It has been said that a “Rose by any other name would not smell as sweet”. The choice of what to name a company, organization, product or service can be one of the most important elements of the marketing mix. And yet many business owners, entrepreneurs and product managers give surprisingly little consideration to this area.
Ultimately, building a brand is a key to many business success stories. And while most brands are cultivated over many years of marketing and customer experience, not starting with the right name can be like trying to build a house on a foundation of sand. Good names offer the potential to build good brands. And here are some qualities of good names:
1. Legally Available
Sounds simple, but in a recent year there was over $2.5 billion in trademark litigation. Infringing on someone else’s trademark is like playing Russian roulette. Having a name that is too descriptive is inviting competitors to eat away at any equity you do develop.
In the world of trademarks, certain types of names are easier to protect than others. Provided you can demonstrate first use of the mark, coined or abstract names like “Exxon” or “Kodak” are afforded a lot of protection. Constructed names like “Microsoft” or left field names like “Red Hat Software” can be protected.
Surnames like “Dell” or “Ford” can work but are provided a kind of “second class” protection until they are well established. And don’t assume you have an inalienable right to name a company after your family name. Your last name may be Gallo, but there is almost zero chance you could start a winery with the same name.
Descriptive names such as “International Business Machines”, “American Telephone & Telegraph” and “Kentucky Fried Chicken” are inevitably abbreviated to more abstract initials like “IBM”, “AT&T” and “KFC”. Because they are hard to protect, there is little even mighty IBM can do from stopping an “International Business Systems” from entering the market.
2. Good Recall
Recall is the propensity for people to remember a name. The key here is to stand out. Unusual names that can be visualized are more easily remembered. “Apple Computer” is more easily remembered than an abstract initial name like “NBI” (Nothing But Initials). Here is where left field names like “Blue Hippo” shine again.
Nouns such as “Apple” or “Red Hat” suggest their logos. Adjectives such as “Progressive Insurance” are more difficult to communicate and remember. Shorter names are generally easier to remember than longer ones. “Duke” and “Yale” are easier to say and remember than University of Pennsylvania or Washington University though the latter are certainly great universities. If your name is long, people will often shorten it to say “Penn” or “Wash U”.
In today’s world, a shorter internet domain name helps too. There is less chance for misspelling it and ending up on the wrong website. “Amazon.com” and “Dell.com” have built multi-billion dollar businesses on short domains. Also, short and unique names work better with search engines. Many people don’t type in a web address but rather search on that name from their Google or Yahoo start page. A descriptive name will have millions of matches to distract those searching for you.
3. Appropriate Positioning
Brands are built in the minds of customers. Some of the best names are suggestive of benefits or attributes. A Jaguar automobile is sleek and fast like the cat. When Toyota created a brand to enter the luxury car market, they went with “Lexus” – a name that sounds like “luxury”. When Honda entered the luxury market, they developed “Acura” and positioned it on the idea of “Precision Engineering”.
Many businesses choose a name which has too wide a scope for their business with the idea that they will grow into it. As Zig Ziglar once said, “The specific is terrific”. Consider narrowing the focus of your name and business. After all, diffused light bounces off an object but a laser can cut through steel.
Even names with no obvious meaning offer a positioning of sorts. “Google” and “Squidoo” are fun and unique. These kinds of name suggest “thinking outside the box”.
What to Do?
Obviously, it is better to start with a good name out the gate. But many organizations are stuck with brands that sap their marketing energies and do little to help them move forward. For a company or organization that has been in business for a few years it is a fair question to ask whether it makes sense to change a name. In other words, do the benefits of changing a name outweigh the equity benefits of keeping the existing name?
The question is strategic. As they have learned from the marketplace, many companies have evolved their businesses into something that looks different from when they started.
In those cases, a new name can be a fresh start. It can help a company clarify their positioning in the marketplace and accelerate them into the future. Letting existing customers know of a name change is actually an opportunity. The right name will let people who have not purchased before see your organization in a different light.
Alex von Allmen – founder of BrandMother is a leading expert on brand marketing for small business. Alex has helped over 1500 small and medium sized businesses worldwide, including three Inc 500 firms, improve their clarity of vision and marketing positioning. Well known clients have included AT&T Wireless, Harvard University, VF Wrangler and Sutter Health. Alex has held product marketing, sales and finance positions with several Fortune 500 companies and startups. He has an MBA from The Kellogg School at Northwestern University.
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