Rebranding on a budget:

Here’s a quick tip, the key to rebranding on a budget is to stick to the essentials. If you don’t have the truck loads of green backs, make sure you have time and patience at your disposal. Sometimes your new brand may just need time to catch on. There isn’t always such a need for a massive debut of the new brand (cue the elephants and the bed sheet acrobat circus people). Just a subtle introduction will do just as well.

Remember the purpose of rebranding is to help your prospective client base connect with your brand more. Take for example the most incredible printing and web design company in the world, Parisleaf Printing and Design. When we first launched, our name was Parisleaf Paper, llc. This was a name that said nothing about who we are in the slightest.

Parisleaf's first logo

Quick history lesson: ‘Paris’- owner Chad and Alison Paris’ last name, ‘leaf’ because they grow on trees which the environment loves. Definitely a 22nd century company. We named our company based off a combination of words relating to the environment and our last name , BUT most importantly based off of the online domain being available. www.Parisleaf.com

That said, being a branding and design firm, it never occurred to us that the ‘Paper’ part of our name might confuse us for the beloved Dunder Mifflin

SO, our community spoke. Well, technically they asked. “Like Dunder Mifflin, right?” (a beloved TV series about a paper wholesaler).  No, our dearest new and confused fans (aka mom and dad), not like Dunder Mifflin. We even took a stab at treeless paper just to go with the name, but no, ’twas the sweet nectar of design that call’eth upon’eth us. So, we rebranded ever so slightly.

…okay so we were kind of slow learners… you mean to say the ".com" doesn't answer what we are??

This was about the time we thought we were already a nationwide accepted brand and could just say something like “Coke”, “KFC”, or “Jackass”. Oh those were the days. Don’t completely discredit us for our early age onset of dementia as we are 100% rehabilitated.

So as you can see, our new logo says exactly who and what we are:

Aaah. Like a breath of fresh air. Good thing we're a design firm so we don't have to hire ourselves every time we decide we have a stroke of genius.

The goal was not for the current clients to know what we do and who we are, but for the prospective clients driving by our sign, hearing about us in a passerby conversation,  seeing us on a friend’s Facebook status, a client handing out our business card to know without a shadow of a doubt that we are a full service printing company and design firm. That we do all sorts of design like logo design, website design, graphic design, and the like. That the only thing that we have in common with paper is that we print on both sides of it. That’s right double-sided printing. Boo ya!

Chad Paris is co-founder of Parisleaf with his tenacious and incredibly awesome wife, Alison. Parisleaf Printing and Design is an eco-friendly design firm based out of Gainesville, FL. Parisleaf is primarily a Web Design Company that also specializes in green printing- primarily full-color double-sided printing, as well as logo design and graphic design. Check us out for ways to save green and go green @ www.parisleaf.com.