Everyone trying to establish a strong brand must understand that one mistake, particularly one concerning your chosen brand, can undo all your hard work.
Brand names influence and shape the identities of the companies they represent. As a result, if you want your brand to succeed in its field, make sure its name correctly captures the principles of your company.
The exciting news is that there are various ways to select the appropriate company name for your brand, from brainstorming to using a business name generator or crowdsourcing company names; finding a great brand name has never been easier.
Nevertheless, no matter what path you choose while selecting the best name for your business, be careful and avoid the following mistakes that could damage your company’s brand image.
1. Commonly Misunderstood Brand Names
Businesses with the same political, social, and environmental viewpoints as their customers tend to attract more of their target customers. Customers hold strong opinions on these sensitive issues.
Although some could see it as a PR stunt, if your company chooses to address these issues, even if it’s not through your brand’s name but through your company’s ads or messaging like Gillette, you’ll end up excluding a huge chunk of your audience since people who disagree with the causes you promote are less likely to buy your merchandise or use your services.
Furthermore, using cringe-worthy names like ‘Pee Cola,’ ‘Spank Me Santa Lipstick,’ or ‘Druggie’ can result in serious consumer disdain.
2. Excessively Complex Brand Names
We urge businesses to avoid complex names like ‘WeAretheSuperlativeConspiracy,’ ‘Aeropostale,’ ‘Troglodyte Homunculus,’ and ‘Euymhod.’ These sorts of names are unnecessarily difficult for consumers to say or type when searching online.
Not to mention that if your name is not short and memorable, a good portion of your clients will find it hard to recall your company name, much alone recommend it to their relatives and friends. But if you can’t help it, consider using abbreviated versions of your names, like IBM and 3M.
While naming your brand, make it your core priority to create short, unique, and memorable names since 80% of consumers forget about branded materials within three days.
If you want your company’s name to stick with your clients, it must be unique, excellent, and easy to say. From our experience, short and straightforward names will always capture your customer’s attention faster than long and complex ones.
3. Bizarre Foreign Translations
The beauty of giving your business a strong online presence is a fact that customers from across the world would be able to reach out and connect with your business. But having an international identity also comes with its challenges. One of which is picking a brand name with a bizarre meaning in a foreign language.
And if your company name is offensive in your target audience’s local language, these potential clients will be hesitant to try your goods or services. A great example was how Mazda’s Laputa and Nokia’s Lumia—two popular products worldwide—were rejected by Spanish-speaking people since the names of these products meant ‘prostitute’ in Spanish.
We advise entrepreneurs not to limit their linguistic research while naming to just one language. So ensure you perform extensive research before deciding on a brand name. This way, you can guarantee that your selected name would be acceptable to your clients from different countries.
Therefore, whether you’re managing a local, texas-based business or an international firm, make sure you do a language test to find out how people from various cultures understand and interact with your brand name.
4. Picking a Name Choice Based on Your Emotions
Most people will have some kind of emotional attachment or preference when asked to select the best name choice from a list of potential options, and this is often the case when naming an idea, product, or service.
But throughout the naming process, resist the temptation to allow your emotions to prevail over customer research. Choosing a name based purely on your personal preference rather than a comprehensive examination of your consumers and company’s requirements will result in a weak name that won’t connect with customers.
Your personal preference should only be allowed after you’ve properly researched and selected a few names that align with your target audience.
Prioritize Your Customers
We know it sounds like a cliche at this point, but most founders forget that the purpose of their business is to serve its customers. Therefore, do everything within your ability to prioritize the desires and demands of your customers.
Most businesses struggle because their founders don’t concentrate on their organization’s and consumers’ primary needs. This often causes their customers to lose interest in their brand. No customer would love to patronize a business they feel doesn’t care about their needs.
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The best way to show customers that you care is to pick a deeply researched name that’s easy to understand has pleasant meanings in different languages and isn’t unnecessarily complicated. Picking a great name would save you from rebranding your business after a few years.
Grant Polachek is the head of branding for Squadhelp.com, 3X Inc 5000 startup and disruptive naming agency. Squadhelp has reviewed over 1 million names and curated a collection of the best available names on the web today. We are also the world’s leading crowdsource naming platform, supporting clients from early-stage startups to Fortune 500 companies.