Re-Branding a company

I had always wished I had named our company something else.  I never really liked the name, and I didn't chose it, so since I am 'always right', I continuously harped on the fact that the company name doesn't even remotely describe what we do.

There were a couple of iterations over the years, adding "I.T." to the end of our name and replacing "Resources".    Then we tried a couple of variables on the Logo, but still....our company name didn't ever describe what we do or what we can do for our customers.

A brand is your most important and valuable asset.  I never felt like we were creating a "brand" with our company name.  If you google our company, we show up right at the top of the search results, but....we are also just under 'Adult Diapers'.  That made me crazy for the first year or two that we were in business.  And only two people ever really liked our company name, and both of them are very long gone!

So, how do you re-brand?

As a non-expert marketing non-guru, it seems to me that it may be rather easy.

As a non-expert marketing non-guru, it seems that there is a lot that I don't know, that I don't know.

So, here are the obvious things that must be done when re-branding:

1.  Logo Change
2.  Legal and Trademark issues
3.  Website re-design and brand
4.  Letterhead, office signage etc...
5.  Bank and Pay issues to resolve
6.  Marketing materials
7.  Customer Notifications
8.  Employee Notifications
9.  Prospect Notifications
10. Figuring out what you want your brand to be, in one month, six months, and at the end of the year.

 So....I know what the new name is, I know what the logo is going to be, I have the website finished, I even have a couple of marketing videos ready to go.

Now what?  We have hundreds of employees, in more than 40 states.  What about employee badges?  What about LinkedIn?  What about Facebook?  What about What about What about??????

Maybe this wasn't as smart as I first thought.

We'll see!   About to send out the first notification that 'something' is coming.