Branding is one of the most important aspects of your business, but making changes to your logo or company name can be expensive and risky.
Whether you are new to the industry or have been in business a while, many steps must be taken to determine if rebranding is a wise decision for your organization. Three local executives with experience in the matter recently sat down with Business Report to share some advice on how businesses should go about changing their image.
George Schaffer, president of Crompion International, says the biggest lesson he learned while going through a successful rebrand was the importance of having defined objectives and goals on the front end.
“Conduct a cost/benefit analysis to determine the risk and reward of going through a rebrand,” he suggests. “Significant costs could include producing a new brand strategy, literature, signage, promotional items, website, as well as legal fees for investigating and trademarking a new name.”
If you’re thinking about changing your business’ name as part of the rebrand, Steve Miller suggests considering first what the existing name really means to current and potential customers.
“A modification of your name could do the trick. Domino’s is dropping the ‘Pizza’ from its name because it sells much more than pizza,” says Miller, who is senior vice president of strategic planning for Associated Grocers. “If your name is Baton Rouge Bank, then how well will that go over in New Orleans or if you add other financial services? For rebranding, you must pick a name that symbolizes the business but is not already in use. Do not constrain your company with a name that limits your industry or geography.”
It’s also important your new company name isn’t overly complicated, says Hunter Territo, creative designer at Xdesign.
“Here’s how to find a new name: Is it easy to spell and say?” he says. “When you say it over the phone, can someone easily write it down, or do you have to spell it out each time? Is it easily remembered? Don’t get clever with names that are hard to pronounce or spell.”
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