There are millions of guides and tips on building
brands ; From coming up with a
business idea to sales development tools, but there's a big hidden task that
not many people tell you before it all, and that's how to pick a brand name
from scratch.
And the importance of a brand name is not only because it looks
good in cards and logo designs, and you shouldn’t primarily choose it just
because you like it, but all of its importance boils down to the fact that it,
on its own, tells something valuable and unique to your audience.
Finding an impressive and eye-catching name, and at the same
time carries meaning within it, and most importantly, there is a domain name
available with it is not a simple task as it seems.
So in this guide, we go into detail on how to choose a brand
name that enhances your brand
identity in the marketplace, and influences your
customers in the long run.
Criteria for choosing a brand name
Before we get started, it's important to know the criteria to be
judged to know if a brand name is sufficiently different and impactful, or
needs another brainstorming.
for example; And in research by the University of Alberta
in Canada in 2010, they found that consumers tend to be positively influenced
by companies that have a lighter frequency in their name, such as Coca-Cola and
Kit-Kat.
And while there really isn't a magic formula for choosing a
super unique brand name, there are some traits that enable you to judge the
name choices you have in mind, narrowing the list down to more relevant,
valuable, and, of course, innovative names.
These features are summarized in the brand name:
Meaningful : It alone can tell the whole essence and story
of the brand, build an integrated picture for the audience, and most
importantly, leave a positive impact in their minds.
Distinctive: to be
unique, at the same time easy to remember and distinguished in the crowds of
competition.
Easy: It's easy
for the audience to understand, pronounce, and find on search engines and other
marketing platforms, even if it's a strange name, it should at least remain
comprehensible.
Protectable: That
is, you can protect its ownership and reserve (and own) the domain
name , not only legally, but also in the minds and
consciousness of the masses.
Suitable for growth with the company: It is
able to grow and expand with the company, and adapts and suits the different
products and potential branches of the company in the future.
Visually: And
finally, that you can translate and photograph it through designs, colors,
fonts, and others.
All this may help you to check and choose the perfect brand name,
but the question above all these criteria is: is this name really successful? Does it mean anything to those who targeted
them?
To come up with a name that meets these conditions, is
successful and suits the tastes of the audience, you need not only creativity,
but also planning.
Here's how...
How to choose a brand name (in practical steps)
1) Bring the essence of your brand
Before you give your brand a name, it's important to know who it
really is. And
what do you offer? And what are you trying to achieve in the
short and long term?
By branding, we mean the following:
- Its purpose: Why did you launch this company? What is the purpose and purpose they serve?
- Vision: What kind of future do you want to create and own for
your company and its customers? What does this
desired reality look like in detail?
- Mission: How do you seek to achieve these goals, objectives and
visions? Or in other
words: How do you seek to create this future that you hope for?
- Values and
Principles: What are the
foundations and principles that govern your behavior and workflow?
These four are the elements that will influence everything in
building your entire brand now and forever, not just choosing a strong name for
it.
It is imperative that you have answers to all of these questions. And if you haven't, we advise you to step back
and re-plan your brand from the beginning.
2) Define your ideal audience
More important than how to choose a brand name, is to determine
the nature of the personality and traits of the optimal audience for the brand
as much as possible.
Because if you don't know who you're making a name for, you
probably won't find anything that fits at all.
You should never, under any temptation, give your company a name
without specifying this category, and until you know the principles and goals
you are striving for.
At this point, we expect that while creating a marketing or
other plan for the company,
you have come up with a breakdown of this target audience.
The
categories of the target audience can be designed in what is known as
Customer-Persona, and it may include one or more segments of customers, each of
which includes the following:
- Name: You can
give a fictitious name to a category or groups of categories of ideal
customers.
- Age group.
- demographic
features.
- Type.
- Location.
- Personal and
professional challenges.
- Personal and
social interests.
- behaviors.
You can also look at competitors' social media pages and
accounts to gather up-close preliminary information on the nature of these
audiences.
3) Define what sets your company apart
Another thing that is indispensable in choosing a brand name is
knowing its most important distinguishing points.
In the first point, we talked about the importance of clarifying
the essence of the brand ,
which of course includes what distinguishes your company. But there are a lot of things about your brand
that make it unique and superior in the eyes of its audience.
These traits and factors may need you to explore and define or
add them entirely from the start.
for example; You may be distinguished by additional
customer service, speed of product or service delivery, availability of
after-sales services, or superior customer service. You may even be giving away free shipping or
quality packaging.
