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Practice Management > Building Your Business

How to improve your practice online

By John Boudreau

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Rebranding is a lot more than just freshening up your website. It can and ought to be a central element in your business strategy.

With a well-communicated strategy and a clear vision, you can redirect the external face of your practice, making it more flexible, responsible, and profitable.

Do you need to rebrand?

If you’re wondering whether your practice needs a rebrand, ask yourself these questions:

  • Does my audience know what I do when they visit my website for the first time?
  • Can new employees get my company’s elevator pitch from the site?
  • Can the typical user get in touch with me immediately?
  • Has my practice changed its focus or direction? Is that communicated on the website?
  • Am I attempting to reach a new audience?
  • Is my company losing its relevance?
  • Do I need to respond to a negative public image or competitor?

A website rebranding may develop out of new internal initiatives or in response to external changes. The important thing is to clearly identify the reason for the change.

Every rebrand needs a reason

At Astonish, we decided to do a visual rebrand when we realized our company’s mission and vision — how we talked about ourselves in meetings and conversations — wasn’t accurately displayed on our website.

We also noticed a shift in our clients’ needs. They wanted more answers, increased communication, and greater transparency. They wanted to fully understand our platform up front. We also wanted to provide them with more insight into our industry.

Our website rebrand remains a work in progress. But it’s been a success because we’ve been able to set measurable goals. On March 5 (the date our rebrand went live), our bounce rate decreased from just over 60 percent to 12.25 percent. Compared to the same time last year, our average visit duration increased from 1:43 to 3:56.

Our visitors are clearly engaging with our content and company in a deeper way than before. But you can only attain positive results like these if you choose the right rebranding strategy.

 What kind of rebranding do you need?

There are four kinds of rebranding processes. Each requires a different strategy and level of commitment:

  1. Content rebranding focuses on your website’s written material. Changing your content can be a response to a changing company strategy, a new product offering, or a change in target audience.
  2. Visual rebranding encompasses an aesthetic overhaul of your website. Content may adapt to visual changes, but the focus is on connecting your visual brand to your audience.
  3. Content and visual rebranding can signal a fresh start to your clients. It includes a change in message and a change in presentation.
  4. A complete overhaul includes your elevator pitch, marketing message, image, product offerings, content marketing strategy, and the look and feel of your website — pretty much everything.

It doesn’t matter how big or small your rebranding project is. Each type requires a reason for change, a transparent strategy, and a well-defined picture of success.

Rebranding can work

Moz, formerly SEOmoz, started its rebranding journey as one of the most popular online resources for SEO marketing. But it realized that the company and the market were changing.

Moz’s business had grown to include much more than SEO. It recognized the need to expand to include the broader spectrum of inbound and outbound marketing.

At the same time, SEO was beginning to lose a bit of its luster. The SEO-only approach was developing a negative connotation as a set of cheap tricks. Moz knew that. It also knew that it happened to commonly be called Moz. It needed to rebrand itself while maintaining its popularity.

Moz decided to build a new website and officially change its name to Moz. It preceded the website launch with a teaser site and social media campaign, as well as a new color-branding teaser at conferences and on its blog. It also launched its new brand at the same time it launched a new product.

The transformation to Moz was a phenomenal success. On its first day, it had 16,299 signups for its new product and 220,000 unique visits. Within the first week, more than 30,000 clients had signed up.

Moz was paying attention. It noticed the changing market and its changing business model, and then responded.

Your practice’s rebrand could be just as successful — you just have to do it right. Nail down the real reason your company needs a rebrand, decide what kind of rebrand your company needs, and put a clear strategy in place. If you do those things well, you can enhance your relationship with customers and expand your reach, making your practice more personable and ultimately more profitable.

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