PPB September 2019

Step 1: Set A Launch Day Yep, start with the end. Once you’ve decided a rebrand or new brand launch is necessary for your business, start by deciding a date for your Launch Day. This date should be more than 60 days in the future, so you have time to get every single process and change lined up before flipping the switch on Launch Day. What is a good Launch Day for my company’s brand launch? Avoid holidays and weekends. Look at your website traffic analytics and determine what 48-hour period on your website includes the historic highest average traffic. Consider aligning your launch date with an event, conference or promotion to increase awareness and traffic on your brand launch for a faster brand shift. (We’ll discuss why this works in step six.) Step 2: Build A Schedule From your Launch Day, reverse-engineer all the steps you will need to take for a full and exhaustive brand launch. Identify all the areas where your brand is visible, and plan when and how you will update them. Your list should include every single small item, and might look something like this: (see Figure 1) . This list is just a sample; your list will be much longer, and the schedule will fill up for your marketing team for the two months prior to launch. Creating a schedule in advance is a great way to stay ahead of changes, cement your brand message well in advance of any implementation and give your team a comprehensive map of how to go about the brand launch. You might have some items that you add over time, which is to be expected. Step 3: Build A Transitional Brand The “transitional brand” is a great way to get your existing audience used to the new While you might not think there’s a story to be told behind a rebrand, there always is one. Learn it, humanize it and tell your audience about it. Figure 1. SAMPLE LAUNCH SCHEDULE Task Details # Days Out Update logo on website File size and format; update header/nav on website 0 Update all brand mentions on website Find all mentions of previous brand, replace with new brand name and review for syntax 0 Update Google Business Listing Login access to Google Business, update company name, brand/logo process change with Google to update listing 1 "New Look, Same Results" explainer page Copywrite, design & develop a new website interior page that explains/ acknowledges the brand change 4 Update digital presence & company profiles Update company name, logo, brand mentions & profiles for industry resource pages, partner sites, affiliated/referral sites, social media sites, etc. (note: logo format will differ per platform) 5 Email existing customers/prospects Write & schedule an email to be sent out to all customers and prospects, send it out on Launch Day 6 Design "transitional brand" Design logo than includes previous company name for use for the first 2-3 weeks after rebrand 15 | SEPTEMBER 2019 | 75 THINK