Business name: should I change it or not?

Hi Jeroen,

A company name change / rebranding is a big undertaking. Unless you're significantly changing your activities, changing your company vision, fusing with another company, and/or expanding (i.e. hiring a load of new people) I would advice against it.

But, If you really want to change it, perhaps you can use a more abstract name? e.g. 'Van Gils Webservices' and build a professional marketing campaign around it to inform new and existing customers?

Hope it helps, Max

you could always transition the name. Keep iWebDesign as an entity, but make it a part of a larger business that does a lot of different things. personally, I don't care for the "i" because it sounds pretty Apple-centric... as an Android user, I would never go to any business that didn't seem like it catered to me. while the "i" was popular when iPhones were the top-selling smartphone, that's no longer true, and it can seem a bit dated.

You can always redirect iWebDesign.com to a new URL for a larger business, and Facebook and Twitter account names can be changed slightly if the core of the page is staying the same. Personally, I would change it, while finding a way to migrate the current brand you've built and incorporate it into a new, larger business.

I would say if you already have it built up and people know you, it's likely not worth changing the name. Especially if what you are doing hasn't changed that much. Granted a note you could take from other companies if you are feeling like the digital marketing doesn't fit (which to me it sounds like it does especially when not the focal point) is to give a kind of child company name to the digital marketing. Proctor and Gamble do this all the time with their more famous brands under them such as Crest, Bounty, Tide, Pantene, and Old Spice. Then you can give the service a name you find more fitting but still keep what you've built with iWebDesign.