Rebranding is a tough decision. Whether your logo seems unappealing or you’re experiencing challenges with your current branding, the question of whether you need a rebrand is something you’ll face at some point.
Also, while rebranding your Software as a Service (SaaS) business can be quite beneficial in some situations, it’s not as easy as changing your logo or name—it requires a considerable investment of both resources and time. So, you’d want to make sure that your rebranding is worth it.
But how do you know it’s time for a rebrand? Watch out for these signs.
You Have A Different Offering
A rebrand is necessary if you’re thinking of providing new products, expanding solution use cases, or changing your offering. For instance, you started your SaaS business with one use case, say offering solutions for those in the home décor retail. Maybe you were really good at providing solutions for them and dedicated your marketing and branding efforts to tell the world about it. Plus, your brand visuals may be heavily tied to this offering.
However, you realized that you could use that same solution for the fashion retail industry and now want to explore that business opportunity as well. With a brand closely tied to home décor retail, it may be too difficult to market to the fashion industry.
In this case, you’ll need a rebrand so that your business is seen as a provider of more than one solution. In this case, you can start making adjustments to your branding and SaaS services to include those building a fashion brand as well.
Your Brand Look Is Outdated
If you’ve been in the SaaS business for decades and haven’t rebranded, then your brand might appear out of style or boring. What was totally appealing when you started your SaaS company may look out of place in today’s modern business world. After all, trends and designs change every year.
An outdated brand identity can be unappealing to potential buyers, pushing them to look for a more modern competitor. In this case, you don’t need to do a total overhaul of your branding. You may only need to update your brand aesthetics—changing your logo, tweaking the color palette, or maybe switching to more modern typography.
Fortunately, technology has made this easier. For instance, you can use a logo maker tool to help create a newer, more modern-looking logo for your SaaS company that will appeal to a broader audience.
You Can’t Differentiate Your Brand From Competitors
A successful brand should be memorable in visuals, name, and experience. After all, branding is all about standing out from your competitors. Otherwise, you’ll be swallowed up in the saturated SaaS market, where business growth can be challenging.
As such, if your brand feels, looks, or performs much like your competitors, a rebranding initiative should be ordered. Rebranding can help identify and redefine your key brand differentiators that help the customer understand why your business is superior to the competition.
You Need To Shed A Negative Image
Maybe your SaaS business drew some negative reviews from a certain demographic or has seen unwanted criticism or bad word of mouth in certain corners of the internet. Perhaps, your brand experienced security or compliance issues in the past.
While negative reviews or brand outlooks are temporary, if they already tarnished your reputation and became connected to your brand name, then it’s a sign that your SaaS business is due for a rebrand.
Rebranding allows you to dissociate your brand from these criticisms and breathe new life into your business to succeed. It helps you get rid of any link between the negative imagery and your business and regain control of how people see your company.
You’re Undergoing An Acquisition Or Merger
Another surefire sign you need to rebrand is if your SaaS company is undergoing an acquisition or merger. With an acquisition, you need to look at how the acquired brand fits into the concept of the acquiring entity. This helps prevent any confusion between the brands.
With a merger, on the other hand, you’d want to ensure optimal relationships among the newly merged products, brands, and services to prevent inconsistency, redundancy, and market cannibalization.
A coherent brand is essential to the performance of a newly merged or acquired company. As such, rebranding can help refocus and reshape the overall brand look and architecture for the lasting success of the entities involved.
Takeaway
Every strong brand has undergone a rebrand at some point. Rebranding your SaaS business at the right time can help breathe new life into your company, boost your marketing initiative, reconnect with lapsed clients, widen your reach, and help you create a stronger image for your business.
Thus, it’s best to carefully consider your every move and launch your rebranding initiatives at the right time—that is when you notice any of the signs mentioned above.