By Owen Fay . Posted on February 17, 2023Brand names surround us every minute of our lives. We drink our favorite brand of coffee in the morning, brush our teeth with a definite brand of toothpaste, and drive to work in a familiar car model. Nowadays, almost every name of an object is associated with a brand name, and sometimes the brand in everyday language replaces the name itself: I left my Ford in the parking lot, where is my Apple? If your task is to create a brand name that also appears in everyday speech, becomes a living reflection of the product, and evokes lasting associations, you will have to work hard. It is better to familiarize yourself with the Brand Name Guide, which will make solving your task much easier.
1. Creating a Brief
Your brand has only 7 seconds to make a first impression. It is important to make it significant, so you should write clearly and thoughtfully what you want in your name:
- Either the name must be directly related to the product (Big Burger), be the name of the owner or founder of the company (Tom Ford), or have a geographical reference (Amazon);
- The length of the name plays the biggest role in its success. Plenty of brand managers believe that the shorter it is, the better, so there are a lot of brand names on the market that consist of 3-4 letters. The acceptable length, which is perfectly memorable and easy to use, is 3-4 syllables.
- Could it be an abbreviation or a combination of parts of several words? The research has shown that 72% of the best brand names appeared from words or acronyms. There are enough examples in the branding world: Tesco, BMW, KFC, Adidas;
- You can also use a few short, similar-sounding words in the title: Chop-Chop, Coca-Cola, and TikTok.
Use the briefing to include all the details. With its help, the contractor will understand what kind of result you expect and create a successful designation. He will solve the tasks and meet your expectations. The briefing must separately indicate what not to use in the title. For example, not all company owners want their names to be neologisms, and some of them do not allow the use of first and last names in the brand name in any form.
Another mandatory question of the briefing is whether the brand name should be used unchanged in the website address. If yes, the use of symbols is limited, especially since you still need to check the name for free domains in the selected zone.
2. Entry Into New Markets
Today the market is unpredictable, today, you are creating a name for a start-up, and tomorrow or a year later, it will be an international conglomerate with branches around the world. Therefore, you first need to consider positioning the brand identity in the international market. This leads to the next problem – linguistic perception.
There are many examples when the name of a company had to be changed locally, or something in the spelling was changed when entering the market of a certain country. The most striking example that is given to all novice brand managers is the name of the Toyota MR2 model. When entering the French market, the company faced the problem of pronunciation and translation of the model name into French: MR-Deux, consonant with the French merde, which means “shit.” It is hard to imagine what would happen to this model on the market if marketers did not bother themselves too much and did not analyze the name in the languages of all countries where the concern was going to sell its cars. Such verification takes a lot of time, but in times of globalization, it is necessary.
3. Name Protection
This is an extremely important point, especially if there is an exit from the international market in the future. Be sure to consult with lawyers on how to protect the name, which names can be used, and which ones cannot. Some large companies are proactive and register several names at once for future use. That is, you created a name, you have never heard of it, and it is not mentioned anywhere, but this does not mean that your name no longer has an owner who will then legally take your brand from you, or rather his name. Therefore, it is immediately necessary to check all the options that were invented for legal “purity.”
4. Writing Rules
This is a very, very important point. Even if it seems to you that your company is very far from being mentioned in the press or on the Internet, spend extra time and effort creating rules for using and writing the name in open sources of information.
A striking example is Yahoo! Even now, the idea arose of how to write it, with or without an exclamation mark. The situation is even worse with the name, which? If the sentence is written incorrectly, then the reader can bring the name into context and meaning, like a word, moreover, an interrogative one. It is especially difficult with such titles in the headlines.
How to write the name of brands such as ASDA, ASUS, etc. the company writes its name everywhere in capital letters only. But the problem is that these words are not an abbreviation, so according to the rules of the language, they should be written normally, the first letter in uppercase, all the rest in lowercase. As a result, the names of these, and hundreds of other brands, are written in the press and in the electronic media, whoever wants. From this, recognition is lost, the very essence of naming, its uniqueness
https://www.oberlo.com/blog/branding-statistics
Another important point is the pronunciation and spelling of the brand name in other languages. Remember that only someone who is impeccably literate has the right to indicate how the name of the company is spelled correctly. Therefore, all documents, appeals, manuals, just promotional articles, and press releases that you write for your company should be checked against writing services by Essay Tigers, which will allow you to avoid any awkward situations and incidents in writing.
Creating a separate translation, transcription, and spelling guide for each country is recommended. This will help maintain the global integrity of perception. Of course, it is impossible to control absolutely all users and authors who will mention or write about your company. Still, at the official level and in reputable electronic versions of magazines and publications, you must adhere to a single style in each country.
How to Test Your Brand Name
Brand name testing is critical. Since the way naming is perceived by the target audience greatly affects the success of the company as a whole.
To understand which name will be best perceived by the target audience, you need to select a list of possible options. After that, survey users. Make sure the sample is large enough. This will make the test results more accurate.
Prepare questions or ask respondents to write associations that evoke the suggested names. Next, you need to do an analysis. Choose the name that best represents your brand values ​​and positively impacts your target audience.
Conclusion
The brand name is fundamental to the company. Its creation must be approached carefully and deliberately. Use our recommendations to develop a powerful naming that will reflect the brand values ​​and create a favorable image for the target audience.
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