Last September, my good friend Stephanie Nivinskus of Sizzle Force Marketing did a Facebook Live all about my marketing question to her: “Should we change our name?”
Stephanie started by researching famous rebrands:
Google used to be called “Backrub.”
Pepsi was originally called “Brad’s Drink”
Hertz Rent-a-Car used to be called “Drive Yourself.”
Nike was “Blue Ribbon Sports.”
Yahoo was originally “Jerry’s Guide to the World Wide Web.”
Interesting! Huge companies often change their names, and hearing about all these successful brands helped me feel free to take the plunge!
After 37 years of Marion’s Childcare, 13 of those under my (Amy’s) watch, we were a bit plateaued. In spite of impressive Yelp reviews, stellar staff, long-standing partnerships with large corporations, and rock-solid systems to ensure client happiness, it seemed that our reach in the hotels was at its peak, and our growth in the private residence market (where there is real potential) was slow. Everything pointed to our name. Did it tell what we do? No. Did it reflect the culture of modern millennial moms and dads? Nope. Did it sound “with-it” and tech-savvy? No! It was time for a change.
After months of batting around names, Sarah (our Executive Director) and I sat down with our friend and web developer Caleb and my husband Rod. We poured over our lists of names, throwing everything out there and shooting just about everything down. Eventually, we settled on Sitterwise. It says what we do. It’s easy to spell. The domain name was available. It sounds with-it and tech-savvy. We ran with it!
The more I thought about it, the more I realized that “wise” is exactly what we look for in our caregivers. James 3:17 says, “But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.”
