A Six-Point Checklist for Rebranding Your Company Online
by MGB2B
So you’ve decided to rebrand your company – to change the name, logo, look, and feel. Maybe your old name is dated. Or you’ve just become CEO and you’ve been itching to change the brand for years. Maybe the competitive field has widened or changed, and you need to differentiate your brand more than you did when the company first launched.
Whatever the reason, once you’ve narrowed your list of new company names down to your final 3, here’s a six-point checklist of what you need to find out before rebranding your company online.
- Who already uses the name? You are probably not the first person who thought of a brand name with words like Fast or Craft or Super in it. Even when you think you’re being original, you may not be. A simple Google search tells you who else is in the mix.
- What is the nature of the brand(s) with the same name? Just because you found out that the new brand name you love is already in use doesn’t mean you can’t pursue it. Is it for a brand halfway across the country in a completely different industry than yours? It may still be on the table. If it’s for a competitor a few towns over, you need to rethink the name.
- Are the “same name” brands trademarked? A trademark search can tell you if using the brand name you like will get you a cease and desist letter. Again, if the same-named brand is in a completely different industry than yours, you might be able to get away with it. But it may be safer to go with another name on your list.
- Does your name already exist as a website? And if so, do you need to have that exact domain name to make it work? For instance, there are several companies with the name Buildrite. Only one of them has BuildRite.com, and it’s not the biggest fish in the construction pond. That means even a national company with the name Buildrite needs to have a different domain name. Our recommendation: whatever you do, don’t put a hyphen in your name and hope for the best. It’s better to add a word than to use a hyphen or do .net or .biz.
- Can you win the search game? Go back to #1 – yes, you’ll be doing another Google search, and this time you’re going to have to probe a little deeper than just glancing at the first page or two. You’ll need to click around and see what kind of businesses these are. We recently did a search for a client and found out the new name we liked the most was also the name of a server for a very popular online video game. That would mean that if people were searching for our client’s brand directly, it would be buried under page after page of unrelated material.
- What are your competitors doing? Your brand name is important, but your logo and your brand message are both equally as important. Before you rebrand your company, you need to do a complete audit of what your competitors – both the ones you’ve known for years and emerging competitors in different verticals – are doing. What do their logos look like? What’s the first thing they’re saying to their audience on their website? Your brand identity must be markedly different in order to stand out and capture more marketshare.
These are just the basics to get your rebranding project on the right track. Change, whether revolutionary or evolutionary, should be carefully examined every step of the way. Take the time to do it right, and your company will reap the benefits of your refresh.
Tags: B2B marketing, changing the name of your brand, logos, messaging, rebranding your company