A great name supports the economics of your business - The five golden rules

A great brand name can power the economics of your business, a bad one can severely hold you back.

Developing a great brand name is the difference between being memorable and forgettable . Great brand names support the economics of your business, making it infinitely easier for the consumer to remember you when they’re in market and ready to purchase.

Great names reduce your CAC, as media becomes more efficient through better conversion, allowing you to maintain a better margin.

In short, a great brand name needs to be MEMORABLE!!

Here are the five rules for choosing a great brand name.

ONE: In order to be memorable, your brand name needs to be distinctive and unique, especially for your category. A distinctive word will entrench itself in the consumers mind much deeper than something more generic. Avoid being descriptive, it’s just boring. Imagine a web browser called ‘Web Search’ vs ‘Google’.

TWO: Make your brand name easy to pronounce and spell. The end user already has to recall your brand name, don’t make it even harder for them by choosing a name that’s hard to pronounce and spell. This is particularly important for brands that rely on traffic via Google or the App store. Don’t risk losing customers just because they can’t spell your name. The pizza oven manufacturer; ‘Ooni’ recently changed from Uuni as the Finish spelling was difficult to pronounce and therefore difficult to spell.

THREE: The name should evoke the emotions/feelings you want to associate with your brand. Depending on how you choose to position your brand, you’ll want a name that either explicitly communicates your mission/benefits/values, implies them or just sounds like it supports the brand position. Think of brands like ‘Lush’ or ‘Twitter’.

FOUR: Always check the meaning in other languages. You don’t wan’t it to be a point of embarrassment. Equally, ensure that name when said doesn’t sound incongruent to the business.

FIVE: Protect it. Ensure trademarks are available in your class, that you can buy the domain and that at least derivatives of the social handles are available.