How do you deal with potential conflicts or trade-offs between your existing and new brand elements?

1 Assess your brand performance

Before you decide to change any of your brand elements, you need to evaluate how well your current brand is performing in terms of awareness, recognition, associations, preferences, and advocacy. You can use various tools and methods, such as surveys, focus groups, audits, or analytics, to measure these aspects and identify your brand strengths and weaknesses. This will help you determine whether you need a minor tweak, a major overhaul, or a complete rebranding, and what aspects of your brand need more attention and improvement.

2 Align your brand elements with your brand strategy

Changing your brand elements is not just a cosmetic or aesthetic decision, but a strategic one that should align with your brand vision, mission, values, positioning, and personality. You need to have a clear and consistent brand strategy that guides your choices and actions regarding your brand elements. You need to ask yourself how your new brand elements will communicate your brand promise, differentiate your brand from competitors, and connect with your target audience. You also need to consider how your new brand elements will fit with your existing products, services, channels, and markets, and whether they will create any confusion or inconsistency.

3 Involve your stakeholders in the process

Your brand elements are not only important for you, but also for your stakeholders, such as your customers, employees, partners, and investors. They have a stake in your brand identity, equity, and loyalty, and they may have different opinions, expectations, and emotions about your brand elements. Therefore, you need to involve them in the process of changing your brand elements, and seek their feedback, input, and support. You can use various ways to engage them, such as surveys, interviews, workshops, co-creation sessions, or social media campaigns. By involving your stakeholders, you can reduce the risk of alienating or losing them, and increase the chances of gaining their trust and acceptance.

4 Test your new brand elements before launching them

One of the biggest mistakes you can make when changing your brand elements is to launch them without testing them first. Testing your new brand elements will help you validate your assumptions, identify any potential issues or problems, and measure the impact and effectiveness of your changes. You can use various methods to test your new brand elements, such as prototypes, mock-ups, simulations, or experiments. You can also test them with different segments of your target audience, such as existing customers, new customers, loyal customers, or dissatisfied customers. By testing your new brand elements, you can avoid costly and embarrassing failures, and make informed and confident decisions.

5 Communicate your changes clearly and transparently

Once you have decided to change your brand elements, you need to communicate your changes clearly and transparently to your stakeholders. You need to explain the reasons, benefits, and goals of your changes, and how they will affect your brand identity, equity, and loyalty. You also need to use various channels and platforms, such as your website, social media, email, press releases, or events, to communicate your changes and reach your stakeholders effectively. By communicating your changes clearly and transparently, you can avoid confusion, misunderstanding, or resistance, and create excitement, curiosity, or interest.

6 Monitor and evaluate your changes after launching them

Changing your brand elements is not a one-time event, but a continuous process that requires monitoring and evaluation after launching them. You need to track and measure the results and outcomes of your changes, and compare them with your objectives and expectations. You also need to collect and analyze the feedback and reactions of your stakeholders, and identify any positive or negative effects or implications. By monitoring and evaluating your changes, you can assess the success and impact of your changes, and make any necessary adjustments or improvements.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?