One must contemplate the distinction between branding and rebranding. Rebranding is often miscast as an exercise in repairing one’s reputation. Some rebranding efforts focus on mitigating a negative image (such as Philip Morris’s name change to Altria or AIG’s move of their advisory business to Sagepoint). Yet rebranding may also represent subtle changes in positioning, or the recasting of visual identify, such as Starbucks recent move to a more contemporary look.

If you’re thinking about rebranding your company, bear in the mind the following considerations:

Seek out simplification-Today’s rebranding efforts are often a function of providing clarity to the marketplace and removing brand confusion. Citi’s recent rebranding removed a single word (if the word bank is in your name, it may not be a bad idea to remove it). Our cluttered market values simplicity.

Leverage Social Media from the ground up- Within our firm, we recently rebuilt our website, refreshed our brand, and printed new business cards (including a QR code). All of our marketing includes embedded social media components, with the intent of driving traffic to our website where prospects can experience various multimedia tools that are featured online.

Use emotional triggers-Google famous Parisian Love ad (when an American finds love in Paris) is a classic example of using emotional messaging to capture the imagination of your audience. All marketing should utilize emotional triggers.

Enter new markets- Pabst Blue Ribbon, perceived as an also-ran in the U.S. rebranded in China as an ultra-premium American lager (PBR) and is selling for upwards of $44 a bottle (the Chinese may not have everything figured out).

Reshape perceptions about quality-Rebranding should not appear cosmetic or contrived. Harley Davidson’s slide in perceived quality in the 80’s was magnified by stiff competition from Japanese competitors.  The company’s drastic repositioning included a return to its core products and the formation of the Harley Owners Group (HOG’s),  which reestablished Harley a bad boy brand.

Identify unmet needs- Your offer may need to change as the utility of your product or the benefits that differentiate it may shift over time.  Marketers will often use a tag line when they wish to preserve their brand equity, and point out new features or benefits.

Use professionals- Rebranding can back fire when companies draw attention to their marketing.  Many smaller companies try to utilize self service template web sites and similar home grown tools that come off as……home grown. Marketing requires constant investment. Hire people who can assist you with both messaging and technology.

Understand the hard and soft costs- Change can be expensive, given the need to reprint, re-sign, change email addresses, etc. Consider all your hard and soft costs (including management team band) with as you refresh your brand.

Organizations often under appreciate the importance of branding. In this world of hyper-competition, the way you communicate the nuances of your brand are more important than ever.

Everybody likes to think of themselves as a strategic thinker.  From advisory board members, to CPA’s and marketing consultants, lots of people list “strategic planning” within their list of competencies. Yet, there is a big difference between thinking broadly about strategy and creating a functional, tangible, strategic plan.

Strategy is somewhat esoteric, and theoretical. It deals with broad decisions that must be made about a business such as what products to offer; in which markets, using which core capabilities. The carefully crafted strategic plan has tactics woven into it, in the form of goals, objectives, initiatives, and action plans.

Unfortunately, some companies have a strategy and no strategic plan (and vice versa). If the strategy is stored solely within the confines of the thinking of the entrepreneur, there is no strategic plan.

There are books written about preparing a strategic plan in an hour and writing a marketing plan out on the back of a napkin. The napkin’s evil cousin is the one page business plan, which may tout simplicity as grand, but lacks depth, scope and detail. As the thinking goes, anything as important as the future of a business (and the implications for its employees and investors) should be explained in a few paragraphs. Using the same mindset, an airline pilot’s flight plan could be drawn on a napkin.  A cancer researcher’s thesis should be able to fit on an index card. Perhaps we can cut a few corners and keep the design of that skyscraper to a minimum. Who has the time?

The other problem with the napkin analogy is that it suggests two guys sitting in a pub dreaming up the grand strategy over a Guinness. Some of history’s most ingenious strategies may have been dreamed up that way. Yet the grand strategies do not always translate into a functional strategic plan based on research, thought, prodding, challenge and development of core capabilities such as supporting human capital and technology.

Most importantly, the people who will be responsible for buying into the grand scheme need to be included in the process of developing it. If a board of advisors or two guys in a bar craft and develop the strategy void of management’s input, they are likely to sabotage it or at least slow down its momentum.

Thus, the distinction between being a closet strategist and creating a thorough strategic plan is an important one.  The finer things in life, like a great cabernet or scotch, take time. Building a strategic plan requires patience and a level of expertise that you would expect out of a CPA or intellectual capital attorney.

Take the time to convert your strategy into a tangible strategic plan that you can share with your investors, employees, vendors and even customers (when appropriate). Isn’t the future of your company worth it?