Over the years, the Channel team has had its fair share of rebranding projects for a variety of clients and categories. While Channel has discussed the components that go into timing a company rebrand, the process varies based on the industry and company structure. Today, we’ll look at rebranding credit unions, banks, and financial institutions.
When is it time to Rebrand?
At a certain point in a financial institution’s life cycle, the thought of rebranding creeps up and lingers. The timing of a rebrand depends on the institution’s individual image and identity, as well as recent business strategies.
To aid in the timing of the rebrand, ask yourself the following questions:
- Have you lost a competitive edge?
- Have you outgrown your identity/brand?
- Has there been, or is there going to be, a merger or expansion?
- Is your brand messaging consistent across the board?
- Do you have business offerings that are new and unique to the marketplace?
The Process of Rebranding
With the rebranding decision made, the next step is to conduct a deep dive to evaluate your institution’s current brand. We won’t go into the specifics right now, but you can find one of our abbreviated articles here or our free-to-access eBook that fully discusses this process here.
What are the Goals of Your Rebrand?
Rebranding a financial institution can be an effective way to improve business practices and satisfy strategic goals. As younger generations continue to “age into” the financial world, rebranding to better target and serve the new target audience is a common practice.
Along with a new target audience, rebranding can benefit your business in many ways.
- Differentiation: A rebranding effort can help you differentiate yourself from competitors, especially if the organization has had a negative reputation or image in the past. Have you revamped or developed new product offerings or services that set you apart from the competition? If so, be prepared to tell the world. Differentiating yourself can be important in building trust and loyalty among prospective customers.
- Focus: Rebranding can provide a clear focus and direction, helping to align business practices with brand identity. This can improve operational efficiency, customer satisfaction, and overall business performance.
- Modernization: Rebranding can help modernize your image and convey a sense of innovation and relevance to customers. This can be particularly important in an industry where technology and consumer preferences are rapidly changing.
- Communication: A rebranding effort can be valuable to communicate important messages to customers and stakeholders, such as product enhancements, changes in product offerings, or updated values or mission statements, helping build a sense of transparency and trust with customers.
Overall
Rebranding can be an effective way to reenergize your business, improve business practices, and achieve strategic goals. However, it is important to carefully plan and execute a rebranding effort to ensure it aligns with your organization’s goals and values, as well as how it resonates with your target audience.
Channel Communications has deep experience in creating meaningful, unique, and successful campaigns for organizations and enterprises across a wide variety of industries. Interested in seeing our work? Visit our website at www.channel-com.com to learn more, or call President Cory Farrugia at 410-296-0697.
