The most important strategy in building brand awareness is to name your brand or product. 88% of companies eventually exited the market due to careless naming. In the long run, a brand is just a name, because the unique selling point or concept of the product is gone, leaving only the difference between the brand name and the competitor's brand. A good name is the best guarantee for a business's long-term success.
Brand naming is a science. You can use a paragraph to describe the benefits of the product, or you can use a very creative sentence to condense the essence of the product. However, in just a few words There are also some subtle personality traits and mysteries in the words. When naming, the author believes that the following 13 principles should be paid attention to.
1. Based on the personality of the product
Shakespeare said: "A rose would not be so fragrant if it were called by another name." It can be seen that the name will change people's view of the personality of the product. . Brand naming must be based on product differentiation characteristics and tell potential consumers a brand positioning, such as Head & Shoulders "anti-dandruff" shampoo, Midea "antibacterial" water dispenser, and Yingxue "moisturizing" shower gel. However, according to the naming of the product's characteristics, the characteristics of the product should not be the uniqueness of all products. For example, "pure draft" beer includes Qingdao "pure draft" beer, Zhujiang "pure draft" beer, and Budweiser "pure draft" beer. "Pure draft" has become a common name. Product uniqueness doesn't make your brand shine, and sometimes, they become a liability.
At the same time, the name must have its own personality so as not to be overwhelmed by the market. According to the personality characteristics of the product, the name can be considered from two aspects: efficacy and emotion.
2. Seize the opportunity
Naming is like driving a racing car. If you want to win, you have to seize the opportunity. At each stage, as the market changes, people's appreciation habits will also change. Naming should also keep up with cultural trends, because names can become outdated. In the era of planned economy, many enterprises were named after revolutionary slogans, such as "Liberation" and "Nationality", and some were named after local industries, such as Harbin Pharmaceutical Factory No. 6 and China FAW Group Corporation. The image will lag behind at any time, and companies should take measures to change their image and make themselves more spiritual. For example, Midea Group was called "Mingzhu" brand before 2000, and was changed to "Midea" brand in 2008. In 1999, it was changed to "Midea" in English.
3. Short, eye-catching and easy to remember
In order to show the difference from other brands, many companies often choose some very long names. The result is counterproductive. This naming method, It is extremely easy for consumers to confuse and also causes trouble for the company itself. For example, if the name has seven or eight characters, it will be very cumbersome for the front desk lady to answer the phone to sign up, which will undoubtedly cause inconvenience in communicating with people. Therefore, short naming can achieve good results by being short and concise, and has now become the pursuit of many enterprises and the development trend of the times. Today, some of the brands we are familiar with are all like this, such as 999, Baisha, Midea, Gree, Chunlan and so on.
People should also pay attention to how to find it easily in the phone book when naming. If it is easy to find in the phone book, it will be easy to spread.
4. Easy to speak, catchy, and easy to spread
When you were a child, you learned to speak first and then to read. Recognizing words is slow and laborious, because you have to read them out to connect the words with the pronunciation in your brain. The brain relies on the ears to operate. If the brand name is difficult to pronounce, difficult to pronounce, and difficult to pronounce, it will be difficult for consumers to remember it. On the contrary, names that are pleasant and catchy are easy to remember, and are “succinct, concise and clear at a glance”, such as “Meide”, “Lenovo” and “Flower World” are typical examples. These trendy and catchy names can save companies a lot of advertising costs. During the Spring Festival, I received a text message from Xiamen University teacher Zeng Jing: "I wish you a happy Year of the Horse, in everything, in mood, in work, in love, every day, every day, every month, every year, every year, forever." There are 11 brand names in one message.
5. Use less numeric codes and less English abbreviations
Engineers and scientists who prefer their own inventions do have many lovely things, they are afraid of "the world will not be chaotic." Some product names are represented by letters and numbers.
The professional codes in these industries make consumers feel like they are in a cloud. For example, during the early promotion of Midea's microwave oven model, many people could not tell the specific model. The author changed it to "Nutrition Star" microwave oven, which quickly opened up the market and successfully pushed Midea's microwave oven into the top two in the industry. So far I still don’t know what “Colgate 100” means?
As for the naming method of English abbreviations, companies should try not to use English abbreviations, because there are only 26 letters, and the number of English abbreviations in the world is Tens of thousands. Today, Chinese companies must try their best to avoid imitating the naming methods of IBM, RCA, GE, and TCL. They have become a fixed image in the minds of consumers. Even if they have English abbreviations, they must be prepared. Spending a lot of advertising money to patiently tell consumers what "A" stands for or what "B" stands for. This kind of communication is complicated and easily confusing. Familiar English abbreviations have been focused on creating new fonts in naming, and English abbreviations are rarely used to distinguish them from other brands, such as IBM. People are always familiar with the full name first, and then know the abbreviation.
Generally, the five most commonly used first letters are S, C, P, A, and T, and the five least commonly used first letters are X, Y, Z, Q, and K. One in eight English words begins with S, and only one in 3,000 words begins with X.
The average popularity of companies whose respondents use "abbreviations" is 49, while the average popularity of companies using "full names" is 68, which is 19 higher.
