Bright Ideas # 50 – Big Changes Afoot & a Special Gift for You 

Every so often I hear a client utter these fateful words…

“I’d like to change the name of my business or completely redo the look of my logo”.

Now you’d think that, as a marketing consultant and copywriter, this would be music to my ears. But not always.

Why?

Because making wholesale changes after you’ve been around awhile is risky. You can easily lose whatever momentum you’ve already built up.

Let me explain…

It’s no secret that these days we are bombarded with marketing and advertising, right? Just think about how many brand names you are surrounded by at any given moment.

In fact, take a second to look around and see for yourself.
Really, look around and count every logo you can see.

Just from my desk chair I can see my Panasonic phone, a Lynksys wireless network router, one KDS monitor, my Palm, a pack of Listerine breath strips, Microsoft on my stickies, Verizon on my phone, Quartet on my white board…well, you get the idea.

Of course, I see most of these every day. So I recognize them now. I know what they are all about. They are familiar. And if the item has worked well, I’m predisposed to like and trust the brand.

Now, based on this, what do you think I would be more likely to buy...something from a familiar brand, or an unfamiliar one?

I can tell you I’m now on my fourth Toshiba laptop. Not because it’s necessarily the best, but my experience has always been good. And I can never find a compelling reason to risk trying another brand.

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How does all this brand familiarity stuff apply to your business?
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Well...

What do you suppose happens when someone has been driving past your office or store for months, thinking about coming in. Then suddenly they see a new sign with a different name, or new logo and colors?

There’s a good chance they might think “Huh, must be a new owner or new business.”

You know what that means? The chances of that person walking in your door anytime soon just took a nosedive. Because now your business is brand new to them all over again. There is no familiarity. You are back to square one.

And they are going to have to drive past your door who knows how many times again before they decide to stop in.

Because, depending on whose research you follow, a potential customer has to see your name, ad or business anywhere from seven to a whopping eighteen times before they take action.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying you should not make changes—even big ones. You just need to carefully weigh the pros and cons before you do.

So if you’re considering changing your business identity, ask yourself why you want to make the change. If it’s just because you are tired of looking at whatever it is, save yourself the money and don’t change a thing.

However, if you…

• Have dramatically changed your business or what you offer
• Don’t feel your current name or logo accurately represents
  what you do
• Don’t think your name or logo speaks to your target
  market
• Haven’t updated anything in ten or more years

Then by all means, a change may be in order!

The question then becomes...

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How much change is enough—or too much?
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The more drastic the change, the more traction you risk loosing.
And the more expensive the change is likely to be.

So you might want to consider just freshening-up your logo or tweaking your colors. Or keeping the most recognizable part of your name or logo, but updating it.

For example, you could probably go from Lenox Animal Hospital to Lenox Animal Hospital and Bird Clinic without confusing anyone.
Or dark green to bright green.

Another option is to make small changes over time. This is a terrific way to maintain familiarity and spread out the cost.

Sometimes, however, a total redo is in order...especially if you’ve made major changes to what you offer, how you operate, or who you sell to.

Whatever you do, be sure to communicate why you’ve made the changes to your current and past customers. And remember, if you don’t have a good reason, you should probably rethink changing at all.

©2002-2006 Success Stream. All Rights Reserved. www.success-stream.com

Do you have a marketing, advertising or writing question you’d like to have answered? Email me and you might see the answer in a future edition of Bright Ideas.

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