We’ve all had that awkward moment of forgetting someone’s name moments after being introduced. A hard-to-pronounce, overly complicated or bland brand name can have the same effect on potential customers. With the right name and brand activation strategy, your brand can become the one on everyone’s lips.
What’s in a name?
It’s the first thing customers see and hear about your company, product or service. A great name can spark interest and curiosity, while a poor one can be forgettable or even off-putting.
The ideal brand name is memorable, evocative, and distinctive. It should give customers a sense of what you do, how you behave, and what makes you unique. You want it to roll off the tongue effortlessly. But finding that perfect moniker is easier said than done.
The trouble with initials
Using initials as your brand name might seem like a quick and safe bet, but it can also be a recipe for obscurity. Unless you’re an established giant like IBM or BBC, initials make it tough for customers to understand what you do. It’s highly likely that the same set of initials is already out there somewhere, selling something completely different, so how do you avoid confusion?
While initials may have personal meaning to the founders, they lack the emotional resonance and storytelling potential of a descriptive name. If you go this route, be prepared to do the extra work building brand recognition from scratch.
The power of the right brand name
With the right name, you can shape how customers perceive your brand from the get-go. The most successful brand names convey the right energy and inspire the use of vivid language and imagery to tell a story and make an emotional connection. They’re the ones we remember and pass along to friends.
Protecting your brand name
Once you’ve settled on the perfect name, it’s crucial to protect it as a valuable business asset. Register it as a trademark to prevent competitors from using it, and secure the website domain and social media handles.
You’ll also want to watch out for unauthorised uses and be prepared to defend your name legally if necessary. A unique, well-protected brand name is a key competitive advantage worth fighting for.
Becoming a big brand name
Even if you pick the perfect name, you’ll still need to put in the work to make it iconic in your market. The biggest brand names have spent decades and billions of pounds or dollars building awareness through advertising, sponsorships, and delivering quality products and services.
A great name gives you a head start by immediately communicating your brand personality and core values. With the right name and brand activation strategy, your brand can become the one on everyone’s lips.
We are Elastic by name and nature.
Our process is collaborative, creative, energising and effective, and we’d love to help you differentiate your brand.
