No, I’m not getting personal. I don’t want to know about the size of your girth – I’m talking about your business’s clothes.
On 1st august, I wrote a blog called: ‘My baby eats cash and poohs paper’, about the similarities I could see between bringing up a child and growing a business. One of those similarities is they both grow out of their clothes.
The last time mine got a whole new wardrobe was when it came into the world, in 2008 – until yesterday.
I’ve been quite personally attached to the name, ‘Savvy Business’, ever since it came to me in a flash of inspiration, in the shower, in 2008; but a few months ago, I realised we’d outgrown it. When we started, it worked with all the podcast series we were doing: – ‘Law Savvy’, ‘US Savvy’, ‘People Savvy’ – you name it, it fitted.
Since then, though, our horizons have broadened. Podcasting is still a very important part of what the business does (teaching people to do it themselves, or doing it for them), but there’s so much more to it now.
The fact is that the company which started out as a business network making podcasts has evolved into an organization specialising in helping people to talk business in the 21st century – live presentation, doing business on the phone and using on and offline media –that includes podcasting, of course, as well as traditional radio.
So the time had come to kit the company out with a new outfit – a new logo, a new website – and (scariest of all!), a new name.
It’s a big decision, to move away from a name everyone’s familiar with. It’s backfired on certain large organizations (remember the Post Office’s attempt to rebrand?)
I’ve taken the pragmatic approach though – far better to take my growing business out in clothes that fit and that reflect ‘who’ it is and where it’s heading, than to go on squeezing it into what it wore as a newborn, just because ‘it’s familiar’.
So, as of yesterday, the trading face of Savvy Business Communications Ltd is Speak For Yourself. The new name, and the new logo and website that go with it, are much more suitable to its personality now – and there’s plenty of room for growth!
Have you ever gone through a major rebrand? What prompted it? – and how did it go? Or perhaps you’ve thought about it and shied away from the idea, in case you lose the mindshare you’ve spent years building up within your market? Either way, I’d love to hear from you. Drop me a line – at my nice shiny new email address!
A lot of what I’ve been doing over the last couple of months has revolved around branding – mine and other people’s – of which, more next time.