The list goes on and on with possible competitive advantages,
but you need to determine what you actually offer or would like your company to
embrace while serving its customers.
As for how to choose a brand name, you should keep these
competitive features and advantages in mind along the line. Remember, you're not just looking for a great
name, but a great name for your brand in particular.
4) Determine Archetype
Having defined your brand essence, audience traits, and
competitive advantages, now on to the task of creating and prototyping your
brand before you choose a name for it.
The main goal behind this step is to accurately understand what
the company basically means and offers, which in turn is essential to choosing
a brand name as you would expect.
In choosing a brand name, there is the buyer persona – the Buyer
Persona being the embodiment of the target customers, and the prototype – the
Archetype being the embodiment of your brand itself.
The Archetype archetype base is built on the principles of
psychology and is associated with brands and their names.
The founder of this theory, the psychiatrist Carl Jung, posits
that humans use symbolism or coding to understand complex principles through
different subdivided pathways. Each path represents a set of easy-to-understand
personality traits.
In the case of brands, archetypes are those in which the
personality of the brand matches the target audience, and is psychologically
strongly connected in their minds.
This method is highly effective for enabling companies to direct their efforts towards the right target and audience.
There are 12 Archetypes for trademarks, which are:
1) The
Innocent: The one who represents charity, optimism, vitality
and sentimentality.
Ex : Coca-Cola, Dove.
2) Traditional
- The Everyman: a brand
that is characterized by support and humility, and seeks to create links and a
sense of belonging between it and its customers.
Such as: Ikea,
eBay.
3) The
Hero: The brave
and inspiring character who strives to make the world a better place.
Such as: Nike,
BMW.
4) The
liberated - The Rebel: that
is, the character who rejects authority and revolts against restrictions and
laws.
Ex : Diesel.
5) The
Explorer - The Explorer: She
finds her inspiration in travel, adventure and challenge.
Ex : Red Bull and Jeep.
6) The
creator: Like a
creative and inventive person who finds his enthusiasm in building things of
meaning and value.
Ex : Adobe, Lego.
7) The
Ruler: The
responsible person who creates order in chaos and crowding.
Such as: Microsoft, Mercedes.
8) The
Magician: A
visionary character who wishes to create something special and turn dreams into
realities.
Such as: Apple,
Disney.
9) The
Lover: The romance that creates intimate moments full of
passion and harmony.
Such as: Victoria's
Secret, Chanel.
10) The
Caregiver: The merciful one who protects and sympathizes with
others, and is distinguished by generosity and empathy.
Such as: UNICEF,
Johnson & Johnson.
11) The
Jester: Like
joking characters who add fun to the world through humor.
Ex: M&Ms.
12) Sober -
The Sage: Committed
to helping the world through support, advice and wisdom
Like: google.
You need to ask yourself which category and description your
brand and values belong to, which ones fit their personality, and how you
would like the audience to connect with them emotionally and mentally.
To make this point, take the time to examine all the non-verbal
emotional meanings and connections that you would like to embrace and express
in the company.
5) Brainstorm
Now comes the funniest task, and perhaps the most difficult as
well.
Gather all of your team, even your circle of creative
acquaintances, and start a group brainstorming where everyone can list all the
possible names and options in their minds.
Although it would be funny if everyone could share their wild
ideas, you should, in order to save time and effort, have some guidelines or
limitations to work with. Like:
- Write down all
the adjectives and attributes that describe your service or product.
- Describe how you
would like your customers to feel when they use your exhibits.
- Make free
associations between keywords for your
products and services.
In addition to the above, there are other ways to choose a brand
name, which are according to the following divisions:
1) The
name of the founder: where
the name can be derived from a real or fictional character.
2) Descriptive
name: that
is, the name is a characteristic or feature that you provide or offer in the
company, and it may come before or after another additional name, such as
General Motors.
3) A
fictitious name: a
completely different name or word without a real origin, such as Kodak or Xerox.
4) A
metaphorical noun: such as the names of people, places, and processes,
or mythical, foreign, and imaginary names. Like Nike (Greek goddess name).
5) Abbreviated
name: It is
the name that bears the initial letters or abbreviations, such as M&Ms, which stands for Mars and Murrie, or BMW,
which stands for Bavarian Motor Works.
6) A
magical name: a name
that combines two names together, one of them is real and the other with a
false pronunciation. Like Flickr or Facebook.
