Have you hit a point in your business where you’re thinking about changing your business name? 

Maybe the name you originally registered no longer fits your business: your client group has changed or the problems and services you offer are no longer reflected in your name? 

Perhaps you’ve gone from offering a wide range of general training to specializing in one area — for example, canine conditioning or reactivity. Alternatively, maybe you branched out — going from only offering puppy training to now offering more general training as well. 

Or perhaps you registered under your own name and that doesn’t make sense now if you’ve expanded and have other trainers working for you.

Whatever your reasons, you’re wondering what to do next…

Should you change your business name?

Well, you have options. The first is to consider keeping your current business entity but opting to trade under a different name. By registering a “Doing Business As” (DBA) name you don’t have to start from scratch and form a new business entity, which could simplify things for you. 

This could be a particularly good option if you’re currently registered and trading under your own, personal name. You can find out more from this US Chamber of Commerce article.

(Disclaimer: we’re not lawyers, so please consult with one before deciding, but in most cases in the U.S. it will likely make sense to register a new DBA rather than starting a whole new business.)

What aspects should you consider if changing your business name?

Regardless of whether you create a totally new business entity, or just start trading under a DBA name, you’ll need to make some changes to your brand identity.

Here are the main areas you’ll need to consider:

• Logo
• Website design and branding
• Domain name
• Social media
• “Brick and mortar” marketing

Let’s explore each of those in more detail…

Updating your logo

If you change your business (or trading) name, at a minimum you’ll want to update your logo to incorporate your new identity. But if you’re already updating your business name, do you want to go with a new look as well?

Here are some questions to ask yourself:

1. Does your logo still match your new focus?
2. Do your colors still work for the impression you want your business putting into the world? 
3. How recognizable is your current logo — do you think people already recognize it?
4. Are you going to have to work hard to re-establish that brand equity?

And of course, budget and time need to be considered. Do you have the budget to get a new logo designed, or any specific timeline when you need to roll out your new business name? If so, those pieces will also factor into whether it makes more sense to do a light refresh or a bigger brand overhaul.

Website design and branding

If you’re rebranding entirely, with a new logo design, you will likely also want to consider updating your website substantially. If your business is moving in a new direction, not only will you need to make sure the website colors and logo match, but you’ll also need to make sure the site pages, copy, and images still accurately convey what you do.

Changing your domain name 

Your online presence is a vital part of your marketing, so it makes sense to ensure your domain name works with your new business name.  So you should consider how big the change you’re making to your business or trading name is. 

And if you need to change how people find you online…

If it’s going to be a very different business name and your website’s domain was very specific, then yes, you’ll probably want to get a new domain name. If you’re making only a slight update and your website domain was more general, then you may be able to get away with NOT moving your website to a new domain.

If you do get a new domain name, make sure to:

• Set up a redirect — this will help ensure that people who haven’t heard about the name change can still find your business if they go to the old domain.
• Consider keeping as many of the same URLs as possible — this will help prevent accidental broken links if someone else has linked to a particular page on your site from their website, or in an email, or even if you’ve internally linked from one page to another. If you DO change the URLs, you’ll want to set up individual redirects for each page. 

Email updates

If you’re changing your domain name, and you have email addresses tied to that domain, you’ll also want to consider if you need to change those over. Here’s how to make that transition as smooth as possible:

1. Set up old email to forward to new email, to avoid missing any email.
2. Send out notifications to students.
3. Update anywhere you send email FROM — your email marketing system, scheduling programs, or other platforms you use to automate email sending. 

You also need to update your domain credentials that are related to email. The records needing attention are:

• SPF: These are the servers I will send from. (Meaning: If it says it’s from me, but comes from somewhere else, it’s likely fake.)
• DKIM: This is my signature. (Meaning: if it’s not on the email, it probably didn’t come from my server.)
• DMARC: (Meaning: if you get mail that doesn’t match the above, here’s what I want you to do with it.)

Online directories

If you’ve changed your domain name, you’ll also want to be sure to update it in any online directories or citations (that is, anywhere online that you’ve listed your business and its details), and on your Google Business Profile. These are an important piece of letting Google know that you’ve updated things, and they should send people to the site.

Social media considerations

If you change your brand identity, you’ll also want to ensure your social channels match the change. Here are some things to check before taking the leap:

• Are the social links for your new business name available? 
• Can you change your existing profiles, or will you need to start over? Facebook can be more complicated to update than Instagram. You may need to change your FB username as well as your FB business page name and your Instagram business details. 

“Brick and mortar” marketing

If you’ve made a substantial change to your business name and domain name, you also need to change all your real-world business materials too. Here’s a list of items you might need to update with your new logo, domain name, and email details:

• Business cards
• Flyers
• Handouts
• Signage
• Templates for any admin documents that have your business details 
• Merchandise or marketing freebies (like pens, keyrings or t-shirts)

Don’t forget to update any vets or other businesses that send you referrals — even if only occasionally — especially if you’ve changed your email address.

You may even want to write up a press release and send it to a few local media outlets — it would be awesome if they were willing to publish something on their site about your change of business name.

You’ve got this…

While changing your business name isn’t something that should be done lightly, the right business name and logo can make a big difference when it comes to marketing yourself and what you do. 

As long as you make sure to plan and think through what’s involved, a rebrand can be a fantastic opportunity to get who you are and what you do in front of new people.