IS THERE EVER A GOOD TIME TO REBRAND?

Today I wanted to talk about a topic that many of you might be thinking about, or have certainly considered at some point. The reinventing of oneself, or one's brand. 

I had to go through the same phase back when I made the switch from Hawkins & Shepherd to Carl Thompson. My e-commerce shirt brand was and still is my baby, but I was developing into my own brand as a content creator. So what do I do? I thought? Do I start a new channel? 

It was quite easy in the end, just a simple switch over to my name on my social channels, everything else stayed the same. But sometimes, the name of the person isn't as big as the name of the brand and many people don't feel comfortable just having their name as the focus for the brand. 

My friend Peter Brooker recently made a switch over on his channel and here's what he had to say. 

'I wrote a book called From Tailors With Love, all about the clothes of James Bond. My blog, my social channels were all about the same topic. Which was great for promoting the book, but the moniker was very niche, and I felt it limited me in a lot of areas.  week I rebranded the channel, to THERE WILL BE BOND. Now I can talk about what I want on my podcast, my socials, so long as there is some James Bond thoughts peppered in there somewhere I.E There Will Be (some) Bond. 

I would have done it a year ago but I couldn't think of a decent name. My advice to anyone rebranding, is to not get hung up on the name. And think long term when you start out with a brand name as this will be your identity. 

5 years ago the whole fixation on launching a channel was to find a niche within a niche. That's fine for a short spell, but you don't see the likes of Joe Rogan JUST talking about MMA. Or Adam Carolla JUST talking about Cars. Their name is on the channel and they can talk about what they want without thinking about losing their audience if they go off topic. 

Some positives of rebranding, you can get very intimate with your audience. I've been messaging people personally making them aware of the switch, and sending them links to the podcast asking them to continue listening their if they like what they're hearing. Even being cheeky enough to ask for a review to give the show a bump as we're starting anew in many ways.'

Some other TIPS: 

• Don't be in a rush to wipe the slate clean and completely rename everything. Use your social channels to your advantage. Start by gradually introducing your audience to the upcoming changes. Share sneak peeks, behind-the-scenes looks at the rebranding process, and the story behind the change. 

• Keep it funny. I've been trying to inject a little humour into everything because although rebranding might be a big deal to you, it means nothing to most people. So don't be too consumed with how weighty this feels. Most people don't give a crap. 

• Clearly identify why you want to rebrand and what you hope to achieve. This will help guide your decision-making throughout the process. 

What's been easy, what's been tough

Pete Brooker also had some further thoughts on the rebranding process: 

EASY - changing Twitter and Instagram handles.

TOUGH - Facebook and YouTube not so much. YouTube is easier to change on the phone than the laptop. 

EASY - talking to your audience about the change. 

TOUGH - finding graphic designers that will do logos for free. Shelling out extra on further email addresses and domain names. 

EASY - Switching from Libsyn to Spotify. 

TOUGH - Losing listeners and followers that simply don't know or care about the switch. 

EASY - Making a YouTube video explaining why you changed the channel name. 

TOUGH - hearing that you're girlfriend preferred the other name. And also coming up with a better name, a week after you've rebranded. 

Conclusion

The title of this piece is , is there ever a good time to rebrand? I’ve learned that doing any big shift is probably best after any commercial time of year. For example, don’t change the name of your company in the lead up to Black Friday, or New Years sales. Look for a typically quiet time in your industry and announce it then. It will give you something to speak about when normally it’s very hard to create any new content.