One of the most important steps of starting a business is creating a unique brand name. With a good name, a business can grow more than a business with a bad name, which can obstruct success.
Entrepreneurs often think that they know what it takes to create a unique brand name, but choosing a vague idea for a name can end up confusing customers. It’s not always easy or simple to create or even select a word that only looks good on paper. An effective and unique brand name is important because it ensures the business is relevant and memorable for consumers.
The name of a business should grab people’s attention and be easy to remember. These traits in a name make things such as brand awareness, marketing, and sales efforts a lot easier.
Good brand name
Creating a good brand name takes a great deal of balance between strategy and creativity. The name of a business should highlight a company’s vision, mission, and values, while also conveying its creativity and personality. Good brand names can be separated into a few different categories. Those categories include descriptive brand names which tell consumers what the business does, such as The Weather Channel. There are also blended brand names that combine two words into a new one, such as WhatsApp. Then there are evocative names that use metaphors in order to express a company’s creativity and values, such as Uber, and made-up names that take more effort in explaining, such as Google. Lastly, brand names can also be acronymic, such as IKEA or BMW.
Naming guidelines
It’s important for business people to set some boundaries when creating a unique brand name because, without a naming strategy, they can end up choosing strange names that have nothing to do with their company—and that won’t help in public relations or branding awareness. A brand name should be easy to spell and pronounce. Plenty of famous brands have run into issues regarding mispronunciation, such as Hermes and Moschino. Brand names should also be memorable so they can stick in consumers’ minds and help the business raise brand awareness to gain a competitive advantage.
Visuals
While words do hold a lot of power, brands also need their own logos. It takes about 10 seconds of looking at a brand’s logo for a consumer to form an opinion of that brand. The brand name should go hand in hand with the logo, which means it should look great both online and on paper. Companies that use names that hint at the story behind the business make it easier for their customers to connect their own values with brands. A meaningful brand name can go a long way with customers, and the popular investing platform Robinhood is a great example of this.
When developing a unique brand name, it’s best to integrate the naming process with the overall brand positioning strategy. Instead of quickly jumping into the process of naming a business, companies should take the time to develop a brand positioning strategy first, and then create a unique brand name around that strategy.
