I was recently asked the following question:
My current company name does not reflect what we do, should I change the name?
This was my answer, a few people said I should share it, hope the words of wisdom that follow are useful, please feel free to comment or pass on to others.
This is a potential mine field.
If you want to get any business from the internet and search engines then it is highly beneficial to have a domain name that includes the sort of thing your customers may be looking for, (remember they look for their problem normally, not your company or solution). If you get a good domain name, i.e. one people are likely to search for you are 9 out of 10 steps towards hitting page one of Google... (it is not quite the easy but a good start).
You can check domain name availability online quickly and easily, try 123reg.com. Don't be tempted to buy a .NET or another strange extension if the .co.uk and .com you want have already have gone, especially if a competitive company has it registered as you will simply end up sending prospective customers to your competitors.
Think about all your stationery, and any directory listings you have, also think about any advertising that may still be 'live'. This could be a nightmare. It will take time and effort to change, can you remember where you have registered your company details?
Do take advice on trade mark protection. You would not be the first person to be forced to change your company name, surrender your domain name, throw out a stock of perfectly good promotional material, completely re-brand... And then pay out again for the new collateral. It happened to me and I had taken advice from my accountant before registering the original company, turned out the advice was not good enough. When I received a nasty letter from a firm of London solicitors suggesting I might like to change my company name etc it then took the lawyers two attempts/bills to arrive at consensus when they concluded that my best course of action was to back down rather than go to court and risk facing costs. Check with an IP specialist.
Other than that, if you have a name that has nothing what so ever to do with what the company actually does and you want more clients read "positioning the battle for your mind by jack rees and al trout." THE ANSWER TO THE ORIGINAL QUESITON IS THAT IF YOU WANT MORE CUSTOMERS AND YOUR BUSIENSS NAME IS WORKING AGAINST YOU RATHER THAN FOR YOU – CHANGE IT AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE.
Hope this helps, if you want to know more get in touch - www.irunsolutions.co.uk happy to point you in the right direction.
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