From the very abstract, to a founder's family name, corporate brand names have a story behind them.

However, when markets shift, and the brand itself changes, company leaders may find themselves considering a new name for a well-established brand.

There are a number of factors that drive organizations to contemplate a change:

• The brand name is difficult to pronounce.
• The brand name has limited awareness outside of geographic markets.
• The brand name appeals to a limited market.
• The brand identity is tired and obsolete.
•  The organization needs a more contemporary, Internet-focused brand.
• The brand does not resonate with younger generations.

Companies can start the decision-making process by asking several important questions.

• Has your brand changed?
• Has your competition changed?
• What is your competitive advantage? (e.g. why do customers buy from your organization instead of your competitors).  Does your brand align with your competitive advantage?
• How do people perceive your current brand?  How do you want your brand to be perceived?
• What would a new brand name deliver to customers?
• Who are the audiences that would be affected by a brand name change?
• Which objectives do you believe that your organization must accomplish in order to build your business and reach desired growth goals?
• What are the evident strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of a brand name change?
• What are the time, financial and human resources available to take on a project of this magnitude?
• What are the time, financial and human resources available to roll out and maintain a brand name change marketing campaign?

When companies are looking at a name change, they not only must conduct comprehensive research and analysis in making the decision, but also need to consider the potential impact on all of its constituents: customers, employees, partners, board members and the industry overall. It’s these audiences that will be responsible for telling the new story.  

Food for thought: KFC

One prominent brand currently in a unique rebranding process is KFC.  In March 2008, KFC released news that it would be testing Kentucky Grilled Chicken as a co-brand of Kentucky Fried Chicken.  The news garnered attention from online and mainstream media including USA Today and Reuters. 

The release stated that at the time, it was “Currently being tested in Indianapolis, Colorado Springs, San Diego, Oklahoma City, Jacksonville, Fla., and Austin, Texas, KFC’s Kentucky Grilled Chicken is expected to be unveiled nationwide in early 2009.”

NameWire: The Name Development Blog posted its take on the news in a March 24, 2008 post:

“In the coming weeks you can expect to see "Now Grilling" signs at select KFC stores. And storefront signs will be changed to feature "Kentucky Grilled Chicken." The London Free Press says that "Even the brand's ubiquitous chicken buckets will get a makeover..."

“…First of all, customers have to accept that KFC can grill chicken and that the product is indeed healthier than its fried alternative. Will they really believe that a piece of grilled chicken from KFC is better for them than a piece of extra crispy chicken?"  Click here for the full post.  

According to the Yum! Brands, Inc. (YUM) Q3 2008 earnings call transcripts from Oct. 8, 2008, Yum! chairman, president and chief executive officer David C. Novak stated, “We expect to turn around KFC performance in 2009 with the introduction of our successfully tested Kentucky Grilled Chicken.”

A day in the life of an entrepreneur . . .

Today started like most others. After a restless night of tossing and turning, the thought of my pre-dawn venti Americano pulled me out of bed.

I arrived at the office and got the day rolling with a quick check of email before moving on to the prior day’s Website stats. I looked at the usual suspects — page views, keywords searched and referring sites, which is when the day took a bit of a turn.

In the referring sites I noticed a domain name (which will remain nameless for now) that appeared remarkably similar to our brand name (which is a registered trademark).

Curious to see where this link was coming from, I clicked on the referring URL. Much to my surprise, I landed on a Website for another PR firm and found text and services that appeared to be copied almost verbatim from our Website.

And if that wasn’t bad enough, they actually had an active link to our site from one of their services! No joke. I clicked on Press Release, and it took me to my own site.

Now when we published our service and pricing guide in early 2006, I figured that other PR firms would eventually consider evolving to a model of standardized services and set pricing, but I never thought anyone would be quite so blatant when doing it.

Now What?

Before contacting my attorneys, I pulled a few bits of background information from the Internet:

• Checked Go Daddy for domain name registration, which amazingly enough was public with the primary contact’s email address and phone number.
• Found the president of the company on LinkedIn (same contact as I found on Go Daddy).
  

From there I contacted my attorneys and drafted an email to the firm’s president. Hopefully the story ends there.

The Moral of the Story

• Be vigilant when monitoring and protecting your brand.
• Analyze your Website stats every day. You never know what you’ll find.
• For other entrepreneurs . . . be original. There’s nothing wrong with copying a successful business model, but at least put an original spin on it.
• Keep a good business attorney on retainer.

 

 

 

(This is part 4 of a 4-part blog series on Managing Your Online Reputation.)

The beauty of public relations in Web 2.0 is that you create your own content, and you can publish it yourself.  No more hoping on a middleman to get the word out about you, your company or your service.  Isn’t that exciting?  It should be!

The key, though, is your content has to be good.  Some argue that everyone is an expert at something.  You should be an expert on your business.  Think about what your customers want to know about (hint: use some of that research from part 1 of this blog series) and create content that they will find valuable.  Package it for them in ways they want to see it.  Write press releases, eBooks, white papers and case histories (and distribute/publish them online).

Now… how to get the information out to others? 

Tell your new friends in the forums, blogs and communities about your awesome stuff that you know they’ll want to read about.  Share your knowledge. 

