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It may be a cliche to claim that most tech companies emphasize product development over brand development. Still, the reality is that most of these companies were founded by developers or engineers - not marketers - so branding isn’t a core priority.
Remember Uber’s branding debacle in 2016? It was a case of misplaced priorities, and the media had a field day. Fortunately, Uber corrected the 2016 mistake with a 2018 rebrand. The point is that when tech companies lack a strategic branding effort, it can become a liability when they want to pivot through a technology rebranding.
Here are the most common challenges often encountered during a tech rebrand and how to overcome them.
Technology rebranding requires a proactive and well-calculated communication strategy. The reason is that employers may associate the rebranding effort with an increased workload and may resist the change. Customers may associate it with increased prices. CTOs leading the branding effort should consider two things:
The first thing to do is reassure your teams and customers that your company really needs the rebrand. Kelly Hyman, a major media commentator, says, “You first have to change the guts before updating the skin to match it.” “Make sure your team participates in the rebrand project to give every person a voice in the outcome.”
Susan McLennan, President of Reimagine PR, cautions that in the absence of transparency, sudden rebranding could leave your staff alienated and detached from the brand's revitalization.
Too often, tech companies embark on grandiose rebranding campaigns but flop when rolling it out across online platforms.
Inconsistent rebranding begets costly consequences. Confused messaging can upset customer loyalty, and chip away at your market share.
Technology is your greatest asset in achieving consistent rebranding across all touchpoints. Use a digital asset management (DAM) or centralized content management system to align all your digital assets to your brand guidelines. Automated approval processes and workflows can further sharpen the accuracy and efficiency of all branding materials.
During a tech rebranding, roles can get fuzzy, and quite often, there are so many cooks in the kitchen, especially when the project involves collaboration. When so many people have overlapping ideas and feel they can take on the same role, managing them and making tangible progress becomes challenging.
Leaders must ask for precise input from their team members to manage tech teams effectively during a tech rebrand. There should be no open call for open-ended suggestions.
Appoint trusted people with the authority to make the final call on all forwarded recommendations. This framework offers decision-makers the needed autonomy to keep the project rolling forward.
Early on, you need to set realistic expectations of what the rebranding campaign will yield and what even counts as success. While external recognition and media coverage may validate the brand’s new look and feel, satisfaction is only measurable through positive feedback from customers and employees.
There are plenty of rebranding KPIs to monitor and evaluate before and after rebranding—these range from website traffic to customer retention rate and net promoter score.
At every stage during rebranding, assess the effectiveness of the rebranding effort on stakeholder relationships and identify areas for improvement.
Implementing a tech rebrand takes a bold leap of faith that requires foresight, courage, and commitment. Applying the above strategies to overcome the challenges accompanying a tech rebrand will help your company thrive and keep pace with market trends.
