20-Phase Manual for Digital Business Rebranding

A corporate rebrand is an exciting project, and its success depends on the skills of numerous departments collaborating. Rebranding demands meticulous preparation and execution, especially when it comes to the digital realm.

The way that consumers, partners, potential employees, and other stakeholders find and perceive your business is greatly influenced by its online presence. How can an organization make sure the changeover to the new brand is smooth from the standpoint of its digital reputation?

It’s crucial, but insufficient, that search engines can quickly discover your new website and that links from social media platforms take users to the appropriate content. To maintain recognition, followership, and reputational mileage while maintaining your developing brand, it must be defined and optimized as an entity.

These 20 crucial action items are what you should think about when rebranding your business to guarantee a seamless transition and to preserve and improve your growing digital reputation:

Labeling and Headings

Pick an online-friendly name:

Examine the availability of related domain names and social media handles when choosing a new name for your business. Think about how your new name may affect search engine rankings. Will it be mistaken with other names that sound similar?

Modify The Name of Your Brand on Company Profiles:

Determine which key business profiles—such as those on Bloomberg, Crunchbase, and LinkedIn—have your company listed. To match your new brand identity, update your company name, logo, and description on all of these networks. Ensure that all information is accurate and consistent to avoid confusion among stakeholders.

Make Sure Your Brand Name is Up To Date on Social Media:

Get new social media handles that correspond with your new name, and make sure that all of your channel titles, profiles, and images are updated. To guarantee a smooth transition, let your followers know about the change and give them your new handles. You might need to go through a formal procedure to edit your page on other platforms, like LinkedIn.

Update Your Wikipedia Page:

If your firm has a Wikipedia article, make an editor account and use it to submit a change request through the “Talk Page” linked to the Wikipedia page for your business. Add outside sources that provide information about the name change. Note that pages of executives associated to your company may also need to be modified.

Modify Your Profile on Wikidata:

Make sure that all linked properties and identifiers accurately reflect your rebranded identity and update your company’s Wikidata entry with your new company or brand name. To keep your former and current identities connected, include a “also known as” or “alias” entry for your former name.

Update Executive Social Media Profiles:

Urge important executives to add your new company name and description to their LinkedIn and other pertinent profiles. You may want executives to also publish content linked to the branding to enhance the message and demonstrate their support for the new approach.

For Consistency, Use The Previous Name:

Consider using “(formerly [Old Name])” in your company descriptions for the time after the rebrand to help bridge the gap between your old and new brand identities. To give your audience context and coherence, use this phrase on your business profiles, press releases, and website.

Interactions

Share The Update On The Internet:

Ensure that the announcement of your rebranding is viewed online. For instance, to ensure that everyone can discover your page or video introducing your business, logo, etc., make sure it is optimized for both the old and new names.

Let Email Subscribers Know:

Notify everyone of the change and provide an explanation in a dedicated email. Assure your subscribers that their business dealings with you will remain unaffected, and emphasize any advantages or enhancements that result from the rebranding. This correspondence fosters confidence among your email recipients and provides them with a chance to confirm that emails from your new domain are not mistakenly reported as spam.

Web

Convert your website so that Google may access it fully:

Ensure that Google is not blocked in your robots.txt file. Make sure your new site covers every topic that was covered in the old site to ensure a seamless transfer to your new domain. Notify Google of the address change through Google Search Console to reduce any potential negative influence on your search rankings.

Change out outdated website pages with new ones:

To make sure that users and search engines are redirected to the appropriate information, set up 301 redirects from the old URLs to the relevant new ones. This procedure lowers the possibility of broken links or lost traffic while assisting you in maintaining your link equity.

Revise metadata and content:

Examine everything that is already on your website, making sure that any references to your previous brand name are updated to reflect your new identity. Blog entries, product descriptions, case studies, and other marketing materials fall under this category. Include your new brand name and pertinent keywords in the title, meta, and header tags of your website’s optimization.

Make a branded knowledge panel update:

Prior to the rebranding, claim the knowledge panel. Make sure that your new name, logo, and description appear in Google’s knowledge panel. When names change, make sure the social media icons still lead to the updated names. Update the information, check the panel for accuracy, and provide any necessary edit suggestions.

Refresh the knowledge panel locally:

If your firm has a physical location, make sure local citations on directories and review sites accurately represent your new identity. You should also update your Google Business Profile with your new company name. Maintaining uniformity over all local touchpoints improves your online presence and reputation in local search results.

Request that your company’s name and links be updated on external websites:

Find valuable websites that reference your former brand name. Get in touch to ask for an update regarding your new name. Sites should be ranked according to their authority, relevancy, and link worth to your company.

Revise creative and advertising campaigns:

Examine the current advertising campaigns running on several platforms (such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and Google Ads). In order to prevent misunderstanding, update them to match your new brand name and messaging. You should also suspend or modify any campaigns that prominently display your previous brand. Create fresh advertising collateral that highlights your value proposition and renamed identity, including as copy, photos, and videos.

Use the previous name in Google Ads to draw in searchers:

Create a branded search campaign in Google Ads to redirect search traffic associated with your previous brand name to your renamed website. Place a bid on terms associated with your former business name and utilize the ad wording to let search engines know about your new website and name. Send clicks from this link to a page that explains the change or to a landing page specifically for the rebranding.

Following and Observing

Monitor the former and current names of your business:

Create notifications for your previous name to find any remaining online mentions. Examine how search traffic changed from your previous name to your new one using resources such as Google Trends, SEMrush, or Five Blocks IMPACTTM. You may use this information to assess the success of your rebranding initiatives and pinpoint any areas that might need more focus.

Keep an eye on Google Analytics and Search Console:

Track impressions and clicks for branded searches pertaining to your previous and current names by using Google Analytics. Track referral traffic from links that use both names to determine how well your rebranding is working. You may monitor the effectiveness of your rebranded website and examine the change in the volume of branded searches with the aid of Google Analytics.

Keep an eye out for fresh sentiment and brand mentions:

To keep track of any new mentions of your modified brand name on the internet and in social media, set up alerts using a program like Google Alerts. Keep an eye on the reaction to your rebrand so you can take appropriate action. Interact with compliments to strengthen your recently established brand.

In Summary

Rebranding your business necessitates a thorough strategy for your online presence that takes into account all of the different digital touchpoints and how they affect your reputation. You may successfully negotiate the tactical challenges of rebranding from the standpoint of your digital reputation by using this approach, and you’ll come out on top with a powerful, unified online presence. To ensure a successful rebrand, consistency, communication, and attention to detail are essential. Your newly renamed business will be well-positioned to prosper in the digital sphere with proper strategy and execution.