- JAXONLABS
Is Your Brand Name Right? 5 Steps To Ensure You Nail It.
Updated: Apr 14, 2023
Make it simple. Make it memorable. Make it inviting to look at. Make it fun to read. ― Gary Vaynerchuk
Few people remember a company called BackRub. However, nearly everyone knows what the company it decided to change its brand name to back in 1997, Google Inc.
Google has become one of the most influential brand names and companies in the world.
Furthermore, there are many lessons we can learn from Google and its decision to choose a name that aligned more with its vision for the company as a whole.
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BRAND NAMES: WHY DOES A COMPANY DECIDE TO MAKE A CHANGE TO ITS BRAND NAME?
One obvious reason comes to mind. As a business grows and understands more about its core business by collecting data about customers and the products and services that drive revenue, it will start to understand where it should invest their valuable dollars in brand development.
Sometimes the names we use to start our business no longer serve the purpose of connecting with our target market and reflecting our business truth.
BRAND NAMES: DOES HAVING THE RIGHT BRAND NAME HOLD YOU BACK FROM DEVELOPING YOUR BUSINESS IDEA?
If we wait until we have everything right about our business, we will probably never make any progress.
As a scrum master certified company, our approach to managing projects revolves around developing finished products, measuring user feedback and making necessary adjustments to achieve our desired goals.
In short, if you find a brand name that you can grow with from the start, perfect! If not, develop your business and brand utilizing what Hollywood calls a “working title.”
Start collecting information about your customers, and what your business's core revenue drivers are, and we can pivot your brand name when the time is right. Especially when you are in a financial position to undertake a full rebrand.
These are questions we answer for our clients on a daily basis and would like to help everyone struggling with a dilemma on how to approach this aspect of your brand development strategy.
Now here is the process we utilize to ensure you nail your brand name.
BRAND NAMES: DOES YOUR BRAND NAME ALIGN WITH YOUR OVERALL BRAND STRATEGY?
For businesses that are fully invested in developing a brand strategy, the name is one of the last pieces of the puzzle to be included.
You can visualize the feelings we want to be associated with your brand, and how the relationships in your company look like both internally and externally. And the style you’ll utilize to communicate these brand assets.
When brainstorming brand names, create an environment that is free from judgment, identify all possibilities and then start to narrow them down.
BRAND NAMES: IS YOUR BRAND NAME PRONOUNCEABLE & MEMORABLE?
The next litmus test for choosing your brand name is basic. Do people have a hard time pronouncing it, and does it stick in their brains?
You are not trying to create a vanity license plate here. Trying to be too clever can be detrimental to your mission.
Ask colleagues, strangers, and anyone to read your brand names and ask them what feelings they conjure up inside them.
If they are excited and have no issues pronouncing it, then you are on to the next step.
BRAND NAMES: IS YOUR BRAND NAME DISTINCTIVE ONLINE & OFFLINE?
You will want to start by making sure your brand name is available from a legal standpoint. You can search government registries to make sure you are not about to infringe on any copyrights or trademarks.
We also live in an increasingly digital world, so it’s valuable to make sure that you can lock down your brand name's domain name, social media channels and any other account that you may use to engage and market to customers.
The issue we face now is an oversaturated market, where sometimes we have to be creative to find a version of our brand name that is still available online.
The key is to find consistency across your channels.
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