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This article was written by Alex Sixt, an Entrepreneur NEXT powered by Assemble expert. If you are looking to take the NEXT step in your business then we encourage you to check out Entrepreneur NEXT powered by Assemble.
When you’ve been in business long enough, you’ll reach a point where a re-brand is needed. New colors, new logo, new website, new … everything. A re-brand can be intimidating, especially if you’re trying to take it on internally.
Rebrands take time, and not just a few days or hours; a full rebrand of your business can take at two months if not longer. The visual aspect involving logos and brand identity can take four to six weeks to complete, and a website redesign can require up to five months. If that sounds like a lot of time away from your business, it is. However, that doesn’t mean you should scrap it entirely—you can still launch a successful rebrand and save yourself from the weeks of work by hiring an external brand expert.
Bringing in external help may seem overwhelming, but a brand expert can provide a lot of insight that you may not be able to provide from an internal perspective. A brand expert can run your rebrand and take the burden off your shoulders. Handing your project over to an expert will allow you to focus on other aspects of your business, and provide peace of mind that the creative work is being handled properly.
It can be tough handing over your branding to someone else, so here are some major benefits a brand expert can offer to you and your business.
An external perspective.
Many business owners have built their brand from the ground up, or at least are closely tied to its beginnings. As the creator of a brand, you know the ins and outs of every element to your business. While this is an amazing accomplishment, having such close ties to your brand can affect your ability to see the overall picture that a rebrand needs. By hiring a brand expert, you’ll gain a new perspective on your rebrand and bring some fresh ideas to the table.
It’s perfectly normal to feel deeply connected to the brand you’ve built- heck, it’s an incredible feat of entrepreneurship! However, hiring a brand expert will provide a surface-level assessment of the brand that is incredibly valuable. As an owner, there may be areas of improvement that only those outside of your business can see and revamp in your rebrand.
Forget the burden of branding.
Let’s face it: you’re a busy person. Between running a business and balancing your personal life, it already feels as if there’s not enough time in the day. Re-branding your business shouldn’t be another job added to your to-do list; this is where your brand expert comes in handy. A brand expert will take that tedious work off your hands and turn it into tangible, high-quality materials without you having to lift a finger.
The only obligations you should expect after hiring your brand expert are periodic meetings or phone calls to ensure the project is running smoothly. Otherwise, feel free to focus on tackling your to-do list, knowing that your project is receiving all the attention it deserves.
Related: 4 Ways to Know When It’s Time to Rebrand Your Business
Save money (yes, it’s true).
Time is money, right? Although you are the true expert on your business, branding a business is an entirely different field that can be costly when done wrong. A brand expert can help you save time and money by using their experience to create professional materials correctly the first time.
Mistakes are inevitable; this rings true for every field from accounting to operations. However, hiring a brand expert will ensure there are fewer errors in the process due to the extensive experience they possess. Set you and your brand expert up for success from the beginning by establishing your expectations and ideas for the re-brand. This will help to set a clear picture for the expert of what you’re expecting as the end product, minimizing the risk of any miscommunication that could cause going over budget.
Related: 8 Huge Mistakes Most Entrepreneurs Don’t Realize They’re Making
Build a base for your new brand.
Everyone loves the feeling when a consumer instantly recognizes their brand from an ad or other promotional materials. This is called brand awareness, and the goal of brand experts is to establish awareness and as a result, differentiate your brand from the competition. Defining your brand within its market requires an excellent social media presence, a well-designed website, and other branded materials, all of which your brand expert will create for you.
There’s no need to worry about consistently posting engaging content or triple-checking your spelling for errors anymore (does anyone really trust spell-check?). Your brand expert will take the time to carefully craft your content and build a schedule for social media posts. Providing relevant content is key to establishing your brand, so be sure to discuss content details with your brand expert beforehand to understand their planned strategy.
Related: 4 Tips for Launching a Successful Rebrand
Build relationships with customers.
You love your customers—and you want them to embrace your re-brand as much as possible. However, building a personal brand relationship with them isn’t a job you should feel pressured to take on. Feel free to ditch the Instagram guilt of forgetting to respond to comments and direct messages; this is now the job of your brand expert. They understand that the key to a successful rebrand is ensuring your customers feel their voice matters and that their support is appreciated.
Social media is an incredible tool for connecting with customers and hearing their comments or concerns. Your brand expert will help you to manage the stream of messages from customers and answer them in a timely manner, taking the burden of constantly trying to keep up off your shoulders.
Related: 5 Ways to Build Killer Relationships With Customers
How to hire your brand specialist.
To review, we’ve established that a brand expert is essential to a successful and stress-free rebrand. The next step is to hire a qualified expert and the good news is it’s not nearly as difficult as you’d think. Some business owners choose to find the perfect external match on their own by asking friends for a recommendation or by searching online. This can work well in some situations, but most times it ends in a tireless search that entails hours of interviews and possibly wasted time (the opposite of our goal, which is to save you time).
Another option is to work through a company or database that offers experts they’ve pre-vetted and guarantee to be successful. These companies will also typically take care of the contract and hiring details, simplifying the process even more for you. Yes, you heard me right: you can hire a brand expert, have someone else take care of the process, and start your project in no time- every business owner’s dream come true.
Related: 7 Things to Look for When Hiring Experts
With running a business, you’re already strapped for time so why stretch yourself even thinner by adding a re-brand to your list? Hiring an external brand expert can be the answer to building a new and improved business while also saving you ample time to focus on other tasks.
Now that you have the resources to know why and how to hire your brand expert, take the next step to level up your business, and achieve a successful re-brand.
