From the reasons for a re-brand to the best way to establish a presence online, we cover everything you need to know.
For more information vitsit http://www.koozai.com.
4. Reasons for a Re-Brand
Overcrowded market place
Brand confusion
Buy out or merger
New product or service line
Reinvent your business
@Koozai_Sam
6. One Name Fits All
Do you want one name across all products?
Will your logo work visually?
@Koozai_Sam
7. The Family of Brands
Do you have a variety of brands to push?
Do they need to link back to the main brand?
@Koozai_Sam
8. The Unrelated Brands
Do your products reach out to different
audiences?
Are your individual products strong enough to
stand alone?
@Koozai_Sam
9.
10. Competitor Research
The first step in research should be your industry
and competitors.
Who do you like?
What do they do well?
What don’t you like?
How could you do it differently?
@Koozai_Sam
11. Branding Agency/Specialist
Engaging a specialist can be useful. Some things
to consider:
Credibility
Location
Price
Time investment
Ownership
The WOW factor
@Koozai_Sam
12. Your Brand Name
What do /
Brainstorm Easy to
don’t you
Ideas Spell
like?
Easy to
Memorable Differentiate
Pronounce
Social
TLDs Protectable
Profiles
Available? ?
Available?
@Koozai_Sam
15. Planning Stage
Secure the trademark
Decide on a date to go live
Register and redirect domains
Claim all social profiles
Update all company documentation
Review your brand consistency
Keep it on a ‘Need to know basis’
Inform rest of the team (close to launch date)
@Koozai_Sam
16. Domination
Dominate the SERPs Register Social Entities
Update Profiles Link Building
@Koozai_Sam
18. Go Live!
Avoid Fridays for launch
Get all the team involved
Triple check everything has been updated
Inform all active and prospective clients
Press release
Blog post
Drip feed mentions throughout the day
Monitor for positive/negative feedback
Setup Google Alerts for your old brand name
Use Google Images to search for your old logo and update
Monitor old Twitter account for @ messages
@Koozai_Sam
QuoteSource – The Brand Gap by Marty Neumeier (http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Brand-Gap-Distance-Whiteboard/dp/0321348109/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1332494206&sr=8-1)Image Source - http://www.istockphoto.com/stock-photo-19148501-transform-your-thinking.php?st=897875c
IKEA – Some people may love it, others will hate it. It is a Marmite brand! A man may look at IKEA and it could remind them of being in the IKEA car park trying to fit a wardrobe in multiple pieces into their Ford Fiesta whilst arguing with their wife! A lady may look at IKEA as a great place to go for a whole day out, browsing each aisle in turn before heading off to the café for some Swedish meatballsBrands feed into peoples feelings.Image Source - http://www.istockphoto.com/stock-photo-18118913-well-known-brand-names-printed-in-a-magazine.php?st=897875c
Virgin have chosen the One Name Fits All approach for all their brands and properties to ensure they are future proof and protect themselves. The one product they weren’t able to protect with their brand name was their condom range….. Adding Virgin to the start of their condom brand would really limit the target audience
Glaceau Vitamin Water is aimed at a healthy product market which doesn’t necessarily fit with the Coca Cola brand, which is predominately seen as high sugar product so they would not necessarily want to draw correlation between the two
Competitor Research for the Koozai Brand A lot of companies have their industry within their brand name which does workHowever, we liked what Guava had done with their brand as it separates them from their market placeThe thing we didn’t want to do was have a brand name that would be difficult to monitor online so having a word that means other things, would have caused a problem for usTo take it one step further as we wanted something very unique so that there could be no confusion, whenever our new brand name was mentioned, we wanted to know it was usWe discussed whether we needed to update the website design at the same time and decided against it, and only wanted to change the logo. Too much change at one time can be an issue
KODAK –Researched the name to ensure it was able to be pronounced easily in every countryThey didn’t want brand confusion in any country so the name needed to mean the same thing in all countries
Engaging a Trademark SpecialistAlways use a trademark specialistIt will save you a few hundred pounds doing it yourself but a specialist will be able to tell you very quickly if they feel you will have any issues with the name you have chosen due to class issuesMake sure you are in the right classes, a specialist can help you with this. Go to IPO to search the different classes and decide which you think you need to be inIf you operate in different countries, you need to look at which class locations you need to be registered inIt can take up to three months to get a trademark approved, so you need to be patient and factor this time into your planningUntil you have the trademark approved, there is not much more you can do other than securing that trademark on all the other domains and social entities ready for when it is approvedTrademarks tend to need to be renewed after 10 years. It is very important that you don’t let it lapse, so set a reminder in your calendars!
Top Tip – If you check a domain too many times in 123 reg, it very oddly seems to get registered!
Top Tip – When you are looking at names, if there are any that you like, register them even if you may not chose them for your re-brand. Worst case, someone else will register it and it will be the name you have chosen to go with.Certain countries will not allow you to register a TLD unless you are operating from that country (IE Australia)
Top Tip – You should be 100% clear on what classes your trademark should be registered in. You know your brand and business better than anyone so don’t just rely on the trademark specialist for thishttp://www.ipo.gov.uk/
Top Tip – Everyone working on the project needs to be on the same lines and to do this, a clearly defined brief should be given to everyone at the start of the projectIf you engage with a branding agency, they must be informed of everything otherwise you will find they come back with something that you really weren’t expectingMust be clearly defined at the start or confusion will step in very quicklyIf you need a new logo, they need to knowTell them about the research you have done into your competitorsWhen do you want to launch the brand?
Top Tip – This is probably one of the most difficult tasks when you are launching or re-launching a brand but it is so important. You need to keep the number of people involved in the project to a minimum for a number of reasons:More risk of potential leaks More people involved in decision making means it will take you longer
Top Tip – When you launch there will be people who don’t think you have made a good decision. You will also have people who think the idea is genius. You need to be aware of both positive and negative mentions so you can address them accordingly. Paid toolsBrandsEyeBrandwatchTrackurSproutsocialBrand ListenFree toolsTweetDeckGoogle AlertsHootSuiteSocial MentionTOPSY
Top Tip – Registering all the social profiles will be very time consuming. Using a tool like Knowem takes the time investment away from you
Top Tip – Before you launch, you want all your social properties registered so you can kick start your page one domination project. The earlier you start, the more chance you have of dominatingIf you have chosen to re-brand or brand your company with an entirely unique name, page one domination will be much easier
Top Tip – Don’t just look at a few months ahead, you need to be looking a few years into the future. If there are any other services or products you are thinking of launching, these need to be considered when you create or re-launch your brand