What To Think About When Changing A Company Name

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A rose by any other name would smell as sweet. -- William Shakespeare

Randy's Donuts, formerly known every bit Large Do-Nut Drive In.

A stiff business name identifies your business, tells customers and prospects something meaningful about your make and helps to differentiate your concern from your competition. But what should you do when the name yous've been using isn't effective at achieving those goals?

Related: Get Over the Concern-Naming Hump With These five Strategies

While information technology'southward unwise to modify your concern name just because you're in the mood for something new, thereare times when a change is in your business organization's best involvement. Here are four reasons when a new name truly is the best choice, and seven tips to help yous pull it off successfully.

1.Trademark issues

Occasionally more than one company has the same proper noun. Or, the names are so similar that they may as well be the same. When this occurs, there's a good chance that one company volition become a cease-and-desist alphabetic character requesting that the other stop using that name.

And there's no surprise there: Your business could lose coin if someone else operates nether the same name as yours.

This actually happened to Jacob Childrey and his established nutrient spice company. He received a stop-and-desist letter from a much larger competitor. That's how Childrey came to leverage (my employer) Crowdspring's global community of 210,000-plus creatives to create a fresh, powerful new name for his company.

Scandal. You lot are at a large disadvantage too if another business organisation with your name is caught up in a scandal. The resulting reputational blow will affect your concern as well! So, it's important to protect your business proper noun to control your brand's message and ensure that y'all're non sharing your profits with a competitor. (For information on how to properly register and protect your business name, bank check out "What Small Businesses Demand to Know about Trademarks.")

2. Your proper name no longer reflects your business organization.

Businesses grow and modify over time. Some business names are adaptable enough to survive this growth, some not. If your business organization has outgrown its name, it may be fourth dimension to think about renaming.

Related: The Do'southward and Don'ts of Naming Your Business (Infographic)

Nellie Akalp, entrepreneur, author and small-scale-business expert, has written on SmallBizTrends, "It's just natural for a business organisation to grow, evolve or change direction over the course of its lifetime. The proper name you hatched in the early days may no longer fit your business concern's market, activities or brand personality at present." Questions to ask yourself include:

Have you recently switched to a new product or service?
Did your business organization merge with some other?
Has your business philosophy or mission changed significantly?

If you answered "yep" to any of these, a new name may ameliorate reflect your brand's current identity.

3. Your name is not unique.

Your business concern name needs to stand out. It needs to be unique and support your business organisation's overall brand identity. Generic names like "Publishing Services" or "Professional Tax Accountants" don't differentiate you from the competition. And they certainly aren't memorable.

So, even if you deliver fantastic service, well-pregnant customers may get your name wrong when they're asked for referrals. Or they may not remember it at all. That means your word-of-mouth marketing will suffer. And so volition your spider web marketing. If yours is one of 10 variations of the aforementioned generic business proper noun, y'all will find information technology virtually incommunicable for customers to find y'all on the spider web. You don't want them to sift through a total page of search results to find just the correct "ABC Plumbing."

Not to mention that no i really wants to do business with a generic, lackluster company.

Your business, your make and your customers will all do good if you lot switch to a more unique proper name that really embodies your brand.

iv. Your name is confusing or hard to spell.

If your business name is confusing or difficult to spell, customers may be unable to find yous. It'due south that simple. A business proper noun that doesn't make sense and confuses consumers won't be remembered.

In fact, there are aspects of brain science to consider here: Mariano Sigman, founder of the Integrative Neuroscience Laboratory of UBA, has written, "A retentiveness is a network of connected elements." The man brain stores and accesses memories based on associations between two or more pieces of information.

And then, if your business name is disruptive or unrelated to your business organisation, chances are that consumers' brains won't form the necessary connections to see your business organization name and your business equally linked. And, if the name is difficult to spell, they may end up finding another business organization and sticking with it.

How to rename your business concern

If it'south fourth dimension to rename your business, yous'll want to be careful to get things correct this fourth dimension effectually. You'll as well want to be realistic: Irresolute your proper noun requires thought and work, not but on your role, but that of your customers. They've gotten to know your erstwhile brand; now, they're beingness asked to unlearn all of that and first over.

This fourth dimension round, then, follow these tips to name or rename your business organization to ensure that your new name serves your business well for the long run. For a longer, more than detailed version, likewise be sure to read "10 Tips for Naming Your Startup or Small Business" -- both are from our company.

