The Blog of Brandon Milford - Marketing, Entrepreneurship, and Design

Recently I received an email from someone asking about our re-branding and the planning and steps that went into the process. I thought I’d share my response here as well.

“Hi, thanks for the email. As part of the process I’d definitely bring in an expert for advice. Our process began at the executive level where we discussed everything from acquiring the domain, potential trademark issues, and customer impact. In making the decision to transition our brand from IntelliContact to iContact we had to think about our current customers (about 8,500 at the beginning of the process and over 11,000 now) but also consider the impact on those who’ve never heard of us (ie: future customers). At the beginning of this process we laid out the risks involved and conclusions our customers may come to because of the fact that we’re changing our name. For example; some companies change their name because they are struggling, have merged with another company, or under new management. We went into this with clear communication to our customers that the same great team is behind the application and we let them know that we’re continuing to be innovative and adding more features to our software that would help them market their business. You have to go into the process with confidence, letting your customers know that ‘this is what you’re doing and why you’re doing it’. If during the process there’s any uncertainty from management, customers can lose confidence and question your motives. Also, I’m not sure how large of a company you have, but we have about 50 employees currently and it is of equal importance to “market” the transition internally as well. We took a representative from each department (could not be a manager or exec) and assembled a team of Brand Champions. This group met and got the scoop on what was going on during the transition and could communicate this to the rest of their team. This helped to build a level of excitement around the transition and towards the future of the brand and company. We also put together Employee Packs that consisted of a branded backpack filled with items such as branded pen, lapel pin, travel mug, iContact collateral, t-shirt, and polo. We included a note to each employee thanking them for their hard work and for being a part of the family. They were very excited about this and we surprised them with the packs the day before the launch. That helped us hit the ground running and morale was high.

In this process there was also a lot of hard work we had to do in Marketing and in Development. Myself and the CTO worked very closely, checking in on a weekly basis, laying out a time line and breaking down who was working on what. It took about six months in all to make this happen and a lot of planning prior to starting the process. In re-branding definitely speak with a professional to ensure all important questions have been answered and think about the impact on your employees, current customers, and your future customers.”