How important is a brand name? The answer is critical.

So you’ve got a new brand or product and you’re feeling blank about what to call it.

You can engage an expensive consultant to help you to work this out – or you can follow the dos and don’ts of naming new brands below (plus a stay out of jail card, absolutely free) and have a crack at it yourself.

The most important thing that you need to do when you create a new product or service is to provide that product or service with a name.

Why? Because it’s names that people remember. Names become brands and brands facilitate the selling of your products or services.

A great name lasts a lifetime. Just ask the Monopoly Man.

How to Name Brands.

Rule#1: Avoid line extensions.

Don’t fall into the trap of applying your existing name to everything. And this is especially true if you are launching a different product, to a different market, for a different budget. Despite having existing brand goodwill for something else, the rules are that the more you stick your brand name over something, the weaker it becomes.

An old but classic example of this was Levi Strauss’ disastrous move into business suits (that were branded Levi Strauss). The buying public associated Levi’s with jeans not suits. The branding was a disaster.

Rule #2: Don’t pretend to be something you ain’t.

Don’t call yourself a corporation (or similar) unless you are registered as such. You will find that it is illegal – and you will not pass go, you’ll go straight to jail.

Besides that, your customers will think you are trying to dupe them. Customers don’t generally buy from untrustworthy businesses.

Don’t call yourself the same thing as your competitors. Check name availability in Australia by visiting ASIC.

Rule #3: If it’s going on packaging, make it short.

If the name has to appear on a piece of packaging for a shop, make it short. Names like “Scratchy White Stuff that Rids Bacteria On Kitchen Bench” are not practical, but “Jif” is. Practically speaking, the first is too long to fit on the packaging.

Rule #4: Avoid geographic names.

Avoid names that limit you geographically if you have plans for growth. Names like “Australian Pensioners Society” limits your market to Australia, “Melbourne Tea Shop” might mean you can’t move easily into Sydney.

If the reverse is true, and you want to create a local brand, then apply this naming strategy. It can be helpful in creating a “village” image. If you adopt this naming strategy, you might have multiple retail stores – but each one has the village’s name in its brand.

Rule #5: Avoid acronyms.

Long-winded, boring names are not easily remembered so companies shorten them to an acronym. This was once a popular naming strategy (Qantas, GE, IBM) but it doesn’t work as well today. Head towards short, catchy, simple words that can lock into a consumers mind and stick there.

Rule #6: Try to communicate something.

The more your name communicates to consumers, the less money you have to spend to educate them. So make up names (Kodak, Canon, Xerox) if you have a marketing budget to get it off the ground.

What’s your brand’s personality? If it’s fun, make the name fun. If it’s modern, make the name modern. Try to communicate your personality as part of your name.

Some naming experts advocate coined words (linguists call these morphemes) where there are two word segments brought together (Microsoft is an example). They argue that by taking meaningful word segments (in other words, word segments that leave the right impression), you can create a meaningful brand name that conveys all the things you want it to convey.

Rule #7: Think globally.

Don’t pick names that translate badly in another country if you think you might export or trade there one day.

Rule #8: Check the domain name availability.

Check to see if the domain name is available (dot com is best). If it’s not, try another name.

Rule #9: Avoid committees.

Committees are great in theory and impossible in reality. You’ll never get agreement. You just can’t please everyone. Someone has to be the maverick and put a stake in the ground.

Rule #10: The rules change for online brands.

The most successful brands online are not generics. You don’t buy books from bookshop.com, you buy from Amazon. You don’t use search engine.com, you use Google or Yahoo! You don’t go to jobs.com.au – most people go to Seek.

What they have in common is memorability. They are short and easy to remember. They are also easy to spell. Don’t get clever with spelling. You’ll confuse website visitors. Try to keep it simple, Simon.

5 Steps to Naming a Brand.

Step #1: Think about what the name needs to convey – what you do and your personality.

Step #2: With your friends or associates and a very big piece of blank paper, draw up a long list of options.

Step #3: Match the options against criteria (your own and as described above) and come up with a short-list.

Step #4: Check your shortlist against trademarks to see if they are available.

Step #5: Pick the one you like best.

That’s it. Too easy. Pop your creative hat on and play away.

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