How To Avoid Botching a Rebrand of Your Bail Agency

• January 24, 2014
• by Courtney Gordner

Editor's note: This article was written by an industry professional and guest contributor. The views and opinions in this article are of the author and do not reflect the views of AboutBail. If you are interested in becoming a guest contributor, send an email to [email protected].

As much as we’d all love it to be so, brands and businesses cannot stay the same forever. The world is constantly evolving as are consumers and their interests. Sometimes no matter how hard you’ve worked to bolster a reputation, it just doesn’t cut it anymore. At times like these it’s important that you rebrand to provide a fresh experience to both consumers and your business in general.

However, rebranding a business is a very nerve-wracking project; changing the familiar to the unknown can be very scary. What’s more, you don’t want to botch the job entirely and sink your brand further into the hole. Take Miley Cyrus for example, the once beloved Disney actress and star who captivated millions of young fans with her shows and family-oriented image. Although she may now be receiving a lot of attention for her questionable actions, it’s going to cause considerable harm in the long-run. Even worse, a future rebrand is unlikely to right all of her wrongs.

While it’s difficult to believe that a botched rebrand for various businesses could go as bad as the Cyrus route, it’s not hard to believe that they can harm you. So, how do you go about rebranding your bail bond agency properly? What are some things you should keep in mind so that you don’t botch the job?

Rebranding Your Agency the Right Way

Rebranding is about change in every sense of the word. If you are truly going to rebrand your bail agency, you will need to roll out a complete change in operation and focus. Don’t make the attempt sloppy by maintaining old policies and strategies just because they still work. If you’re going to make the move, you need to invest proper resources into the rebrand, including dropping everything from the past.

Does that mean you should be reckless? Not at all. It just means you should completely devote yourself, your management team and your employees to the rebrand. Everyone at your agency should be focused and ready for the change.

Draw Up a Mission

What is your ultimate goal? What were your goals in the past and how have they worked out for your agency? Put together a situation analysis report and figure out why you need to rebrand in the first place. Is it because of sagging bail leads? Is your current branding just not working out? Are you finding it difficult to find new cases?

Look at all of these elements and draw up a mission for your upcoming rebrand. You want to strategize every move, and piece them together like a puzzle. Most importantly, once you set the change in motion stick to your mission. If there’s a negative impact it’s important to alter the course accordingly, but don’t put an end to the change altogether: doing so would have an even greater negative impact on your agency.

Communication Is Key

During your planning phase, don’t just rely on your own knowledge and experience to come up with something. Talk to employees, customers, management, business partners and whoever can give you valuable insight. You can even talk to the competition if you have a decent relationship with them.

For example, find out from customers what they dislike most about your agency. Ask business partners how difficult it is to handle business with your company. Employees can even help pinpoint company practices and policies that just don’t work.

In other words, you can’t just dive blindly into the fray. Don’t be afraid to get help where necessary, but make sure you also use communication to understand problems or powerful points of impact that might exist.

Understand Your Market and Audience

Businesses often change focus on their customer base during a rebrand. For instance, a company might shift focus to entice younger consumers to purchase their products, especially when their current audience is predominantly middle-aged or older. It is okay to go after a new audience during a rebrand, but make sure you understand your current customers’ wants and needs.

Assess your entire audience and figure out a rebranding strategy that can work for both old and new. This is important to a bail bond agency because your audience will always vary as people of all ages have problems with the law.

Explain Your Rebrand

All too often a business rebrands entirely and leaves consumers wondering what happened. Even if some of your customers will never agree with your rebrand, make sure they understand why it was necessary. Make sure you are open about your rebrand, and why you have decided to implement it. On top of everything else, make sure you use it effectively when the changes start happening.

About the Author:

Courtney Gordner is a journalist/blogger who has a passion for Internet marketing. Courtney love giving marketing advice to all companies, specifically bail agencies and lawyers like Motorcycle Attorneys.

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