7 Ways to a Better Brand Name
A good brand name should ideally capture and communicate everything you absolutely want to say, while hooking in the people you want to reach. It’s much harder to build up a business with a bad brand name than it is with a good one.
Here are a few tips to keep in mind when coming up with better brand names.
1. Keep it simple
The fewer (easy-to-pronounce) syllables, the better. It shouldn’t look ridiculous on a letterhead or a business card. Even Kentucky Fried Chicken changed their name to KFC, not because it sounded generic or because they didn’t sell real chicken as the joke goes. It just made their brand easier to remember, even in markets that don’t speak English.
The change also made it easier to include it in logos.
2. Think of your (present or future) domain name
If you plan on expanding your business, you might want to consider a name that would be easy to turn into a solid, easy-to-remember domain name.
Check if anyone currently owns the domain you want. If no one else is on it, claim it asap.
3. Try to be different
The main point of a brand name is to differentiate one product or service from similar offers from the competition. If your brand name’s too similar to your competitors’, then you might want another name. This will help keep you safe from trademark lawsuits.
It goes without saying, you should check if the name you had in mind already exists.
4. Don’t make it too cute
This might be the wrong kind of “different”. While puns might draw attention to your business, is it the kind of attention you need?
While a lot of people will have no problems eating at The Greasy Wiener (an actual, highly-rated food truck in LA), it’s hard to imagine that joke not getting old. You’ll be hard-pressed to find respected companies with names that started as a joke. A name that doesn’t rely on a gimmick is easier to keep as your company grows.
5. Choose a name that means something
Make it refer about your industry, your history, or choose a name that describes your product or service. Or just make it evoke imagery that means something positive for your audience.
A name that provokes some sort of discussion about your company will help strengthen brand recognition.
6. Don’t think about it too much
If you’ve already got a pool of names to choose from, then just get it over with. If you’ve followed all the above and still can’t decide at this point, one name’s probably just as good as another. As far as we can tell, a generic name did not hurt Texaco and Microsoft.
7. Can’t think of a name yet? Hire someone to do it.
This actually makes more sense than a new entrepreneur might be willing to admit. We’ve all seen horrible brand names at some point and you wouldn’t want to be one of them, do you? There are plenty of smaller marketing firms out there that would probably do a much better job than most novice business owners can do themselves.
While a good name can help, how you actually build and run your enterprise will ultimately be a bigger factor in shaping how the public looks at your brand.
SOURCE: YouTheEntrepeneur
