Rebranding in 2 Months as a Lean Team – with Alina Kovalchuk

Rebranding is no small feat.

Now imagine taking on the challenge in just two months being the only marketer on the team – that’s exactly what Alina Kovalchuk faced.

Alina Kovalchuk, Senior Growth Marketing Manager at Nunami, was up for the challenge.

In this episode of Marketing Mondays with Maria, Alina shared how the rebranding went, the hurdles she overcame, and invaluable advice for marketers facing this exciting, rare challenge.

Here’s what we learned from Alina about navigating a rebrand under a very tight timeline:

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The Setup: A Lean Team, Tight Deadline, and Big Goals

When Alina joined Nunami, an AI-powered visitor recovery and personalization software for e-commerce, the company was ready for a rebrand. The team had already chosen a new name and brand direction in a workshop before her arrival, but the execution was up to Alina – the marketer, co-founders, a designer and a Webflow developer.

With multiple projects already on her plate, Alina prioritized rebranding as the foundation for all other initiatives. “Unless I kicked this project off, I couldn’t really do the rest,” she explained.

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Breaking Down the Challenges

1. Managing with Minimal Resources

Alina’s team consisted of just three core members: herself, the co-founder, and a designer. Weekly meetings kept them aligned, and breaking tasks into manageable chunks made the process less overwhelming. Instead of seeing the website as one massive task, they tackled it page by page.

"We have divided the project into website pages... about us page, homepage... That made the process definitely much more fun and easier for everyone involved."

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2. Staying True to the Audience

One of Alina’s standout decisions was to avoid over-relying on feedback from marketers in her network.

“Marketers are amazing for feedback, but they often look at things from their own perspective, not necessarily as end-users,” she said. Instead, she tested the website with a restrained group, including a UX designer, a developer, and other more general users, to gather more balanced and relevant insights.

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3. Navigating Accountability

While other teams at Nunami were ticking things off their to-do list, the rebranding work was an ongoing effort, and felt never-ending at times:

“Week by week, I’d tell the team, ‘I’m working on the website,’ and little did they know it would continue for weeks after the launch,” she joked. To stay motivated, she focused on small victories – completing one page at a time – and kept communication open to manage expectations.

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Why the Rebrand Was Necessary

The rebrand wasn’t just cosmetic; it reflected Nunami’s evolution as a company. Originally focused on visitor recovery pages, the product had grown into an AI-powered solution offering personalized recommendations and support for e-commerce stores of all sizes.

“We started small, but we’ve grown, matured, and improved. The rebrand was our way of showing the world that we’re ready to offer more,” Alina explained.

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Alina’s Top Lessons for Rebranding

1. Trust Yourself and Your Team: “Don’t think someone else knows your company better than you do. Trust your gut and the knowledge you’ve built with your team.”
2. Break Down the Project: Tackling smaller tasks - like individual website pages – makes the process more manageable and keeps momentum going.
3. Test with the Right Audience: Avoid seeking too many opinions, especially from marketers who might not reflect your actual end-users.
4. Stay Flexible and Collaborative: It's important for marketing to work with the designer(s) and developer(s) hand-in-hand to avoid bottlenecks and ensure smooth execution.
5. Celebrate the Journey: See every person involved is either your teacher or someone you can teach. Embrace the learning curve and be thankful for the experience.

Tools and Tips for Success

For project management, Alina kept it simple with Google Sheets. The benefit of having a small team is that the project management can be as simple as you want it to be and as everyone involved needs it to be.

For website design, her team used Figma and Webflow, even though these tools were new to her. “Learning along the way is the way to go,” she said.

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Final Thoughts

Rebranding in two months with a lean team might sound daunting, but Alina’s story proves it’s possible with the right mindset, teamwork, and approach. Her advice? “Trust yourself, don’t be afraid to think differently, and always do your best work.”

If you’re considering a rebrand or facing tight deadlines, take a page from Alina’s book and remember: small steps and strong collaboration can lead to big results.

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