Start with your brand. Your business organization name should exist an extension and representation of your brand essence. So, start by thinking about your make:

What does your concern practise?
How is your business different from your competition?
What is your brand'due south personality? (Quirky, Solemn, Formal, Playful, Aggressive, Warm)
What is your unique value proposition?

Take your fourth dimension. You knew your old make, so yous may be tempted to accident through this procedure. Don't. Once you've defined your new make, begin names that support the most important elements. If a name doesn't chronicle to your brand in a meaningful mode, cut it from the listing.

Make information technology easy to pronounce and spell. Hopefully, this is self-explanatory. In the age of Google and the net of things, it's vital that your business organisation exist easy to find online.

Margaret Wolfson, founder and chief artistic officeholder of branding/naming agency River + Wolf, pointed out that "a visible digital presence is admittedly disquisitional to the success of any business. You want people to be able to search for and find you with little effort."

So, don't choose a proper noun that makes it difficult to find you, or is something fifty-fifty a Rhodes scholar tin't spell.

Avert as well narrow and too wide – aim for the Goldilocks zone. Choose a name that is unique, but flexible enough to allow your business concern room to grow. Review prospective names to ensure you avoid names that are:

linked to specific technologies probable to go outdated (think Radio Shack?)
take a focus and so narrow that they preclude futurity evolution (i.e., "Just Cabinets")
contain geographical references that may make your business irrelevant in a broader market
so broad or generic without personality that they don't tell consumers annihilation about your brand

Wolfson noted that a name should be able to cover eventual production extensions. A notable instance is the name change Steve Jobs made from "Apple Figurer" to "Apple." This gave the company room to grow into not-yet-imagined watches, iPads and iPhones.

Don't forget to differentiate. Practice you know who your competitors are? It's vital that your new business proper name help your brand stand out from them. And then, go to know who they are. And then cull a name that can't be confused with theirs.

Otherwise, you'll exist back at this renaming rodeo again before you lot know information technology.

Get your logistical ducks in a row. Renaming your business isn't just a creative branding endeavor -- it'southward likewise a practical i. Here are the logistical and legal chores you'll need to complete:

Ensure the name is bachelor to trademark (Cheque the Trademark Electronic Search Organisation [TESS] on the USPTO website).
Check to see if an appropriate domain proper noun is available. I recommend searching here.
Register the new name with your land and/or the Federal Trademark Commission. You can read up on the basics of trademarking here and research the requirements for your state hither.
Update or amend any legal documents to reflect your new name.
Notify the IRS of your new proper name.

For a more in-depth await at all of the applied steps to fully updating your business organization proper name, cheque out this article.

Remember to tell your story. Renaming your business organisation isn't everjust renaming – it's also rebranding. And office of a successful rebranding process is figuring out the authentic brand story you want your audience to associate with your business.

Since your business concern name is a cardinal element of your brand, information technology'southward essential that you effigy out how your new name relates to that make story. Alina Wheeler'due south recently updated book Designing Make Identity addressed this consequence, pointing out that names are powerful tools, only they don't tell the whole story. A name modify alone -- that neglects to consider all make communications -- could exist seen every bit superficial.

Whether yous opt for a social media entrada, an electronic mail serial to existing customers, a television or radio advert, brand sure your customers can encounter and understand the new you.

Update all branding elements. Sharing your brand story is an important piece of the renaming/rebranding process. To brand it stick, y'all'll need to update all of your visual branding elements. This includes updating your concern logo, business cards and stationery, your website and any other visual collateral like data sheets, or marketing collateral.

Equally Wheeler recommends that you:

Consider how new taglines, design, communications and other context-edifice tools should work with the new name to build a rich new story that you can own.
Remember holistically. Whenever you rename a business, brand sure that name is office of a consummate, authentic brand.
Recognize that every aspect of your brand will exist impacted from start to finish. Make sure to complete the transformation your proper noun change will start throughout your brand.

Terminal thoughts

Changing your concern proper name is a hassle. It can be tough on your business to rebuild relationships after a change of that magnitude. Then, if you can avert it, don't do information technology. But, if you find yourself facing a end-and-desist lodge or running a business concern that simply doesn't friction match upwards with the name it'south operating under, you may take to.

Related: 7 Tips for Naming (or Re-Naming) Your Visitor

When y'all realize that a name change is in your time to come, gird your loins and make sure to get information technology correct this fourth dimension around.