Now that you know the types of names and their features. Challenge yourself and your team to come up
with several names for each category. Don't place a limit on the numbers, but make
sure that you always limit the list to names that match the identity and
meaning of the brand.
And in the process, you can turn to Onym for more
naming and etymology exercises,
tips and other valuable resources on how to choose a brand name efficiently.
You will also undoubtedly need a corporate website, so we recommend that you use Panabee to check the availability of domain names, apps, companies, and even alternative and relevant suggestions and terms.
Now to some serious work..
6) Generate name ideas
After all these divisions and preparations you have made, now
comes the task of generating and extracting ideas for your brand naming in
accordance with the personality style of your target customers and the
archetype of the company – Archetype.
In fact, there are no strict rules here, but there are some tips
and guidelines that can help you at this stage.
1) Keep
the name simple
The ideal brand name, which we're trying to help you get here,
is usually short, simple and easy to pronounce.
It is also preferable that he possess a maximum of two slits
only; Because
words of this kind are the ones that grab the audience's attention and are
usually easier to remember.
And because startups usually develop and expand their activities
in the future; So it's
smart not to make the name too specific or focused on one service or product.
A company like Footjoy that is known for producing superior golf shoes, it's not called Footjoy Golf Shoes but just Footjoy; Because it now offers a much wider range of products and services than just shoes.
2) Use
word links
It's okay to link some words together. Write down all possible words that are related
to and related to your company and its activity.
The next step is to narrow down the list of these words to the
words of highest value and significance, which deserve to be promoted to the
final examination stage.
You can combine two words to create a new one like Footjoy, or
even make up a completely new different word like Kodak or Xerox.
Now you have to do the following, in order:
- If you do not know where
to start to get
innovative ideas for names, you can use the location of the English
Thesaurus The Thesaurus ,
or
synonyms Arabic site meanings for words and
synonyms similar and related to those selected.
- You can put a
word or direct description of your company to get synonyms for it according to
your preferred language. You can even try
to get synonyms for the words you have obtained to make a wider choice.
- Collect the
results in a special table on Google or Office spreadsheets.
- Now recombine,
separate, or split the final words to make meaningful or even meaningless
words, which your job later will be to give meaning and value.
3) Expand
the range of name options
After this last task, you can continue to expand the ranges of
names you have obtained by mixing and redistributing them through the Name Mesh tool .
4) Try
other languages
If you are looking to extend your list of noun options, you may
like to use words and names from other languages. Of course we cannot specify any language; Because this is entirely up to your own desire
and taste.
But as a tip, Romance languages such as French, Spanish, and
Italian are often appropriate and influential in high-end brands such as
fashion, jewellery, cosmetics, perfumes, and even fine food.
Some Germanic languages such as German, Dutch and Swedish may
be suitable for advanced industries and technologies, such as smart device
services, repairs, technical support, and others.
However, if you do decide to use this card, use caution. Some words and terms may have two meanings or
may convey an opposite or opposite meaning.
Always check the integrity of the names with a simple Google
search or by asking a translator.
5) Refine
all options
And it's the penultimate paragraph in the journey of choosing
this brand name. The revision process is necessary so that you
do not have to test for previously used names.
- Shorten the list
of options for the most meaningful and significant.
- Use a platform
like Namecheap to check the
availability of domains for the names in your list.
- Names that you
have confirmed the availability of domains in their name, add them in the
final list of options.
- If you have a preferred name but it isn't available,
try using a different extension other than .com like country extensions
like .qa or .eg, or adding an extra simple keyword to the domain address.
7) Final nouns test
How to choose a brand name is just like how you would do
anything else within your company; It needs, like any plan, to be tested,
measured, and reviewed to ensure
its effectiveness and compliance with the objective required of it.
Before you decide on the perfect name for your brand, it is
necessary to test the final names that you have come up with; To make sure of its beauty and the ability of
your target audience to remember it.
You can ask your existing customers via Google surveys or email…
that is if your company exists and already has an existing product category.
If you are a completely
new startup ,
the test may simply be the work of market
research , surveying staff and even knowledge circles.
In the end, there are countless tips and tricks on how to choose
a brand name, and they all serve the same goal: enabling brands to have
impactful, meaningful names that enhance audience response.
Following the right paths to get the perfect name is an
essential part of the success of your brand and establishing a strong identity
for it; Because
the name has had such success in the long run.