5 Mantras to Help You Name Your Brand Like A Boss
Did you know, 72% of people make purchases based on brand names? A name heralds your brand and it announces your product to your ideal audience. While a bad name can consign one to obscurity, the right name can help you come out of nowhere! As a namer and brander for over 20 years now, I can tell you that this is more important now than ever before in the history of commerce. I’ll explain why and I’ll also offer you pointers about how you can choose a name that doesn’t suck the life out of your brand.
Why brand names are now more important than ever.
Think about a YouTube video and the advert you don’t quite see and skip right before. How often do you watch beyond the 5 seconds they make you watch? Probably not very often, unless the name, the story, visuals, or a celeb catches your attention, I would bet. It’s that crucial five seconds that you and your brand and your name have to catch attention, hook their interest, and make them want to know more.
It is estimated that there’s a sea of content that bombards the senses each day – we view about 5000 ads a day on average! And that is precisely why your name has to be on point – it has to snag their interest as soon as they hear it and see it – the colors, the logo, the tagline, all of what represents a brand. And then the name you choose will be on the door, it will be on stationery, product packaging, in your adverts, promotional merchandise, everything. So you have to choose wisely because a name has far-reaching consequences – it can make or break a business!
Brand name fails and wins.
Most names are based on one of five categories:
(a) The names of people or families such as Bayer, Heinz, Bell, Ben & Jerry, and countless others. (b) Metaphoric names like Nike or Amazon.
(c) Made-up names like Instagram, Reddit, Netflix, etc.
(d) Acronyms like IBM, GE, etc.
(e) Descriptive names like BestBuy, Target, Payless, etc. Within these categories, some names are hugely successful and others are epic fails.
Not too long ago, Toro came out with a product called Snow Pup and marketed that to single women. The name didn’t work because women who were doing the heavy lifting for their families didn’t want to be patronized. They didn’t want something that sounded small and cute and ineffectual.
Imagine buying from a website that wasn’t called Etsy or getting coupons from a site that wasn’t called Groupon or pinning content at a platform that wasn’t called Pinterest? These names are so successful because they are unique, they hint at what they are about, and are relatable. I once named a sunscreen. The name I coined was Amavara Sunscreen. Ama – meaning Mother, Vara, or Vera – meaning truth. This was meaningful. It was unique and it appealed to the target audience. How will you choose the right name for your brand – something that is unique but still memorable? What will appeal to your core audience but has the potential to appeal to a wider audience or geography as well? How can you be descriptive without becoming generic? Check out this episode of Inspiration to Millions to know all about the 5 mantras for naming like a boss. Learn what works and what absolutely doesn’t.