Planning on relaunching your newly rebranded website? There’s probably a ton of things that you’ve already worked on to ensure that your brand refresh goes off without a hitch. However, there are a few small important details that you may miss. Here are some things that you should be aware of as you get into launching your newly branded website.
1. Audit your website extensively. Make sure you fix all the errors, set up 301 redirects, remove the old components of your brand/website, and ensure everything is consistent with the new brand refresh. You should have a small group of people audit your website before your launch to work out all the little kinks.
2. Let your audience know it’s still you. Launching your new brand and website is not a smooth transition so let your customers know why you changed your image and what you stand for now. Don’t assume that your audience will think of it just a new web design. They might get the impression that your company was sold or that you’re changing how you do business with them. Reassure your audience and let them know what they should know about the changes.
3. Make the update on all platforms and channels. You want your brand to be consistent. It will look weird if your Twitter page contains your old web design elements while your website has a completely different design. This means that all your designs, logo, color schemes, etc. will need to be created in different variations to fit all your platforms and channels. You want to make the transition as smooth as possible and not confuse your audience.
4. Put a lot of effort into the content. If your content was subpar, then you will need to come up with great content to accommodate your new brand and new site. People will notice that all you did differently was change the appearance. That’s pretty much the same thing is dressing up a steak differently and calling it something else. You want to do more than show the new changes, you want to prove the new changes.
5. Focus on creating a small number of core pages and make them as remarkable as possible. It’s very unlikely that you’ll be able to go back and redo your content. Instead, create a small number of core pages that will contain the most important content. Make sure the designs, layout, organization and the actual content is as good as it can possibly be.
6. Create a new voice and tone for your new brand. Changing your brand will mean that you need to make some important decisions on how you communicate with your audience. Do you want to sound as an authoritative figure? Do you want to be friendly and personal? Part of making this decision will rely on you knowing who your target audience consists of and identifying what they’re looking for.
There are obviously many more little things that you will need to do. But these are the small details that are often overlooked when companies undergo a brand refresh. While the web design will be the most noticeable change, the other changes are just as important to address.