No idea what to name your company? You'd better think carefully before choosing one of the options. Find out what Naming is and why it has such a strong impact on marketing strategy!

Building brand awareness consists of three very important elements, which are:

  • Brand logo
  • Advertising slogan
  • Company name

The last of these factors plays a significant role and is the foundation of modern enterprises.

1. What is Naming?

What is Naming?

Naming is the creation of names for companies, services and products. This term is a key part of the entire marketing strategy, which is why the success of a business largely depends on the outcome of the creative idea behind it. A professional name development is aimed at increasing sales as well as better reaching and becoming fixed in the consumer's mind.

2. Naming used in marketing

Naming used in marketing

If a company name is not appropriate, then even the best advertising campaign will not help gain the trust of potential customers. Consumers very often identify a given enterprise with the name that has been created. An overly complicated or poorly matched term arouses negative associations. The advantage of a name is its originality. Standing out from the competition, selected skillfully enough to simultaneously define the company's image, identity and worldview, also shared by the recipient.

3. Creating a company name in practice

Creating a company name in practice

Nike, Apple, Snickers, KFC… Have you ever wondered, even for a moment, what these brands do? Probably not. Research on the human brain shows that words and images create certain connections in the mind, which then form ideas. This also applies to brand names.
Each of the previously mentioned companies spent long years building its position on the market and taking care of its ever-growing value, which has made it evoke positive emotions in most of its customers. Most importantly, none of these brands ever changed its name.

4. Naming - what is worth remembering?

1. Minimalism most often works best. The shorter and more direct the name, the faster and more willingly it will be used by consumers.

2. It is worth coming up with a name that is not associated with another popular brand, not only a competing one, but also one from outside the industry.

3. A good practice is to anchor the company in the context of the place in which it operates.

4. Ambiguity should be avoided, especially associations referring to unpleasant, inappropriate or unethical connotations. Recipients do not always understand vague creative concepts in the right way, and no brand wants to offend its customers.

5. The name should quickly stick in memory, bring a smile to the face caused by positive associations, and also evoke the right associations with the products or service offered by the company.

5. What name is illegal?

What name is illegal?

Naming is subject to specific legal regulations, so despite the creativity of the mind, it is not always possible to use a seemingly perfect name idea. You cannot use a name that is taken and unavailable. There is a certain area of business in which the repetition of a name is not allowed (patent protection).

6. Step by step, how to create a name

1. Do a brainstorming session and create a mind map. Take a sheet of paper and fill it with all the associations connected with what the company does. Additionally, write down what characteristics define your potential customers and how they should perceive the brand. Many verbal inspirations can be gained by browsing the internet, looking through a dictionary or walking outdoors surrounded by other people.

2. Carry out consistent elimination. From the collected pool, cross out names that are banal, taken, poorly associated, as well as all those with ambiguous, negative meanings.

3. Select the ten best proposals and begin testing. Ask close friends, and even random passers-by, for their opinion. After a few days' break, return to the consultation and find out which names were remembered best.

4. Create a popularity ranking of all ten names, and then select the best three from them.

5. The final vote belongs to you — choose the name that best suits your taste.

Summary

A company name is the first and most important element of brand building — it determines whether the consumer will remember your business and what emotions they will connect with it. The article shows that effective naming is based on minimalism, originality and avoiding ambiguous associations. It is also crucial that the name complies with legal regulations and is not already taken — otherwise you risk the competition's patent protection.

An interesting fact is that such powerful brands as Nike, Apple, Snickers and KFC have never changed their names. It is precisely thanks to many years of building a consistent image that their names evoke only positive emotions in customers.