Small Business Success Strategies

Rebranding Your Company: Seven Signs to Tell It's Time

Phillip Davis, our official Branding and Naming Expert

There's comes a time in the life cycle of many established businesses when the owner wonders if the original company name might be doing more harm than good. But how can one know for sure? Maybe it's just the economy, or the competition, or a change in staff? Well now there's a gage, a metric, seven surefire indicators to help determine if it's the name that's causing the problem.

Rebranding Symptom number 1: The Guessing Game (Explaining what business you are really in.)

Of all the reasons to rebrand, this is the most urgent. Worse than having a name that leads nowhere is the name that leads in the wrong direction! Think of it this way, instead of starting off in neutral with a coined name, this type of name has customers going into reverse. You actually have to arrest them, correct the misperception, and then re-explain what it is that you really do! When I've visited my physical therapist for weekend warrior issues, she has shared that her company name confuses some of her clients. The Center for Perfect Balance leads many to think she has a yoga studio or a clinic for ear/balance disorders.

Rebranding Symptom number 2: "We're More Than . . . (fill in the blank)"

Read Phillip's entire article Seven Signs It's Time to Rebrand Your Company

Marketing Mythology: It's Like Putting Lipstick on a Pig

Terri Zwierzynski, our official Solo Entrepreneur Expert

When I first started my career as a solo entrepreneur, I hired a web designer to create my website for me. He was awesome, and I loved his work. When I received my first bill, it included a contact email address for his "support department" and "billing department." I was a little curious about who those other people were! Later I found out it was just him...he was ALL of those departments -- design, support, billing, the works! A true case of putting lipstick on the pig. Even though he attempted to "paint" his business with these additional departments, underneath it all, he was still simply a solo entrepreneur.

You Can't Contrive Credibility It was amusing to me at the time...but now I see it for what it was: someone trying to be or look like something they aren't in a misguided attempt to add credibility. This web designer was worried that clients wouldn't take him seriously as a professional if they knew it was just him. So he created the illusion of these additional departments, presumably staffed by other employees. It wasn't what I would call dishonest, more of a stretching of the truth. He delivered on his promises and had the needed expertise; none of his clients received anything less than was promised (and he was actually quite good at over-delivering).

The Risk of Dressing Up as Something You're Not I knew this designer well enough and trusted him so it didn't really bother me much, although it was somewhat of a revelation when I discovered he was a solo entrepreneur just like me! His other clients, however, expecting a bigger enterprise, might not have been as forgiving of the pretense. They may have felt deceived, suddenly unsure if they made the right choice. Future work and referrals were put in jeopardy simply because the vendor set an expectation that wasn't exactly true.

Read Terri's entire article Marketing Mythology: Putting Lipstick on a Pig