To be easily recognizable in all your communications, you need to make sure you have a rock-solid brand name. If you are still at the beginning of this process, you had better get it right the first time. It's okay to take your time. In this blog I will give you 6 tips to create your super strong brand name.
Make sure your brand name is easy and recognizable
Looking for the right brand name for your new concept? First, choose a name that is easy to pron ounce and sticks in the memory of your target audience. You obviously want to stand out with your name and make sure it is easy to remember. Unfortunately, a few million companies have gone before you with the same thought. That may be a roadblock, but it's not. These strategies can help make this road a little less winding. The key starting points are:
- Make sure your brand name is easy, recognizable and memorable.
- Stop thinking that your brand name must necessarily have an association with your service or product. Your brand value is independent of the name.
- Again, don't make your brand name too confusing or too funny
- Don't think too pretentious, yes hard word huh! It means: arrogant.
- The url must be free.
- Your brand name should be able to be protected.
If you stick primarily to community building under your own name with personal branding as a starting point, then it makes sense to register your full name and work from there.
What makes a good brand name?
Is the name easy to write? Should the name match the product or your service? Are you going international and is your brand name timeless enough? All relevant questions, but the answer is mostly hidden in learning to think out of the box.
A good brand name can be used in your marketing. Think back to the successful ad campaigns of mobile subscription provider Ben.
Let's go back in time when Ben went viral with the advertising campaign I am Ben. It a first name and such a name gives the marketing department a lot of room to use the word with humor and personal touch. Ben is happy to help you đŸ˜€.
Coolblue, everything for a smile
The name CoolBlue is the opposite of Hot-Orange, one of the first Web shops in the Netherlands in the 1990s that outsourced much of its operations to third parties, was completely externally funded and had no functioning customer service at all.
Hot-Orange went bankrupt as the Netherlands' first and oldest online store in 2001. The founders of CoolBlue had the opposite in mind with their brand, hence the name. Coolblue's logo also has a nice connection to this story. The logo is composed of the white letters COOL and BLUE and these are almost always applied on a "hot orange" background.
IKEA
We all know we have to go to IKEA for a closet, but what do the letters IKEA actually stand for? The founder of the Swedish housing giant is named Ingvar Kamprad. This already explains the first two letters of the name. Furthermore, he chose the first letters of Elmtarydand Agunnaryd, which are the names of the farm and village where he grew up. So a totally meaningless word.
Haribo
The world-famous candy brand Haribo, which adorns the pillows in every German hotel upon entering your room, is an amalgamation of the name and birthplace of its founder: Hans Riegel from Bonn. And so I could go on and on because Andrélon says nothing about the product but is a brand name created named after the founder hairdresser André and his wife Lonneke.
Alex
In theory, you can call both a clothing brand and an online investment bank Alex. Yet the online investment bank is called Alex and the clothing brand is not. Why?
Online investing is perceived as intangible, abstract and distant. To invest, you need a physical advisor, who is always close by. The name Alex stands for: close by and personal. The intention is for online investing to become more concrete, tangible and personal in people's minds. Rationale behind the name Alex is mainly the strong resemblance to the AEX index.
By the way, it is still very fashionable to use a simple first or last name as a brand name. It makes a brand more personal, reliable and approachable.
Send us a message
In the Netherlands we have also become accustomed to brand names and URLs that immediately fulfill the brand promise. For example, I don't have to explain much to you when I recommend that you take a workshop at '365dagensuccesvol.nl' or when you, as a parent, have bought an exercise book at 'wijzeroverdebasisschool.nl'. Then it is also easy to guess what 'winwithjemerk.nl' stands for. In fact, these half-sentences all tell me exactly what the brand promise is.
If you have ambitions to go across the border with your concept, you have little use for a name that is in Dutch. Unless, for example, your name is Armin van Buuren or Max Verstappen.
International brand name
If you are thinking of an international name, then an English name is an obvious choice. But an English name is not necessary in all cases. For example, the brand name Uber comes from German and means "above. No, not Deutschland Uber Alles, but simply Uber. The word Zalando also comes from Germany and means nothing at all but just sounds nice. Bol.com? A typically Dutch word, but whether the name necessarily has to do with the product? You should see the name Bol mainly as a description of the enormous volume/offering of this brand. Think also linguistically because Amazon is a metaphor and IBM is an acronym of International Business Machines. Gucci, in turn, is named after its founder and Facebook describes exactly what to expect from the product. And who was Adi Dassler? Well, he founded Adidas with his brother Rudolf in 1949. Choices enough, then, to not let your mindset depend solely on English. Another problem with English brand names is that almost every English word has already been claimed on a dot .com domain.
The domain name must be free
So the domain name or url must be available for your name. Again, if your focus is on the Dutch market then you really need a .nl extension. Does your concept give jeux to life in Amsterdam? Then the extension .amsterdam is also handy to have.
So choose a domain name that either:
- Covers the complete scope of your product or niche market (I seek more happiness.com);
- Contains a strong brand name (which again could very well be yourforeenlastname.co.uk);
- Getting your visitor excited because it's a special name.
For international concepts and a strong keyword strategy, .com is still the best domain extension to own, but try finding a free domain there yet.
Multimillionaire and former founder of drukwerkdeal.nl Marco Aarnink made his comeback in the printing world in 2017. He managed to get his hands on the rather exclusive brand name print.com. He probably paid millions for this. But, he insists in an interview with Sprout, "Domain names are the real estate of the future. And print.com is a storefront on the best shopping street in the world."
"One of the key elements is that your brand name has to be super good. Especially in today's Internet landscape, with less and less room for entrants, you have to think carefully about how you want to establish a position.
With the shortage of free .com domains, it has become trendy in the tech startup world to use .io domains. Actually, this domain is reserved for the Chagos Archipelago (British Indian Ocean Territory) but io also means input/output or internet organization. Hence the link to tech companies.
NameMesh
One tool that can help you in some cases is Namemesh.com. Type in 1 or 2 words related to your brand name and NameMesh will give you a list of all available.com domains, the latest domain extensions that are free, word mixes, SEO domains, short urls and even fun names within seconds.
Focus Group
Finding the right name for your brand with appropriate URL has quite a bit to do. What can help is a focus group. This is where other people can help you get out of a certain spiral if you have stalled.
If you are completely stuck with your brand name, it can also be helpful to work in a small group to write down as many word associations as possible in 10 to 20 minutes and choose the best 10 from there. And then sleep on it overnight as well.
Getting started on coming up with your brand name
Are you still getting stuck despite these 6 tips and examples? Or would you like help in this process? Don't hesitate and contact us. We are always open for an introductory conversation.
