Janice Laubach If you’re like most home service company owners, your business is your “baby.” Whether you were personally responsible for bringing it into this world or you became a “parent” somewhere along the way, you are fully invested in helping your “child” grow and achieve full potential. In other words, you want your business to be the best it can be.
With that goal in mind, you might be asking yourself: Is my company’s name a catalyst for success? Or a stumbling block?
The answer will vary, based on your unique name, circumstances and market. At KickCharge Creative, we have the skills and experience to size up your existing name and help you decide if a new name is the right move for you. We also offer the full range of in-house digital marketing services to ensure a seamless transition that redirects traffic and protects the digital presence you’ve worked hard to build.
“Renaming is, by far, the most anxiety-inducing decision our clients have,” says KickCharge’s Chief Operating & Experience Officer, Terri Lynne Briggs. “But we have never had a client regret renaming. Not one.”
That’s because the team at KickCharge truly has your best interests at heart and will give you honest advice about renaming.
You also might be asking yourself: Isn’t it in KickCharge’s best interest to rename as many clients as possible?
“Nope,” says Briggs. “It is in our best interest to put our client’s best interests first. We only recommend renaming when it’s truly right for our client.”
In fact, Briggs says, KickCharge only recommends renaming about 25% of the time. And, even though we receive dozens of requests every week from clients whose brands aren’t serving them well, we won’t provide design services (such as a vehicle wrap design) for clients we haven’t branded ourselves.
“If it were all a money grab,” Briggs says, “we would take on that work and churn out designs that we know wouldn’t move the needle an inch for those clients. Instead, we respectfully pass and explain that we wouldn’t feel right accepting a fee for a deliverable that will not deliver results.”
So, what factors does the KickCharge team use to determine whether renaming makes sense? Here’s what you want to consider:
Sometimes, Briggs says, it makes sense to “tweak” an existing name rather than rename.
“This can be effective, especially when the name isn’t ‘bad,’ but is a bit generic in nature and trademarking isn’t possible,” she says. “We can augment the name—adding another word that isn’t considered merely descriptive to help make it more unique and memorable.”
Navigating the digital world is an important factor in the decision to rename or not. When you’ve worked hard to optimize your website and other digital assets that keep you top of mind and help generate leads, you don’t want to lose that momentum. That’s why it’s important to make this decision in conjunction with a strong digital partner like KickCharge.
Here’s what Ryan Redding, our Chief Marketing Officer, has to say about renaming from the digital side: “Many times, business owners are hesitant to rename because they fear it will kill their SEO. While domain migration is something that needs to be handled with great care, renaming will not negatively impact your business when it’s done the right way. Time and time again, we have seen the tremendously positive results that come after renaming. The key is choosing a digital marketing partner that knows what they’re doing and will execute that transition flawlessly. Here at KickCharge, we follow a proven process for domain migration that delivers optimal results. No stone is left unturned during this transition, from setting up the necessary redirects to sending all of the necessary signals to the search engines. What’s so important to know is that whenever you change a website, rankings will temporarily fluctuate. This is when many owners start to panic. But with our process, we see those results start to stabilize within a few weeks. And it’s only up from there. So while you will see that temporary drop, it is completely normal and an indication that Google is processing the rebrand. While this is happening, the 301 redirects that we’ve set up beforehand ensures that there is no lost traffic.”
But getting past the jitters certainly has its rewards, as explained by Redding: “We fully understand that flipping the switch is daunting. But the important thing to remember is that you will emerge on the other side with your SEO intact. Not only will your SEO be preserved, but you’ll now have the power of a much more disruptive and unique name that will increase organic traffic and lower your long-term marketing spend. We’ve seen the results hundreds of times—there is zero doubt that renaming is beneficial, as long as the digital transformation is implemented properly.”
Businesses with weak names typically need to spend more of their marketing dollars on attracting online attention. When you have a memorable name and brand, customers will find you much more easily (and organically).
For instance, 1SEO helped us compare the branded monthly organic searches of 15 KickCharge brands vs. 15 non-KickCharge brands. Our brands averaged over 1,600 more searches per month, a whopping 252% increase! You can read more about our findings in this blog written by Dan Antonelli.
Briggs says one of her most important roles in the renaming process is helping to address each specific concern that may be holding a client back.
“For example, when a client is afraid of the new brand getting lost,” Briggs explains, “I educate them on how we have a great strategy to launch the brand, reintroducing them to their existing customers and getting in front of new customers. I help them see that reaching out to loyal customers with wonderful news about a brand evolution can shake trees, making them top of mind to loyal customers, who are their best brand ambassadors. I help them to see that while renaming does add an additional layer of cost, time and effort, it is very doable when you follow a proven implementation strategy.”
How about you? Are you looking for expert advice about whether it makes sense to rename your “baby?” Or do you already know it’s the smart thing to do? We’re ready to help! Request a quote online to get the ball rolling on your project. Or, to connect with our team, contact us online or give us a call at 908.835.9000. We look forward to hearing from you!
