Choosing the right brand name is very crucial in communicating what you are offering to your customers. As the brand’s name is considered as the brand’s most valuable asset, it’s important to decide what it represents and what market it targets.
How to pick the perfect brand name?
First, try to pick up 6 primarily brand name ideas that are relative to your product, your target segment, and your value proposition. Then, choose the type of brand name you want.
Types of brand names:
- Descriptive: The name should clearly describe your business service or product as well as plainly communicate the brand’s story. For example; Toys’R’Us, Pizza Hut, General Motors, etc.
- Evocative: Evocative names metaphorically map to the positioning of a brand and keep it in mind. They are singular and creative, and they create a chance to establish a deeply meaningful brand that is larger than merely the goods and services it offers. We can state for instance; Nike, Amazon, and Virgin.
- Invented: If you face some troubles finding the right name for your brand, you can always invent a great one. These types of names are fanciful and creative, and they are used due to the lack of finding the correct brand name. Some examples may include, Zalando, Kodak, Xerox, etc.
- Lexical: To be more memorable, lexical brand names focus on wordplay. Which means that they get their impact by combining or changing existing words for linguistic effect. Certain examples are; Dunkin’ Donuts and Facebook.
- Acronym: Naming a product or service with an acronym was used since the beginning of branding. Brands like IBM, IKEA, H&M, and CNN are meaningful in their own right today, even if people have long forgotten what the initials stood for. For instance, if we take the word “Laser,” it stands for “Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation.” If you ask someone about it, no one has the time to remember the full name and would definitely choose to abbreviate.
- Geographical: Brands are sometimes strongly bound to the regions where they were founded. Naming your company after its home territory naturally limits you to a certain market, e.g, Tunisair, France24, Miami Grill, etc.
- Founder: Founder-based labels are less popular these days, but brands such as Ben & Jerry’s, Martha Stewart, Ralph Lauren, and Mrs. Fields sure did make them successful. These types of names surely require some more marketing efforts to build up their equity.
What would it be like?
It’s true that the naming types are limited, but the actual list of potential brand names is seemingly endless. Whatever type of brand name you eventually end up using, it’s important to remember that there’s no magic formula for that.
You would simply want something that is:
- Meaningful in a way that reflects your brand essence
- Distinctive from others in a unique and memorable way
- Accessible to people and can be easily perceived
- Protectable as it can be trademarkable
- Future-proof as it can grow with the company and maintain its significance
- And finally Visual as you can use style to translate it and communicate it
Note that branding is a critical task that needs dedication. If at some point in the process you get confused, try getting in some support.
References: https://www.columnfivemedia.com/how-to-choose-a-brand-name
