a trend without fully understanding the full context.

Flexible and Ready To Pivot

That said, successfully harnessing the right trends and technology for your brand and message can be a gamechanger for your rebrand. We are constantly keeping our eyes open and our ears to the ground to identify when it’s time to shift and try something new, and when it’s better to wait and see or hold off entirely. This flexibility combined with our team’s vast experience and expertise makes us the perfect partner.

Avoiding Common Pitfalls

Experience makes all the difference.

Communication is Key.

The biggest common pitfall lies in communication with any agency. This is both external and internal. We use a collaborative project management software tool that helps us maintain great communication with our clients globally and keeps a record of conversations. We are painstakingly over communicative and that always creates better experiences.

Attention to Detail From Top to Bottom

The second biggest pitfall is that the big agencies have the Creative Director go to meetings (usually with 15+ years experience) to engage and close contracts. After the deal is signed, the project is handed off to juniors to work on the project. This is a great way to get the most profit, but also a recipe for disaster. We can tell you from experience– which is why we don’t do it.

Keeping Everyone on the Same Page

Here at Jacob Tyler, we have learned from our experiences and mistakes, and use that knowledge to avoid these common pitfalls that brands and agencies fall into during the rebranding process. Simply put, if you want to successfully rebrand, there needs to be great communication and attention to detail from the very top all the way down—between people within your company, at the agency you have hired, and the two sides working together. Everyone needs to be on the same page.

Budget Forecasting

Doing whatever it takes to make sure the client has a great experience and make a return on their investment.

We will do whatever it takes to make sure the client has a great experience and make a return on their investment with us. We aren’t designing for designers or to get awards, but we are designing for the business. Our creative has to work.

Our client’s success is always the number one priority. This attitude drives us to find the right strategy for the client’s budget. We leave our egos at home and, instead, find the right solution. It doesn’t have to be flashy, it just has to be correct.

Scalability

Always looking toward the future in order to build the right campaign—one that is solid, engaging, and will stand the test of time.

Everything we do from a marketing and creative execution standpoint always start with us thinking of scale. We spend a lot of time thinking about the future in order to build the right campaign. We don’t just want your rebranding efforts to be successful right now; we want them to be successful for years to come. As your company grows, we want our efforts to grow along with you.

By the same token, we don’t want anything we do to feel dated after just a couple years, and neither should you. This is why we don’t chase concepts that are trendy just for the sake of doing so. We look at concepts that have stood the test of time and apply them to everything we do. We want to help you rebrand in a way that works today, next year, five years from now, and beyond.

Branding Guidelines

Consistent and Unique.

Successfully rebranding a company does not only require high-level creative product across multiple processes. It also requires a strategy and a set of cohesive principles. This is where branding guidelines come into play. The right branding guidelines are fundamental not only for rebranding, but for all future brand growth, scalability, marketing strategy, and brand success as well!

The best brand guidelines go beyond a simple set of rules. They are more than color palettes or font choice. They are integral building blocks to a brand’s very identity. They create a full brand experience that customers, clients, and the public at large engage with before, during, and after their direct interaction with the company itself.

Case Studies

We win as a team or we don’t win at all.

Here at Jacob Tyler, we are incredibly proud of the work we do helping our clients successfully rebrand, and we aren’t afraid to show it off. After all, we can talk about our work all we want, but we think it’s better to just let it speak for itself.

San Diego YMCA | Invigorating an Online Community

See the full case study.

How Rebranding Can Improve ROI | A Case Study

“When we were chosen to redesign the San Diego YMCA online, we were thrilled for such an amazing and important opportunity. The San Diego County YMCA needed an efficient way to engage its growing and increasingly diverse audience – including online purchasing. We answered the call, building an intuitive cyber experience and eCommerce presence for the YMCA’s 17 San Diego County locations.”

Open for Business

Launching an online store is exciting. Launching 17 online stores simultaneously is downright thrilling. We pulled it off, and the results were eye-opening with online sales doubling almost immediately.

Design Without Boundaries

In the digital age, engaging with customers requires being where – and when – they are. Our device-agnostic design created a seamless online experience across all devices from mobile to desktop that made it simple for the YMCA to stay connected to its members 24/7.

CarnoSyn

See the full case study.

Bigger, Faster, Stronger

CarnoSyn®, a patented beta-alanine supplement that helps athletes reach peak performance, has been a crucial ingredient in sports nutrition formulas for years – but it had never been marketed as a product. The brand’s parent company NAI tapped Jacob Tyler to introduce CarnoSyn® to the world.

Digital Approach

Jacob Tyler serves as an integrated design and marketing partner, working closely with the CarnoSyn® team. Together, we produced multiple digital campaigns that included website landing pages, message development, video production, media buying strategies, and a robust social media campaign. Each campaign was focused on educating the fitness enthusiast and athlete audience on the benefits, uses and proper dosing of CarnoSyn®, and generating leads for retailers that sell the product as part of their sports nutrition formulas. The campaigns were wildly successful, making CarnoSyn® a known name in the fitness world.

Lead Generation

We created landing pages optimized to generate leads and position CarnoSyn® as a leader in the industry.

Advertising and Social Media

With Jacob Tyler’s social, mobile, and web advertising, the initial campaign generated over 39,000,000 ad impressions with an average Click-through rate above 0.60% and an average cost per click of $.19 in phase one. Two more campaigns are currently in motion.

The Gains

71%

Increased average website visits per day from 90 to 2,200 visits per day with 71% of traffic being first-time visits to CarnoSyn.com.

32%

Generated over 1,280,000 video views of educational content with an average View Through Rate of 32% (Average TrueView VTR are between 5% to 10%).

50%

Improved View through rate of TrueView to 50%+ which lowered Cost per View down to an average between $.03 -$.04.

The Importance of Choosing an Agency

We don’t just want to be your agency. We want to be part of your team.

Before going through the rebranding process, one of the most important steps you need to take is choosing an agency to partner with. This is vital to the process for a variety of reasons. Choosing the right agency to partner with is a relationship that not only steers the entire rebranding process, for better or worse, but can make all the difference between success or frustration.

This is not a place where you want to make a bad choice of trusting the wrong person. It would be similar to building a house without a floor plan.

The agency should be experienced. Not just in the specific business vertical, but in general. Everyone at Jacob Tyler, from full-time employees, to freelancers, and vendors, have 10+ years of experience as a requirement. This ensures not only the best strategic thinking for our clients but also a great experience.

Listen, we’re proud of our work at Jacob Tyler, and we aren’t afraid to say so. We understand, though, that compliments mean more when they come from someone else. Fortunately, we have a track record to back up what we have to say about our work!

Clutch, a leading platform for unbiased reviews of B2B service providers, lists Jacob Tyler not only as one of the top branding agencies in San Diego, but among the best branding agencies in the nation as well! We take this as a huge honor and are proud to be included on this list by Clutch, especially considering the process they use.

So don’t just take it from us. Here’s what people we have worked with have to say about their experience partnering with Jacob Tyler for their rebranding efforts.

We promise we didn’t just cherry-pick the reviews we wanted you to see. We invite you to go take a look at the rest of them over on our Clutch profile and see what our clients think of our work for yourself.