Keeping Your Brand in Focus
There comes a time in the life of any company (or product) when its acceptance by its primary customer base has to be rejuvenated in order to re-awaken interest (and jumpstart your ROI). But before you take that step, ask your customers what they think.
And I don’t mean just current customers.
Ask those who are current, those who left your active list, and those who indicated an interest but never made the final purchase decision. Rank all your customers by recency (of purchase), frequency and amount of purchase. If you are serious about re-naming your company or product, you have to think about your customers, your ROI, and the effect the change will have on your brand.
Planning the change
No matter how much you think you planned the transition, there is always something that will go wrong. That’s just a fact of life. But what you’ll learn is that even the planning process cannot eliminate the confusion that’s certain to follow.
You should only change your name out of choice, based upon data indicating the time is ripe for a change. You want a brand easy to spell and remember (and one with an available URL!). Of course, you want a link from your old name to your new (and perhaps a sidebar on your old page advising people of the new name); and you ALWAYS want to continue renewing your old domain name. You don’t want a competitor to take advantage of your product, process or goodwill!
Why is this so important? When it comes to brand impact, one has only to remember when the ‘new Coke’ was introduced at the expense of the brand selling millions of bottles and cans per day. The public hated it and in less than 90 days, the original Coke formula was re-introduced. What happened? Most savvy marketers believe the Coke executives were more concerned about the introduction of the new product rather than the loyalty of its customers to the brand.
So if you’re planning on changing, focus on your brand, not the product. Listen to your customers. Create a plan. And good luck!