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Good Time to Assess Your Position
There are times when a name change is imperative, or at least advantageous. If you’re spinning out of a large corporation. When you’ve merged with another company. When you’ve acquired a
major asset that will change your company’s direction. When your company’s reputation or position has been tarnished or eroded. When your company name no longer reflects the business you find yourself
in. When new ownership wants to disassociate itself from the company’s history.
These and other compelling reasons give you a chance to “reinvent” the corporate brand, to more strongly position it in the minds of your various constituencies, and reflect the new vision
of the company. It is a vital time, a time when attending to brand and positioning issues in light of a new corporate vision can become a powerful multiplier to corporate strength.
Signature Strategies has helped many firms - distributors, service providers and manufacturers - reposition and brand their companies. We can do the same for you. We can help you
design a branding and positioning program that reflects the new vision, differentiates you from your competitors, and creates the elements necessary to make a positive impression, and then
penetrate your target markets.
Though we normally tailor our services to the exact needs of our clients, we do provide a B2B
Name Change Package, and deliver those elements for a lower combined price, coupled with a convenient payment plan.
Basic Package: This is a set of eight elements and
activities normally required to establish a new corporate brand name. If you have already determined a name, or if you believe you don’t need all components of this package, go back to List of Services to select the activities you do need our help with.
- Consultation concerning positioning and branding strategy, providing recommendations on
positioning, and developing a comprehensive name change plan with schedule. (5 to 10 hrs)
- Creating a name that reflects your business vision, positions your business in the collective minds of your
prospects and customers, and becomes the foundation for your corporate brand.
- Creating a logo to reenforce the name and provide a visual signature for your business in keeping with your
positioning strategy.
- Creating a positioning statement that states the major way your company differs from your competitors, and states
a unique benefit.
- Creating stationery (letterhead, business card, label and envelope) design incorporating your name and logo, and
reflecting the identity which comes from consistent design elements in all corporate and marketing communications.
- Developing a comprehensive brand standards manual to help you and your suppliers use your name, logo and promotional materials in a consistent and professional manner. Will include type, color, visual and format standards as well as templates and samples of newsletters, brochures, etc.
- Writing and designing a name change brochure, and producing printer-ready art for this one-sheet, two-sided piece.
- Writing a press release for your local and trade press announcing the name change and why it’s significant. (This
can also be used in another format as a direct mail piece to customers and prospects).
Options: Three options can be incorporated at
additional, but heavily discounted cost, into the B2B Name Change Package. They are:
- Performing positioning research which provides basic information about what attributes are most important to customers about the kind of service you will offer, and how present competitors of yours are thought of in fulfilling those attributes. Unless the vital information this research delivers is already part of your competitive information system - unlikely in our experience - performing positioning research is highly recommended as a first step in the name change process.
- Performing name preference research to determine the
associations, interpretations and reactions of customers and prospects to the top three or four names you are considering for your business.
- Create promotional literature that needs to be updated because of the name change. This is a good opportunity to
revise existing literature and incorporate the new corporate elements and corporate vision. Whether the materials be four-color brochures, a set of data sheets, a folder and slip sheets, slide
presentations or videos, we can provide both writing and design assistance.
Pricing: The basic package, all eight elements, if purchased separately from
our List of Services, comes to $5,000. That assumes eight generous hours of consultation.
But with the B2B Name Change Package, the total cost for these elements, including up to ten hours of consultation, is just $4,000. That’s a 20% discount, and that means you save $1000!
That’s like getting the ten hours of consulting FREE.
In addition, we don’t demand full payment upon completing the work. With a $1200 upfront payment, we’ll divide up the remaining $2,800 into ten monthly credit card payments. Yes, we’ll
automatically bill the credit card of your choice every month in the amount of $280 for just ten months. It’s no more than most car payments, but unlike car payments, it only lasts for ten months. This
initially frees up that $2,800 to help you with the legal and accounting fees associated with a name change.
Pricing the options: Because of the out-of-pocket expenses associated with
research projects, we’re not able to bill you monthly for research.
Nor can we set a price without knowing the scope and method of research we will need to use. However, we will discount the price of completed questionnaires from $25 to $20. That’s a 20% discount off the single largest cost component of research. If we determine we need 100 completed interviews, the discounted price for completed questionnaires will be $2,000, not the normal $2,500.
We will discount the design and writing of promotional materials
by 20% as well. Our normal rate for copy and design is $75 an hour, so the discounted rate is just $60 an hour. In addition, these costs can be divided into 10 payments and billed to your credit card monthly along with the Basic Package charges. Other costs associated with literature development, including photography, service bureau costs and printing are not discounted, nor are they eligible for credit card monthly billing.
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