What's In A Brand Name? EVERYTHING

As owners, it sometimes can be hard to see, agree or admit that we view our businesses differently than our customers.

It only makes sense -- our concept is our baby, and we don't want to hand guidance over to a moron sitter. It can be tough to accept that while we’re closer than anyone to the operation, deliverables and expectations, we’re not our audience.

So, it's not uncommon for owners to make brand and marketing decisions based on their own personal opinion or emotion, rather than market appeal and function.

The first quarter of each year brings Bon’s Eye a rush of new business launches, product releases, and identity overhauls. Crafting a fresh brand name generally kicks off each of these development processes.

In 18 years of doing this for franchises, corporations and independent businesses, we've come up with a few check boxes to keep the naming convention phase rolling smoothly. In other words, we want to help key stakeholders avoid giving their babies a stupid name!

If you’re leading a similar charge with your own business identity, we’re happy to share our Naming Convention Rules of Thumb. There are all kinds of neurological synapsis that fire off to form a memory. We’ve designed these fundamentals to give brands a shot at standing out in the saturated minds of customers, while future proofing for practical application.

1.    Phonetics: Come up with a brand name that spells like it sounds. This helps with second reference. Whether a person hears your brand name over the phone, in conversion or through an advertisement, they’ll be able to correctly spell it when doing follow-up research or telling others. Think of the game telephone.

2.    Limit Syllable Count: Come up with a brand name not a sentence. For memory’s sake, names that are quick in sound, easier to spell and shorter on communication have a greater chance of sticking in brains. Two to three syllable brand names own the identity game.

3.    Function Over Flash: Don’t ditch creativity in a name. However, don’t let cleverness trump effectiveness. Names that are cute plays on words, made up or verbose, generally are difficult for customers to say, spell, and remember. These all are limitations for memory and referral.  

4.    Build For Scalability: If you’re looking to eventually broaden – adding new markets, services or product lines – don’t handcuff your brand to a short-sighted name. Use universal terms that leave room for coverage of all future versions of the business. Avoid incorporating local language into the name – i.e. city names, regional idioms, and words exclusive to a single product.

5.    Check Availability: This might be the most important rule: See if your name idea is even open for use. Run a standard URL and trademark check before going too far down the creative path.

If you allow it to, the process of brand naming or renaming can go on forever. Have some grace with yourself and stick to the identity fundamentals. Run everything through the filter: What does the day-to-day of our customers look like – their wants, needs, environments, interests? And remember, a new brand name will never feel familiar or 100% reflective of your business until it's had time to live in the market.