Recently, I had the opportunity to speak at a local middle school’s career day. My task: expose young people to different careers. I gladly accepted the challenge, because if you know me you know, I love to talk about marketing and also have a passion for sparking something great in young people. During our interactive exercise one of the students asked if the brand or product they were creating could have the same name as something else. Another shared that the task was harder than he thought it would be. Some groups teamed together. Others tried to do it alone.
The student that said creating a brand name is harder than you think was right. Naming your new company or product can be challenging and arguably one of the most important elements to building your brand. You want yours to stand out among the many companies and products in the market. You want to find a name that has meaning that people can and will remember. Long-term success is the ultimate goal. There are so many factors that come to mind that could be important when choosing a name.
Epiphany, for example, is a word that has a lot of personal meaning to us, but is also unique and easy to remember. (We kind of like it by the way.) Names like Nike, Coke, Apple and Dell are other examples of names that have meaning and stand out in the crowd. So how do you go about choosing a name for your company or product?
Define your process
Much like the students in my workshop, some choose to go it alone, and some form teams. There are several proven methods to naming a company or product. Choosing the name generating exercise that fits with you, your team, industry product and demographics is key. Product Concept, for example is described as ‘the process of developing ideas, concepts and perceptions you want to create around the product and in the prospect’s mind.” Rhonda Kaleis Taylor, Forbes, describes this process in detail in the article on effective product naming. While I have not used her method exactly, she points out some key steps that I have used and does a nice job or outlining the process.
Steps to consider:
Build a team – Designing or deciding by committee is never fun. But, if you build a diverse team you will gain perspectives, concepts and ideas you would have never thought of. Plus let’s face it being the Lone Ranger of brand building is overrated.
No idea is a bad idea – Write down every idea that is thrown out by your team. You never know as the process evolves if one of the ideas will end up being gold. Plus, creating a safe place to share ideas will help spark epiphanies and not extinguish possibilities.
You better ask someone – Establish some sort of market study, a survey, or focus group to run a few of the concepts by. Vetting ideas is always smart before money is spent on printing and launches.
Use protection – Many people don’t see the need to have a patent or IP attorney. This is a huge risk. At the very least do a quick search on the patent websites. If you have a relationship with a patent attorney, it is worth the time and money to ensure no one else is using your name and also to protect yourself from others stealing it in the future. (If you don’t know anyone, we have a guy – you’ll like him!)
Trust of the process – Many people get in a hurry and think exercises, like a product concept or waiting on the attorney to provide the go ahead, are a waste of time and only delay their launch. Trust in the process and the timing. The exercises will be worth it in the end.
Much like in life, while all of this is a recipe to success there are no guarantees in marketing. However, I can assure you that being thoughtful and thorough never hurts. If you need help finding the perfect name for your company or product, consider adding Epiphany to your list of team members, we would love to help you come up with the next great idea to set you up for long-term success.