Think your email signature is already long enough?  Think again.  Throw in a link to download your new eBook, a link to your blog, a link to your LinkedIn page… whatever you think the people you send emails to will actually care about.

Include RSS feeds on your blog, so that people don’t have to come to you to get your content.  Instead, you send it out to them.  Put share tags on your blog posts to encourage people to submit your content to sites like Digg, StumbleUpon, Sphinn and del.icio.us.

(If you want some tips on why it’s not a good idea to always submit stuff yourself, check out this blog post on the unspoken rules of social networks.  I really can’t do it justice.  Seriously, Daniel Scocco has included charts and everything.)

In short:  Be genuine.  No one likes a braggart, but if you have good content, share it, and encourage others to do so as well. 

 

Managing Your Online Reputation Blog Series Links

Part 1 - Managing Your Online Reputation

Part 2 - Are you listening?

Part 3 - Join the conversation

Part 4 - Web 2.0 is like kindergarten.  For people to like you, you have to share. 

 

 

(This is part 3 of a 4-part blog series on Managing Your Online Reputation)

Now that you know what people are saying, and where they hang out online, it’s time for you to join in.  That’s right, my friend, if you want to manage your online reputation (come to think of it, manage may not be the right word, as it implies control… but I’ll run with it) you have to participate.

Participate in forums.  Comment on people’s blogs.  Join social networking groups.  All those questions you found on LinkedIn and Yahoo! Answers — answer them if you can.  Prove your expertise. 

As people have more access to information, they will find it, and use it.  Sell your company not by selling, but by being helpful and showing that you are the expert.

If no space exists online for something you’re passionate about, something that your company is an expert in, create a community. Chances are, there are more people out there who are just as passionate about your industry as you are — and these could be your star customers, future employees and biggest advocates. 

How do you create a community?  Start a group on Facebook or LinkedIn.  Heck, create your own social network with Ning. 

Oh, and if you want to be a thought leader — start a blog. 

In short:  Participate.  That’s what social media is all about.

 

Managing Your Online Reputation Blog Series Links

Part 1 - Managing Your Online Reputation

Part 2 - Are you listening?

Part 3 - Join the conversation

Part 4 - Web 2.0 is like kindergarten.  For people to like you, you have to share. 

 

 

(This is part 2 of a 4-part blog series on Managing Your Online Reputation)

What’s worse?  Having people say negative things about your company, or having people say negative things about your company and you being the last to know about it?

There are a number of tools you can use to scour the Web to learn what people think about your company, what they are saying, etc.  Here are a few tips:

1.  Act like a customer. 
Pretend you’re a customer at different stages of the sales cycle.  Do some Google searches for your industry, your products, your company.  What shows up?  Search blogs the same way with Technorati, or a Google blog search.  Use BoardTracker to search forums (or search Google with “forum [your industry/company here]”).  Search Amazon for specific products when applicable.  Find out what people want to know by browsing questions in Yahoo! Answers and LinkedIn. 

2.  Trend Tools
Google Trends and Facebook Lexicon give you some neat graphs if you input a keyword.  Try inputting your company name, competitor name, products, services, or industry terms to see when people talk about these things, and when they search for them most.

3.  Inhale the Web
This one is really neat.  And quick.  Input a query (like your company, product or service, a compeitor, target keyword, event you're involved with, etc.)  in the search field, and Addict-O-Matic will “inhale the web” and deliver the most recent updates in popular sites that contain your query – like Digg, Summize and Flickr.

Here's an Addict-O-Matic sample screenshot where I searched for "inbound marketing summit"

 (You can also search each of these sites independently, of course.)

It’s a good idea to set up a Social Media Resource Guide to constantly monitor key sites and keywords, so you always know what your customers, employees, potential customers and other key publics are saying.  By listening to their needs, desires and complaints (yes, those too), you can basically get some free market research from the people who care the most.

In short:  People are talking about you, your company and your industry.  Don’t you want to know what they’re saying?

 

Managing Your Online Reputation Blog Series Links

Part 1 - Managing Your Online Reputation

Part 2 - Are you listening?

Part 3 - Join the conversation

Try this:  Google “Comcast technician.”  Now try just “Comcast.”  (Quotes are not necessary.)

Now, I can’t guarantee anything, but chances are that on the first results page for both searches, you came across the viral video of a Comcast technician that fell asleep during a customer house call.  (Hat tip, Mark Hornung)

 

Stay tuned for a series of posts on Managing Your Online Reputation:

Part 2 - Are you listening? 

Part 3 - Join the conversation

Logo design can be both invigorating and infuriating for clients and agencies. Logos have the power to stir debate, create emotional connections and increase brand value. However, by its very nature, logo design is a subjective process.

While graphic designers take great pride in their ability to interpret and capture the essence of an organization through colors, fonts, icons and effects; clients, consumers, family and friends all have their opinions too. Sometimes designers are spot-on in their interpretation, and other times clients have something else in mind.

But, in the end, logos are the visual representation of a brand and an essential component of every organization.

Check out the LogoLounge.com 2007 logo design trends report for some excellent insight on what's hot in logo design, including: dos helix, rubber bands, radiance, eco smart, lit, pseudo crest, urban vinyl, hubs, descending dots, flora, half, overlap, 3D, opticaLine and ribbons.