by A business isn’t just about the product or the service itself. No matter how good your product is, if you can’t communicate the value of your business to your customers, your brand will get lost in the sea of your competitors.
Branding is one of the most important branches of marketing that is crucial in helping your business establish a unique and memorable presence in the marketplace. It’s more than just the visuals; the goal for any business is to create a top of mind brand that differentiates itself whilst instilling product awareness. A brand is a very valuable intangible asset.
The first step is of course choosing a unique brand name. A brand name is ubiquitous and it’s the first thing that your customer sees and hears about before actually buying your product. A unique brand name can potentially catapult your business into a household name. The more memorable it is, the more your customers will believe that what you sell is better.
How do you choose a unique brand name?
1. Check the name’s availability
Most beginners spent an ungodly amount of time choosing the most unique brand name only to find out later on after incorporating the business that it is taken.
Even if you are planning on establishing a brick and mortar store only, your branding should extend to online presence. It is crucial to check if an already established online website carries the name. Two different businesses that carry the brand name will create customer confusion, and will affect your conversions as potential customers will be redirected to that business that is not related to yours. What’s worse is that you will be faced with trademark lawsuits for illegal use of that brand name. It is a costly mistake that could break your bank account.
Go to godaddy.com and type in your brand name. You’ll be able to see if the domain is taken or not.
2. Make it short, concise and easy to spell
The Rule of 3
The longer your brand name is, the harder it is for your customers to remember it and pronounce it. The optimal length of a unique and memorable brand name should be 3 syllables and at most not exceed 4 syllables. If you take a look at the most popular brands worldwide, you’ll see that these brands have 3 syllables.
- Amazon
- Apple
- Ferrari
- McDonald’s
- Sony
- Starbucks
- Pepsi
- Samsung
Portmanteau
Of course there are exceptions to the rule of 3. Brands like “Banana Republic” and “General Motors” comprise of more than 3 syllables but it still works because they merged two distinct words together. The process of combining two words is called portmanteau.
Some of the most powerful brands like Microsoft, Groupon, Pinterest, Netflix are examples of portmanteaus.
Alliteration
Alliteration is the repetition of sounds or syllables in a phrase or a word. Alliteration in brand names is proven to be a more effective tool in brand recognition, awareness and memory than visuals as it allows the brain to easily recall the sound and associate it with the brand. Alliterations are catchy, hence it also immediately captures the attention of your potential customers.
Some examples are:
- Coca-Cola
- Dunkin Donuts
- Paypal
- Krispy Kreme
- Chuck E. Cheese
- Best Buy
- Range Rover
- M & M’s
- Gold’s Gym
Acronyms
Acronyms are the combination of the initials of different words to come up with a a shorter and more pronounceable single word. Acronyms can be quite tricky to form as it requires fluidity (to make it sound like there is a vowel after each consonant) to make the new word pronounceable and memorable. Acronyms can be in a form of abbreviations too.
Some examples of acronyms as brand names are:
- DKNY (Donna Karan New York)
- AT&T (American Telephone and Telegraph
- H&M (Hennes and Mauritz)
- ING Group (Internationale Nederlanden Groep)
3. Use word associations that represent your business
List down all possible adjectives and nouns that best describe the nature, product/service, or key philosophy of your business. Brainstorm with your team. Ask for possible ideas from your families and friends. If you’re still stuck in the process, feel free to use the dictionary, thesaurus, rhyming dictionaries and word generators.
Here’s a list of free brand name generators:
List them all down in a spreadsheet and categorize each words according to your own liking. Once you’ve organized them you could start the process of elimination, or you could choose to combine words at the top of your list in a form of a Portmanteau. Of course, you could tweak the spellings or repeat specific syllables to create a memorable Alliteration.
Synthetic Brand Names
You can also engineer a unique brand name that doesn’t have to be associated with a word from the dictionary. These are called Synthetic brand names. Synthetic brand names don’t have to mean anything and some of it might sound random; but the value of it comes after the business has become successful over time. It’s quite a risk using a “made up” brand name especially during the early days of a business. But if you’re confident about the business taking off, brand awareness will be much higher as you’ve created a word that is 100% specific to your business only.
Examples of Synthetic brand names are as follows:
- Xerox
- Kodak
- Sony
- Ikea
Metaphorical Brand Names
Metaphors make memorable brand names as they leverage on familiarity with the origin of a word. It helps evoke an emotional response from your customers as the essence of the original word translates to your own brand. Metaphors can give your customers an idea about what your brand stands for without having to explain it.
An example of a metaphorical brand name is Nike from the Greek goddess of speed, strength and victory.
4. Check brand name translations in different languages
So you’ve picked a brand name (out of hundreds in your list) that is unique, evocative and memorable. The next thing to check aside from its availability is if it has negative connotations when translated in another language. This is especially important if you are planning on expanding your business internationally.
It might sound perfect in english but it might sound weird and funny for your French customers; or worse, your brand name could have a stigma attached to it that might cause an unnecessary backlash. It could be a costly mistake as your brand name is an asset that is growing in value over time and changing it for a certain geographical demographic will be risky as you’d have to start from scratch with zero brand identity.
An example of a lost in translation branding is when Ford introduced The Pinto in Brazil not knowing that it means “small male genitals” in Portuguese slang.
Do you have any favorite brand names? Leave us a comment below!
