What not to learn from Elon Musk: Powerful lessons for SMEs from Twitter’s rebranding

Elon Musk announced this week that Twitter, the once-beloved, quickfire social media platform, will soon be rebranded to X Corp, and completely overhauled into an ‘everything’ app. Leaving aside the fact that being ‘everything to everyone’ is rarely a great idea, and that this appears to be less of a rebrand and more like a Beyoncé ‘Lemonade moment’ (without the feelgood empowerment), here are a few key aspects it appears Musk has forgotten about that are essential when undergoing a rebrand.

Rebranding is not actually about you

For Musk, given poor old Twitter hasn’t been in good brand health for a time (especially since his takeover late last year), it’s fair to say brand perception and reputation isn’t so great. This would normally be an ideal set of circumstances and provide a clear rationale to give the brand a much-needed defibrillation. 

Rebranding might seem like it’s about your business, as it’s often associated with a natural evolution, or helm change (or the appointment of a new and enthusiastic marketing team). But in actuality, it’s not about your business at all. 

It’s really about your audience.

The perception of a brand is in the eye of the beholder, made up of a number of key stakeholders, but most notably, your customers. What they perceive your brand to be is reality. So, while it may be tempting to focus on what you want to achieve with a fresh coat of paint and a relaunch campaign, it’s crucial to remember that the primary objective is to connect with your audience. And that requires some deeper, more strategic thinking — and research.

If your rebranding efforts aren’t centered around how you can better serve your customers and improve their overall experience, you’re missing the point (and a key opportunity). 

Stakeholder engagement is key

Musk’s announcement is likely to be applauded by some as a bold and daring move, but it’s important to remember that all stakeholders — not just your biggest fans — will play a crucial role in the success of any rebranding effort. Unfortunately, it seems Musk may be more focused on his own interests (not terribly surprising, I know), and this overhaul appears to be more about his personal ambition than the needs of the customers or other stakeholders (refer to point 1). This is a dangerous approach that could lead to the alienation of key stakeholders and ultimately harm the success of the rebranding effort, potentially damaging it before it even happens.

Genuine stakeholder engagement includes not only your current and prospective customers, but your employees, your investors, and even your competitors. 

Handled with intention and care, rebranding gives you a unique opportunity to connect more meaningfully with one of your business’s most important assets — your people — rallying them around your brand values, purpose and vision. Engaged employees become walking talking advocates for your business, allowing your brand to reach places it couldn’t through ‘traditional’ marketing channels. 

Inform employees of the journey you’re taking, explaining the rationale behind the rebranding project, and what your expectations are about the impact on the business both operationally and commercially.

Prospective and existing customers can feel like VIPs by being asked to comment or share their opinions throughout the rebranding process. Simply getting on a call and asking them about their associations with your brand and those of your competitors could yield some helpful insights.

Competitors can also provide helpful insights. By researching and analysing the brand and marketing strategies of your competitors, including their visual identity, messaging and target audience, you’ll glean an understanding of how your competitors are positioning themselves in the market and help identify gaps and opportunities for your own rebranding efforts. 

If your customers aren’t buying, it’s not them that’s the problem

Rebranding can be a powerful tool to differentiate yourself from competitors, appeal to new customers and in some cases, re-engage with existing or lapsed customers. A superficial rebrand is not a fix for poor strategy, business model or a not-so-valuable value proposition. 

If customers aren’t buying, engaging, subscribing or renewing, then something is fundamentally wrong with your offer. Assess that first before briefing a designer and teeing up caterers for your relaunch party. Rebranding without strategy can lead to a brand that looks shiny and new on the surface, but ultimately fails to resonate with customers and other important players in the brand’s ecosystem.

Musk would be well-served by looking back at some of the greatest rebrands in history. One of my all-time favourites is Old Spice, which in 2010 managed to shake off a decades-old barrier to purchase with two highly relevant insights and a clever marketing campaign that made the brand relevant to a completely new audience segment. The company kept the brand name (which held a lot of historical equity) and gave it new meaning. 

And that’s a key takeaway to consider: what is the equity of your current brand? What might you lose or gain by taking different approaches to solve this challenge? How might you achieve a positive ROI for your rebranding efforts? By focussing on improving your product or service offering (or at least, how you communicate it), ensuring that your efforts align with the needs and interests of your customers, and thoughtfully engaging with key stakeholders throughout the process, your rebrand could be one for the ages — unlike our misguided billionaire friend.

Melissa Packham is a brand and marketing strategist at Brand Led Business.