Branding a Company
Recently, I have been considering doing another Seminar Company. Therefore, thinking about:
- Mission of the company.
- Domain names.
- Company name.
- Direct and indirect messages.
- USP. Unique Selling Principle.
- Distinction.
- Legal protection.
- Potential logo (images).
- Position in the market.
That’s a lot for a company name, logo and domain name to convey. J
So. Going over my notes, cheat sheets, and name game, to come up with the perfect name. OK. Maybe version one names. Things do change over time.
Naming a company usually means one of the following strategies:
- Acronyms: A short version of a bigger message. Examples are: KFC, HSBC, IBM, NBC, or CVS. They have a much longer name. But the short version is convenient. And can be reinforced.
- Descriptions. This is the base of my Name Game exercise, learned from one of my mentors Charles J Givens. Take the Result and some action word and combined them. To convey what your company, product, or service does. Some of mine based on this exercises were: Financial Success, Financial Edge, Click and Grow Rich, Credit Spread System, and many more. Big companies like Facebook, Insurance Quote, Citibank, Office Depot, or Groupon fall under this strategy.
- Metaphor. There are lots of existing terms, phrases, or words, we can use for a company name that have a direct or indirect message. They can tell a story without ever conveying a word. Think of: Amazon the lush green jungle, where every plant leaves. Or Nike, a GREEK god of victory. Trojan, Ajax, Mars, EOS, Olympus all mythological gods. My brother and I had (he still does), have a tree and landscape business in Toronto, Canada. It was first names Titan Tree Service (after the Titians). Later, I came up with Amazing Tree. It was a deliberate strategy, for yellow page advertising, as they are listed alphabetically, but had a nice IMAGE message (amazing). He has done well in that biz.
- Make it up. Perhaps consider a fabrication. A mix of word that suggest a message. KODAK. Did not mean anything before they branded it. OR EXXON gas. They actually made up a word that was NOT in dictionaries around the world. Of course you can take a look at existing words, and mash them together to come up with some creative. For example: VITOL, ACCENTURE, XEROX, MICROSOFT, or PANTONE.
- Dictionary. Real word you borrow. UBER means “outstanding example”. Not bad for a new company with a new concept. Sharp a product seller has a unique position in the market place. TARGET stores. Where you will find what you are looking for every time. The Target.
- Founders. The owner of the company becomes the BRAND. Tommy Hilfiger, Lauren, Ben and Jerry’s to name a few. Of course if the founder has issues (legal, personal, professional or moral). The brand can die easily.
- Change the Meaning.Taking an existing word, or image and re branding it to mean your company. The best example of this would be APPLE.
One of the major challenges now a days, is the vast number of companies, and limited names available. You might go through 10 to 100 names, before you find a domain name or company name that is not in use. Time consuming but worth it in the end, if you find a unique name or message.
For help you might consider:
Mixwords: Too that takes source words and generate random combinations.
Wordoid: A power word random generator.
Godaddy: Put your name in and see other versions.
Good Luck.