I went to Brighton SEO last week and Sam from Koozai talked about rebranding your company. They went through the process last year.  Koozai wanted to create a brand that was more recognisable.  They wanted to differentiate themselves.  Sam came up with many steps on how to rebrand a company.  I have picked the most important. One name fits all Do you want to have one name across all products? That is the question you should ask yourself.  For some companies such as Virgin it works well, but for others it does not.  Would you want to associate Coca Cola with Vitamin Water? The latter is a Coca Cola product but it is aimed at a completely different market and therefore it would be detrimental if Coca Cola was on the Vitamin Water bottle.

Do Research & Brainstorm It is important to find out who the competitors are in the market.  What do you like about them and what you do not like. You should come up with a unique name, one that ideally does not have any social profiles associated with it. Brainstorm different names with those colleagues on the branding project with you.  It may take a while to come up with perfect name, but this will be with your company for a long time, so do not rush it. Agency Help If you are a large company and you can afford it, you may want to employ an agency to help rebrand your organisation.  Make sure you give them a clear brief and set them a realistic deadline to send through the RTB (response to brief).  It is hard to choose a brand agency, you need to make sure they are credible, within your budget and located not too far from your office.  I know there is internet now but it is really important to meet your brand agency at least a few times in person as the project develops. Trademarks Once you have decided on your brand name and your logo and colours, get your brand trademarked.  You do not want to run the risk of someone copying your idea.  It is best to get a trademark specialist who will be able to help you do this as it can be quite complicated.  You also want the specialist to ensure you do not miss the trademark renewal date. Marketing Material Those companies that have been rebranded will need to invest in the printing services of a local company to produce new marketing material.  They have to get new business cards, posters, brochures, everything they had before in the previous colour/brand has to be replaced. Sam put together a list for the What’s Next Phase, it is a good checklist to ensure companies follow these when changing names: –       Secure trademark –       Decide on a date to go live and stick to it –       Register and redirect domains –       Claim social profiles –       Update all the Company information –       Review your brand consistency –       If you are a big company, only tell the people you are working with, there is no need to involve the rest of the team on the branding until a few days before it goes live.   There are many things to think of when changing your brand, the most important though is to have a real reason to amend it and not just changing it for the sake of it.