Rebranding my business took me about 6 months. It started in early 2022 when, using two of my superpowers: investigative skills and tenacity, I hunted down a Google Search and Business expert with experience in the Moving industry.
After some persistence on my part, I convinced him to take me on as a client. Several emails and a couple of phone calls later, he asked me a confronting question. “Would I be open to changing the name of my company?”
I asked him why and his answer shocked me.
He said that the word ‘Easy’ in Your Easy Move communicated a cheap service. This was the opposite of what I wanted to achieve. After gathering myself and letting go of my ego, I thought about it and considered that he might have a point. I thought about whether I was attached to the name Your Easy Move and recalled how I had chosen the name in the first place.
Rebranding my business. Why it needed to change…
I had used advice from a book my husband had bought me. Will It Fly by Pat Flynn, and I chose a business name that ‘does what it says on the tin’. For me Your Easy Move as a business name clearly communicated what I was aiming to achieve for my clients.
At that point however, I had no idea that I would be predominantly serving a niche market of busy professionals, business owners and pre-retirees. I thought that most of my customers would be people moving to retirement villages. I decided to ask a few friends what their impression of the name Your Easy Move was. The response was mixed.
Around the same time, I discovered that there was another moving company with a similar name, and so my business was potentially being confused with this other business. I hadn’t realised this earlier because their domain name was unrelated to their business name. (Note to self – always research company names as well as similar domain names when choosing a business name). After researching this company, changing my business name became more important.
The process I used for rebranding my business…
I started thinking of different names that might better communicate what I did. It was a long and painful experience with many false starts that took me round and round in circles. I had a light bulb idea for a name but the domain was taken, another great idea – domain name taken, this one’s fantastic, but the domain name was taken… and so it went on. It consumed almost every hour of every day for weeks. Deflated and confused I decided to let things percolate while I headed off to the UK for a long-awaited trip to see family.
After a few weeks of not thinking about my business name change, I decided I would seek expert advice.
I reached out to my brother John who is a communications guru and asked if he’d act as a sounding board. So, when there was nowhere for him to go, on an hour-long journey from Manchester with the kids in the backyard, I explained my challenge.
After much discussion, John agreed that it would be a good idea to change the business name. But he suggested that in order to find the best fit, I would need to think about my WHY.
He sent me a Brand Blueprint template to complete. In it I wrote down my values, my audience, my offering, the opportunity, my why and more. We also had many conversations.
After dinner, late at night with the TV on low, mid-morning in the kitchen on his way to grab a cup of tea, in the park whilst the kids played. John helped me see what I was passionate about, what was driving me and what I wanted to create for myself and my customers.
I told him I wanted to make a difference, to help people, to be useful, to create a business that would bring enhanced wellbeing and ultimately joy to my customers. He listened with great enthusiasm and excitement (his superpower).
I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to indulge in these conversations with such an animated, engaged and supportive guide. On leaving the UK he told me he’d review the document and send a name proposal to me.
Almost there.
I arrived back in New Zealand and eagerly awaited John’s verdict, what would the name be? I could barely contain myself – the search was going to be over, finally.
A few weeks later it arrived in my inbox. I had the name – Move Well. It made sense, it clearly said what I wanted to communicate about my service.
Then, I tested it with my key partners and some branding experts – it fell flat. They interpreted it as a physical therapy service. What?! I felt completely lost again. I spoke to John, but he wasn’t concerned about the feedback, citing Apple Computers as an example.
So, forgetting about the feedback, I sat with the name. I imagined myself standing in front of an audience introducing myself and seeing how I felt. Oh, I wasn’t buzzing – it wasn’t right.
Fixated again, I did more research on brands I liked – The Natural Paint Co, Marie Kondo, Cos Clothing. I thought about why my service is different, what difference I bring, what it stands for. I wrote down words and considered countless synonyms from thesaurus entries.
The answer.
The truth is, I can’t remember exactly how and when the name came to me. What I do know is how I felt when I imagined myself saying it. I felt proud and passionate, I felt like I clearly knew what it looked like in terms of the service I was delivering, the branding, our uniforms, website photography and more.
I felt like I could embody it and feel connected to my values of making a difference, integrity, professionalism, simplicity and more. Yes, it was three words, not the magic one or two, but it worked.
And so, Move By Design was born.
There might be another name out there that would have been more succinct. More catchy or more future-proof. (I’m sure there are branding experts wondering why on earth I put myself through such a painful process). But it doesn’t matter. What I do know is that right now Move By Design is a brand I understand, feel proud of and feel passion for and that can take me to the next level of business success.
Welcome to Move By Design – bespoke moving services and personal move managers, at your service.
Move by Design offers bespoke move solutions and can help with the full spectrum of house moving services. If you’d like to know more, get in touch, I’d love to hear from you. We’d love to help make moving a joyful and easy experience for you.
Clare Gregory-Jones
Owner, Move by Design.
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