After working hard to develop your personal brand, the public has finally started to see you as a trusted authority in your field.
You have successfully communicated your value to your audience, and now, they perceive you as the go-to expert who can help solve their problems.
But, what if you want to rebrand yourself now?
There are various reasons why you may consider rebranding yourself. It can be major changes in your career that may warrant a rebranding or subtle reasons to reinvent yourself.
In this guide, learn how to rebrand yourself properly to achieve your desired results.
Find out what it exactly means to reinvent yourself, what are the common reasons why personal brands do it, and if it is time for you to take the rebranding path.
What Does It Mean to Rebrand Yourself
Rebranding yourself means reinventing your personal brand. Here, you make a conscious effort to change how others see you.
When you rebrand, you focus on a new or different aspect of your business. You change how you market yourself, highlighting the strongest point you want people to associate with your name.
Just like in personal branding, you control the narrative so the public will see you in a new light.
Why You May Consider Rebranding Your Personal Brand
Successful personal brands may reinvent themselves to keep up with their evolving business.
For instance, a startup founder may have plans to introduce a new product or service to his audience.
Or maybe, an executive wants his brand to reflect another core skill or value that isn’t conveyed yet in his current branding.
Some may also do this to tap different audiences or to reach new customers.
Others may want to transition from one career to another, say, an entrepreneur who wants to shift to life coaching.
Less successful brands may also reinvent to differentiate themselves from the competition. This can be because they are not getting enough traction and they want to change your strategy.
Some may also rebrand to move on from negative issues they’ve been involved with.
How Do You Professionally Rebrand Yourself
Rebranding, when done right, can be a beneficial move for you.
Here, we’ll go through eight results-focused steps to reinvent your personal brand so you can ensure your efforts yield success.
In this action plan, we are basically revisiting the steps to building a strong personal brand. These steps will serve as our foundation to effectively reinvent your existing branding.
1. Redefine your goals
Like any well-thought plan, rebranding starts with goal-setting.
Where do you want to be with your rebranding efforts?
Focus on where you plan to go instead of where you’re currently standing.
Being clear with your destination helps you and your audience understand where your reinvented brand is heading.
For instance, you’re changing your job from an entrepreneur to a life coach.
If you want to be seen as a leader in life coaching, make sure to mention skills and experiences that qualify you as a life coach.
Focus your story there rather than your time as an entrepreneur.
2. Re-identify your value
Ask yourself what your new brand will be all about? How is it different from other brands?
Think about your new unique selling proposition and leverage this point of difference.
This is your strength as a brand that can position you in the best light.
Say, you’re in the digital marketing niche. You position yourself as an expert digital marketer, but the field is too broad that you decided to rebrand and shift your focus.
In this case, you could be a social media manager, SEO expert, or advertisement specialist.
The key is to find out where your strength lies in this niche.
Narrow down the field and determine what area of digital marketing you excel at.
You may be getting better results in running Facebook ads than the other two roles, so that can be your point of difference.
From an all-around digital marketer, you can rebrand yourself as a Facebook ads expert.
3. Reestablish your audience
As you shift your focus, your audience is likely to change. Don’t forget to define the people who will benefit the most from this rebranding.
To do this, determine the new problems your brand is going to solve. Take your time to understand the value you’re now bringing to the table.
Once you have an understanding of the solutions you provide, make a list of people who will gain the most from your brand. Research their needs, wants, and motivations.
Then, narrow down the list as much as possible. Identify your target audience that is most likely to pay for your service or care about your brand message.
4. Change your overall look
The next step is to update your overall look to reflect your reinvented brand. This includes your brand logo, colors, font, imagery, and voice.
It is crucial to do this if you’re not getting enough leads or sales.
A change in your brand style may be what you need to differentiate yourself from the competition.
When deciding on your brand style, make sure to research the competition. Determine the prevailing style in the field and try to deviate from it.
For instance, blue is widely used by personal brands as it represents authenticity and trustworthiness.
However, you may want to choose a different color as it is harder to stand out with blue.
5. Rewrite your brand statement
Aside from the overall look of your brand, make sure to craft a new personal brand statement, too.
A personal brand statement is 1-2 sentences that summarize what your brand is all about.
This step is important as brand statements are one of the first things people see when they visit your LinkedIn profile.
A compelling statement conveys your value as a brand. It is also directed to a specific audience while highlighting your unique selling proposition.
6. Develop your narrative
Once you have your new brand sorted out, it’s time to create your narrative.
This is tricky as you want people to understand why you’re rebranding. You don’t want them to think that you’re someone who does something without commitment.
When rebranding, you don’t create a new persona and just forget about your past experiences altogether.
You have to develop a narrative that ties your new brand to your old brand and then emphasize the transition.
For example, you’re shifting your focus from an all-around digital marketer to a personal branding consultant. You might say, “I used to cover every aspect of digital marketing, including social media and SEO.”
Then, you explain why you’re focusing on personal branding.
“I realized that digital marketing is an ever-shifting landscape.
The tactics that work for you today might not work the next day. But through the years, I discovered that personal branding is one of the few things that remain consistent throughout.”
By relating your past with your present, it puts a unique flavor to your brand.
7. Rebuild your online presence
Now, it’s time to put your reinvented brand to action.
Your goal for rebranding may be to change the public perception of you on social media.
The people in your circle may have always known you as an entrepreneur, and now, you want to be identified as a life coach.
Or you may have associated yourself with toxic individuals that have damaged your reputation in the past.
Don’t stress if some people have trouble seeing you in a new light. What’s important is that your intention to reinvent yourself is genuine.
Make a strategic move to re-educate your old followers–update your social media, send email blasts, make phone calls, and reach out to let them know about your rebranding.
Address negative perceptions if needed. However, don’t force them to instantly change how they see you. Successful rebranding takes time.
Rather than convincing those who already know you, focus on expanding your network to new audiences.
Broaden your reach and target people who never knew your previous brand.
8. Strengthen your rebrand with content
Since you’re claiming expertise in a new field, it’s appropriate to back it up with evidence.
Sharing valuable content allows you to prove your worth.
To win people’s trust, be sure to offer content with real value. This is where thought-leadership content such as blog posts, articles, eBooks, research papers, videos, and digital hubs come in handy.
When creating content for your new brand, always remember to inform, educate, and help your audience. Provide solutions to their problems, answer their questions, and add something new to the conversation.
This way, you can demonstrate your expertise and cement your name as an authority in the field.
Is It Time for You to Rebrand on Social Media?
The decision to reinvent yourself does not come easy and can be potentially harmful if done for all the wrong reasons.
If you’re thinking about rebranding yourself at this moment, ask yourself these:
- Have I been working on my personal brand for a long time now?
- Have I addressed negative issues related to my existing personal brand?
- Do I have something new to bring to the table?
If your answer to these questions is a resounding “No,” don’t rebrand just yet.
Don’t rebrand if you’re relatively brand new and feel like you’re not getting enough traction.
Successful personal branding takes time.
The same goes for brands that dealt with bad press, yet haven’t really acknowledged their errors or issued a sincere apology yet.
Rebranding isn’t also the answer if you have nothing new to offer.
Don’t rebrand if you don’t have the skills to switch to a new niche and claim expertise.
Only consider rebranding if:
- Your brand has expanded
- You’re shifting careers
- Your brand looks too generic
- You’ve been heavily scrutinized by the public
- You’re introducing a new partnership
If you want to be 100% sure about your move, you can always ask the expert opinion of a personal branding consultant.
