How can you develop a brand strategy during a company's major change?

Always start by understanding where you are today: What pain is driving a desire for change? Or is there an unavoidable change from outside forces that requires you to respond? What kind of change needs to be made? What advantages do you have to leverage? These could be heritage, or a product advantage, a customer group that you serve (or could serve) better than anyone else, or something else. Appraise your situation honestly. What limitations or roadblocks stand in your way? Again, be honest with yourself, and take your competitors seriously. And, mission critical: What does a "win" look like when you get to the other side? You must define your win so you know when you have it, and can measure progress along the way.

Brand audits are such a great way to assess where the brand is at. The best thing you can do, is get an external person to assess the brand, because there are things we become "blind" to when we work with the brand day in and day out. I remember one strategy where my clients were completely bowled over by the gaps I had spotted... things that they hadn't picked up at all. We ended up using these insights as part of our brand strategy session... because such a thorough analysis had been conducted, plotting the steps needed to get where we wanted to go - were much easier!

As mentioned in my previous comment... once you know what the current landscape looks like, you need to spend time assessing where it is you want to go. What kind of brand do you want to build? What kind of customers are you wanting to attract? How will you serve them? What is your brand's essence? How will you position your USP? These foundational questions will help you paint a clear picture of the brand you'll need.

So there is one step missing here. Before you develop your brand story - you need to look at the brand you want to create + review it against the current landscape - so that you can pinpoint the gaps [and steps needed to get there]. Essentially, you need to pinpoint a clear strategy for the brand - to help you get where you want to go. Because, once you have done all that - you'll also then be able to assess what parts of the brand to keep, and what parts of the brand need to be tossed! Then yes, for sure - you can start building out the pieces of your brand... like the brand story and brand elements!

Once you have that brand essence + USP dialled in... this is where you look at your existing elements and say... are they communicating the correct message? So instead of just focusing on the "trendy" or "pretty" brand elements... ask yourself "is it aligned with my strategy + where I want to take my business". ALWAYS... come back to strategy!

Conduct market research to understand the competitive landscape, industry trends, and customer preferences. Identify opportunities and challenges that may arise during the major change. Communicate the changes to employees and involve them in the process. Employees are brand ambassadors, and their understanding and support are crucial during a major change.

There is a step missing in this process - take a look at my answer for step 3... because too many companies think that they need to embark in a complete re-invention... when it could have just been one or two elements that needed work.