6. Don’t imitate and don’t base yourself on the past
What worked in the past may not work now or in the future. Someone else's good naming may not work for you. In the current chaotic market situation, name cloning has become common. "Rejoice" became "Flowing Silk", "Beautiful" became "Meide", "Good", "New" and "Dragon", and even the words "Beautiful" appeared in the middle It's so small that it's almost invisible, but everything else is exactly the same. Science and technology constantly innovate new products and improve old products. However, these products often have flaws when they come out because they have second-rate names that imitate others.
We are not saying that the company will never change its name. On the contrary, nothing in the world remains unchanged. Times are changing, products will become outdated, the market will rise and fall, and corporate mergers are common. When the time comes, companies must change their names. So the old approach of “building on the past” may lead to a company name that’s neither fish nor fowl. Forget the past, reposition yourself, and you will definitely have a new corporate image.
7. Don’t advertise yourself
Often when our companies are named, they like to pursue “tall, big, and strong”, such as “dragon”, “giant”, and “overlord”. ” and so on, so that consumers are very disgusted with this. When naming a company, you should move potential consumers from their hearts and think about issues from the consumer's perspective. Don't advertise yourself, otherwise, the end result will be more losses than gains. Consumers will not "identify" because of your self-bragging. Nowadays, mass consumption has become rational. If you have a "big name" without "big profits", consumers will of course leave you. You need "fame" but not "profit".
8. Prepare for brand extension
One thing to consider when naming a company is to prepare for future corporate brand extension. If the company becomes bigger in the future and wants to extend outwards, will this current name still be suitable? Brand extension is an important way for companies to expand. Many domestic companies do not do enough to comply with this rule. Once companies expand into new areas, consumers do not "buy in" for it. For example, "Wahaha", "999", "Sun God", etc. are all here Suffered a big loss. When naming a brand, you must consider brand extension in the future so as not to get stuck in a cocoon. If SONY is neutral, it is more suitable no matter what electrical appliance it is placed on.
9. Global perspective
Since consumers from various countries and regions around the world have very different histories, cultures, customs, and values, their views on brands also vary. different. If the brand eventually wants to go abroad, the naming must consider the international aspect and cannot focus on regionalization. Only then will the company reduce restrictions and disadvantages.
For example, in our country, bats have the same pronunciation as "福", which represents a beautiful association. However, in English, "BAT" means vampire. It is difficult for bat fans to enter the international market. Today
Major multinational companies around the world are beginning to do everything possible to get rid of regional color. When the brand develops in a place, it will be integrated into the lives of local people, instead of blindly customizing the brand based on the base of the company. Otherwise, we can only be confined to drawing the ground as a prison.
Of course, international naming must also eliminate sensitive international and ethnic issues to avoid the disadvantage of "when you go to the country, you cannot do as the Romans do."
10. Reflect the spirit of the company
The highest level of corporate marketing is social marketing. The core of corporate management is to manage people's ideas. The corporate brand name must also reflect the cultural spirit of the company.
A brand name with high cultural content can achieve the purpose of "taking advantage of" and "building momentum". The brand can achieve the purpose of improving itself with the help of cultural content; it can bring huge ideological space to consumers, Create prerequisites for the later development of the enterprise. Of course, it is difficult to do this, as small things can lead to big things in a "small area", but this power is huge, and we should see this advantage and work hard to use it.
11. Make people have positive associations
Brand association is an important step in determining whether a product sells well. For example, when mentioning "Lao Gan Ma" and "A Qing Sister-in-law", people seem to see a kind face, and the brand is very friendly. Naming it this way mostly gives people a positive association, which allows consumers to quickly reach the impulse or good impression stage in their purchasing decision-making, until they decide to purchase and identify quickly.
Goldlion, the gold-lettered brand, was originally named "Golden Lion". To Hong Kong people, it means "lost". Hong Kong people are very particular about auspiciousness, so naturally no one will patronize such a taboo name. Later, Mr. Zeng Xianzi divided Goldlion into two parts. The former part Gold was translated as gold, and the latter part Lion was transliterated as Li Lai. After naming it "Goldlion", the situation changed greatly. The auspicious name immediately brought good luck to Goldlion. It can be said that "Goldlion" can achieve today's achievements, and its beautiful name is indispensable.
12. Relevant legal registration and protection
Legal protection issues should also be considered when naming, which is the primary prerequisite for brand naming. This depends on whether your name meets the necessary registration conditions mentioned in the Trademark Law. For example, it is not allowed to use geographical location, place name, first name, etc.; secondly, someone else has already registered the same name. The Industrial and Commercial Bureau will not accept the name. Therefore, when naming, don’t always use some common thinking patterns to be creative. Generally speaking, you might as well create 2-4 more names before registering to be prepared. In order to protect your registered brand, you can also register similar design names to protect your brand. Midea Group registered all the products in the same English language.
13. 10 ways to name a brand
① Name the brand after the surname of the person. For example;
② Named after places, such as Tsingtao Beer and Great Wall Computer;
③ Named after things. Such as Peony TV and Panda cigarettes;
④ Product function naming. Such as Head and Shoulders shampoo;
⑤Named after emotion. Such as Midea Electrical Appliances;
⑥ Named after transliterated characters. Such as Olympic Olympus;
⑦ Named after Pinyin. Such as Haier haier;
⑧Named by numbers. Such as 555 cigarettes and 999 Pharmaceuticals;
⑨Named in foreign languages. Such as Kelon and REAME shampoo;
⑩Named by self-created nouns. Such as Titus watches;