After running your plumbing company for more than a decade, you’ve decided to add new services or you’ve gotten into a rut and need to improve your image. Whatever the reason, smart company owners know when it’s time to rebrand and update their look, service portfolio and attitude to attract new customers.

However, before you leap into color schemes, mission statements and web developers, take a moment to consider how a strong public relations strategy could help your home service company develop and reinforce your rebrand and its message.

More than Awesome Truck Wraps

A rebrand is a very big deal.

It’s especially true if the reason for your rebrand is to highlight new offerings, or if stiff competition is in your service area and you need a differentiator to truly own more of the market share. If you don’t weigh all the pros and cons, you might upend too many touchpoints and ruin what should be a positive experience.

You need to take stock of your new vision and update your mission statement and business plan to align with it. It helps if you have a communications expert on your team who can assist you in developing this message so you can share the reasons behind the rebrand with employees, customers and other stakeholders.

Even if you simply want to update your style for a more modern feel, you need to carefully consider how a rebrand will be received in your community. 

Too many companies have attempted to rebrand their iconic logos (https://bit.ly/3YdASKz) only to be met with backlash from their customer base, or the rebrand resulted in rumors — usually spread by their competitors — that the change was necessary to cover up some hidden issues.

It’s why you shouldn’t enter a rebranding effort with the notion that updating the logo and rewrapping the trucks will be enough.

The Right PR Partner

No matter the reasons behind your rebrand, the bottom line is clear: You need the right public relations partner to provide market research, develop the rollout and communicate your new message clearly.

Involve your PR team as early as possible in the rebranding process. And, if you’ve picked the right PR partner, they will already have significant insight into your market. Once you’ve discussed your current customer base and your avatar customer, they will be able to help you develop a strategy that won’t alienate the very people you want to attract.

Picking a PR agency that understands the home service market and has spent years developing messaging for plumbing, electrical and HVAC companies is a top consideration. You also want a team who will work with you and not for you.

You need a team that will ask you the right questions and provide you with solutions born from the years of experience they have in the home service and public relations industries.

Your PR partner should not only be able to help you gather the data to make the best decisions about your rebrand and update all your assets, but they should also have the talent it takes to effectively write and deliver your message to the consumers you want to receive it.

Set the Rebrand in Motion

Once you’ve decided on your company’s new mission statement, developed your new image and updated all your assets, it’s time to pull the trigger.

Communicating the reasons behind these changes is crucial. In fact, you will likely need several messages to reach various stakeholders. These include:

• Employees. You will need some internal messaging so your team understands the reasons for the rebranding and how it will affect them. An all-hands meeting to discuss the changes is a good first step.

• Investors or partners. While you have more than likely gotten the opinions of this group during your planning stage, you should keep them informed via an email campaign about how the rebrand is being received.

• Consumers. Your PR agency should be ready with a press release and the messaging your digital marketing team can use on social media and the company’s website. Letting the public know the reasons for the change will help you maintain or regain the trust you had in the community before your rebranding efforts.

Finally, you need PR professionals to honestly monitor the results. 

You will likely hear from the public on your social media channels and when your techs make service calls. However, most of this will be anecdotal. A PR team can use surveys and digital data to judge the success of your rebranding campaign and can make corrections along the way to ensure it’s not a failure.

A rebranding can be both exciting and daunting. Make it less intimidating by including a PR plan as part of your rebranding efforts. l

Heather Ripley is the founder and CEO of Ripley PR.