Although rebranding yourself is not a task to take on lightly–consider bringing in a marketing company to aid you in a smooth transition–it can be beneficial for your company. If your current branding attempts are not reaching your intended market or are portraying your image poorly, or if you need to make a break from the stigma of previous branding campaigns (like the Tampa Bay Rays), tweaking your marketing strategy or altering it completely might be a prudent choice.

From American Gangster (2007):

“Brand names mean something. Consumers rely on them to know what they’re getting. They know the company isn’t going to try to fool them with an inferior product. They buy a Ford, they know they’re gonna get a Ford. Not a Datsun. Blue Magic is a brand name; as much a brand name as Pepsi. I own it. I stand behind it. I guarantee it and people know that even if they don’t know me any more than they know the chairman of General Mills.”

Marketing is a practice that defies definition. Innovation and creativity are key to successful branding campaigns, so there are rarely any things that you absolutely must or must not do. However, a few guidelines never hurt anyone. Today, we bring you the ten commandments that marketing companies can usually agree on, as a jumping-off point for any marketing campaign.

These days, with most customers using social media or being internet-savvy, your company may realize that bad word of mouth can travel much faster than good reviews. Of course, online reputation management is a definite help when these situations occur. But you may reach the point where you need your marketing company to be prepared to help you bounce back from bad media. Good thing celebrities have paved the way in how to market yourself in a comeback.

In the marketing world, age demographics used to be the best way to create strategy and advertising appropriate for your consumer. In television, the 18-49 demographic is still the most sought after group to win in ratings. However, for most marketing companies, age has become an insufficient description to base a campaign on. Now more than ever, people can no longer identified by a simple integer.