Rebranding often goes hand in hand with a change in business strategy or content strategy. As my previous post discussed, big changes are risky. Incremental changes lets you validate you’re on the right track.
Fortunately for content sites, content is relatively easy to experiment with. You can try out a new strategy on a small scale. We’ve seen this work wonders on metro.co.uk as we’ve shifted from traditional news to shareable content.
So, if your new strategy is to appeal to a more international audience (for example) then start pushing out a few international stories and see what the response is – you can start getting a feel for what challenges lie ahead.
The power of experiments
Dipping a toe in the water may reduce your output of “prime” content but it’s worth it to validate new strategies.
Of course, this sort of experimenting shouldn’t just be reserved for rebrands – experimenting should be a continuous process. Google famously encourage employees to spend 20% of their time experimenting with side-projects.
Let the experiments begin!