PPB September 2019

to be created. You will probably be able to apply to transfer your existing audience to a new page but check the platform’s requirements before making any changes. For example, you might be required to submit a published press release to corroborate your brand change request, which requires advance coordination with your PR department. Step 8: Set Up A Paid Advertising Campaign Revisit your website’s analytics. Which search engines drive the most traffic to your site? Consider creating paid advertising campaigns on these search engines to increase awareness of your brand change. The strategy here is to bid on both your old brand name as well as your new name for the first six months after Launch Day. Create ad copy that acknowledges the old name and the new name and creates a buzz around it. We want search users to want to learn more about your company and feel positive about the brand change from their first interaction with it. Benefits Of A Paid Search Campaign During A Brand Change If any one of your existing customers is going to Google, Yahoo or Bing and typing in your company’s former name, they should be able to easily recognize that the brand changed and why. Remember when we discussed setting your Launch Day to coincide with a larger event or conference back in Step 1? This is because attendees for those events often turn to their phones to quickly research companies they encounter at the events, or for details about speakers and sessions at the event. For our success story, we piggybacked on the swell of search traffic that was doing searches during the conference. We did this in two ways: targeting the geographical location of the conference, and bidding on conference-related terms. It allowed our new brand to get in front of a specific target audience that we knewwas relevant to the company. See Figure 2 for an example of a paid search ad piggybacking on an event. We got in front of the conference attendees minutes after Cecelia Health presented on the mainstage, which led to a spike in engaged traffic for the rest of the conference. Step 9: Set Goals And Report Back After 30 Days Before Launch Day, set some goals to inform your launch performance metrics. How Do I Set A Traffic Goal For My Brand Launch? Use your existing reach and audience and add 20 percent for a tangible goal. In order to calculate your existing reach and audience, take a look at the following metrics: • Average website page views or visitors per day • Followers on each social media platform • Industry benchmarks for click- thru rate and cost-per-click for ads platforms • Average social post engagements (per post, organic or paid) Take your average views and set a goal for impressions to reach 20 percent more than your existing average. For engagements, set a goal for 20 percent more engagements than your average. Knowing your existing audience size and average engagement rate will help you gauge whether you reached new audiences during your rebrand or are simply engaging more with your existing audience. For our sample, we established the following goals to gauge the success of the entire launch campaign, which lasted for seven days including Launch Day: • 2,500 impressions on social posts • 4,000 ad impressions • 250 engagements on social platforms • 2,500 website pageviews • 1.95 pageviews per user New Brand, Better Results No matter how established your brand is or how far-reaching your rebranding campaign is, having an actionable strategy and timeline in place will set your company up for success. Follow these steps to bring your old audience along, as well as grow and engage your audience moving forward. Theresa Keller is digital marketing strategist at distributor Digital Marketing Group in South Burlington, Vermont. Figure 2. SAMPLE PAID SEARCH If any one of your existing customers is going to Google, Yahoo or Bing and typing in your company’s former name, they should be able to easily recognize that the brand changed andwhy. | SEPTEMBER 2019 | 79 THINK