By now you’ve undoubtedly read articles or listened to podcasts boasting about how important your “brand” is to the success of your business. We know that an established brand helps people recognize you from your competitors, allows you to focus on what you are best at, and ideally, makes running your business easier. But rebranding for florists can be hard, especially since our work is so visual!

When you started your flower company, chances are you toiled over the name. For nights you lay awake dreaming of that name on a card, the side of a van, the front of a shop. You worked on a logo and created something you were proud of.

But a few years into it, you’re itching for a change. Maybe your brand doesn’t feel like you any longer. Maybe your brand seems tired or dated. Perhaps, you’ve found a new specialty in the floral business and want to highlight that. If any of those describe you, my friends, it’s time for a good ol’ fashioned rebrand.

Read below for my top tips on rebranding and how to make it a touch easier (because quick spoiler—it's not easy.)

1. DO NOT RUSH THIS PROCESS

For the love of all things holy, take your time on a rebrand. The process will not happen in a few weeks. When I rebranded, it took me five months start to finish. Patience, grasshoppers.

2. MAKE YOURSELF A GIANT LIST

At the top of the list will no doubt be all the fun things—such as a new logo, a refreshed website, a new name—but don’t forget the business side of things like checking with a lawyer about changing your LLC, bank accounts, informing your clients, contract wording, and the all-important new swag. (Is it weird that one of my favorite parts of rebranding was picking out baseball hats?)

3. HIRE HELP BUT DON’T STRESS OVER THE NUMBER

Figure out the budget for this rebrand and shop around for someone to help you with the parts that stress you out the most. There are plenty of options out there for everything from hourly support in design to a full-blown five-figure rebrand from top to bottom. Hire someone to help you. But if the number you agree to makes you feel uncomfortable, step back and reassess. Stress is not what we want here.

4. IF YOU’RE CHANGING YOUR NAME, IT’S GOING TO TAKE PEOPLE SOME TIME

If a name change is in the works for your rebrand, give people some grace. They first learned about you as one name, and changing it in their minds is tough. People still write checks to my old business on occasion. Smile and explain it to them or remind them gently. Change takes time.

5. KEEP YOUR CLIENTS IN THE LOOP

Let your booked clients know before the rest of the world about your change. Here’s a quick story: I got an inquiry from a bride last summer who was PANICKING that her florist went out of business without telling her. I was the one who had to inform her that her florist was still very much in business but had changed her name, social media handles, and email. Don’t be that person.

6. SHARE IT ON SOCIAL

Try and avoid just posting one post on one day excitedly announcing “We have a new name!” on your Instagram account or Facebook page. Take your followers in on the process and explain why you did it. Here’s a quick template below:

“As you can see we recently changed the name of _______ to a brand new ________. This change means nothing different for you, but just a rebrand on our end to freshen up our look and help us focus even more on serving you! We decided to rebrand because: ___________________________________. A pillar of this company is: _______________ and we are grateful you’re here following our journey!”

7. REBRAND YOUR BUSINESS FOR YOU

If you aren’t 1,000% in and excited for your rebrand, don’t take it on. This is a significant project that is fun, challenging, emotional, and so so so rewarding. It should absolutely be your idea and your positive momentum making it happen. Remember, you call the shots in your own business.

I cannot wait to see your rebrand and fresh new look!