050 | How To Change The Name of Any Brand Or Offering

So the past few weeks, me and my team have been preparing to rebrand my podcast! And that means renaming the podcast from The Brand It Girl Podcast to The Breakthrough Year Podcast. And there’s been so many moving parts to it - from preparing The Breakthrough Year membership site to house the new show note blog, to creating the new show artwork and going back through and recreating ALL the show note graphics. So I thought, hey, there’s so many moving parts when it comes to changing the name of an offering and this would be a great episode to talk you through the process in case this is something that’s been on your mind or perhaps might be on your agenda in the next year or so! In this episode we dive deep into the different reasons why you might be wanting to change the name of your brand or an offering and we go into more detail about changing the name of a brand, however the focus of this episode is changing the name of an offering, and I share my process for changing the name of my podcast. There’s three key phases when changing the name of any brand or offering: PHASE 1: PREPARATION In phase 1, you’ll want to explore WHY you want to change the name of your brand or offering. It’s important to map out the bigger strategy for the name change and get really clear on how it would work. Then survey your audience and ask them for feedback on the name change. I also recommend doing some research into who else has successfully changed the name of their brands or offerings that are similar to yours. Why did they do this and how was it received? Once you know your why and you’ve done the research, sit down and chose a transition date. It’s important that there’s minimal crossover when it comes to changing the name of a business or an offering - we want to avoid the confusion of broken links and inconsistency - so by picking a date and getting everything done and switched over on that date is important! PHASE 2: THE TRANSITION Once the decision was made and a date chosen, it was time to get visual: Creating the new cover artwork. Design templates for your new show note graphics (for Pinterest and your show notes), social media square graphics (for Instagram), social media wide graphics (for Facebook and Twitter). Go back through and remake all the graphics from the previous leading up to the transition episode. Created a new guest info pack PDF. For more info check out the Podcasting 101 bundle inside the membership! Prepare your website and perhaps migrate show notes if you are moving to a new site. Updated the show name in Libsyn, iTunes Podcast Connect and anywhere else that would be pulling from my podcast. PHASE 3: PROMOTION AND AWARENESS Accept that there will be a transition period, where you’re moving from the original name to the new name. And while, as I said, get as much done in one day as possible - it’s still a good idea to help your audience and community transition by mentioning what the offering used to be called and now what the new name is. Go ahead and pin all the new show note graphics to Pinterest and pin those same pins to any and all boards that are relevant. This gets the new artwork and identity into circulation. This can be done in the days after the official new name go live date. And this is something my VA helps me with too. Email all previous guests and offer them the new logo for their media kits and ‘featured on’ sections. I also tell them about the new name and ask if they’d be interested in sharing the name change with their own audiences. Get on social media to share the new name and leading up to the go-live date you could also be sharing progress shots of the changes you’re making! Send out an email to your list or to your customer base and tell them about the changes. And you can get really creative with the promos - you can create giveaways, challenges, anything you can think of to raise awareness about the new name! For more information about podcasting (plus lots more!) join us inside The Breakthrough Year membership!