Steps to Creating the Perfect Brand Name
The process of creating an effective business includes several stages, each of which is important for certain reasons. Choosing a company or brand name can be both the simplest and the most difficult task. If you can’t find a name that is perfect for your business, We are ready to give you some useful tips.
Avoid Uncertainty
Your brand name should match your type of business. For example, a brand called Yum Yum immediately evokes associations with food. If you give the name of the company offering the software as a service (SaaS), it will sound ridiculous and will certainly lead to confusion for potential customers.
Make a list of the words that are most often used in your business and characterize them. Looking at a list of popular words will make it easier for you to come up with a suitable name.
The name should “sell” your brand
The name of your company should be not only well-read but also should be “speaking”. In other words, the name should describe your company, attitude, and approach to business. This does not mean that the brand name should contain a direct description of the product or service that you offer. It should unobtrusively convey the essence, experience, and advantages of your business.
For example, the name of an online retailer “Amazon” is associated with massive growth and comprehensive services.
Brand name should be easy to remember
It’s not so easy for the human brain to remember names. Why? Because of the brain stores names in short-term, or operational, memory. Our “short-term memory” can be compared with the computer. It stores relevant information only for a short period. If you open too many tabs, the system will start to crash.
The drawback of human memory is that we cannot remember absolutely everything and can forget some things. To stay in memory, the name of the company must “deceive” the brain. How to do it? The brand name must be associated with a certain feeling, attitude, or sensation.
The company name must be unique
Your company name should be “one of a kind”, and there are reasons for this from neurology. There is no doubt that such a name will firmly sit in the memory of potential customers.
Commercial reasons for this requirement are no less compelling than physiological. When a new company enters the market, it begins to compete with other companies for its target audience. If a new brand fails to attract the attention of potential customers, it is doomed. Moreover, in the era of digital marketing, the role of brand signals is rapidly growing, when the whole future depends on the uniqueness and originality of the business.
You can’t become a leader in business ratings if you choose such ordinary and uninteresting words as, say, “spark” or “hammer”. To stand out against the competition, you need to come up with a completely new word or combination of words, while not forgetting that the name should be Simple, Short, and Memorable.
The name you create must be meaningful
Sometimes people give their companies completely meaningless names and slogans. If you choose fancy (Yahoo, Google, Fogdog) or created from scratch (Novartis, Aventis, Lycos) words, you are at great risk. Think about how your name will be perceived in different countries. There are frequent cases where the name of the company caused negative or even obscene associations among representatives of other cultures.
The brand name is chosen once and for all. Not a single startup is safe from the crisis associated with the self-determination of its place in the industry. As a result, companies often change their product range, applied marketing tools, strategy, and other key business aspects. Therefore, the brand name you choose should not only meet all of the above requirements but also like you personally. It should remind you why you wanted to do this particular business, and communicate this energy and motivation to your audience.