What’s in a brand name?

Does it matter to you whether the computer you are using right now is HP or Dell? What difference does it make whether the tablet bears the image of an ‘Apple’ or has ’Samsung’ inscribed on it?
Really, names are just names. They mean nothing until they are associated with something – a personality or a significantly distinct experience.
The only reason “Apple” means more than a crispy round fruit [green or wine] to you, is that you have used, seen, or heard of smartphones, tablets or laptops that go by that name, or maybe you heard of Steve Jobs [even if it was through the news during his funeral].
Nevertheless, the sound of a name, its length and the ease with which it is pronounced, also matter.
If a brand name is simple – one, two, or three syllables – it is easier to pronounced and memorised, and more importantly, it is easier to use it during formal discussions, gossips, social media chats, and in write ups [from academic to satirical].
Perhaps the highest achievement of a brand name occurs when it becomes recurring phrase in the informal chats of the people for whom the product or service was designed. This is when the brand name become a part of the language, and probably qualifies for a mention in the dictionary.
Another height occurs when a brand name colloquially becomes a generic term for a product or service. Typical example Band Aid, used to describe any brand of adhesive bandage and Maggi, which is used to describe any brand of seasoning cubes, especially in Nigeria.
While different brand names have different effects – from the acronyms like IBM or MTN, the descriptions like Tasty Fried Chicken or Sahara Reporters, to those coined out of the blues – the basic rule is: “Keep it simple and meaningful.”
‘Meaningful’ here is not in the sense of the dictionary meaning of words, but in the ability of the brand name to create relevant images in the people’s minds, even if it is grammatical incorrect.

Making Your Brand Name Stick

Some restaurants have funny names; but none, that I know, has a funnier name than one that I visited months ago near Airport Hotel, Lagos, Nigeria. Its name is ‘Mine Thing Hot Restaurant’. The name stuck. I told it as a joke to many of friends; I shared it on facebook; I wrote a story about it titled ‘What’s in a name’ that was published on www.234next.com and I recommended the restaurant to friends, at least for them to verify the bizarre name. All that advertisement were neither solicited nor paid for. That is the advantage of naming your business right.
When choosing a name for your brand, these things should be consider:

1. Your brand name should be distinct: This means that it stands out, especially from the lot of competitors in the same market with you. Giving a name like ‘Panasony Electronics’ to your new electronics producing firm will reduce its value. The name will essentially portray your firm as a ‘Panasonic and Sony wannabe’. With that alone, the integrity of your brand will be in doubt and that will result to low acceptance in the market and of course low or no profit.

2. Your brand name should reflect you unique selling point: People, including your would-be customers are busy. They will be even busier in the future. So the faster you can come across to them, the better. Don’t make your prospect go through the trouble of figuring out what they will gain from patronizing you and not your competitor. While interviewing the owner of Mine Thing Hot Restaurant, a middle-aged woman who runs the restaurant alongside her two daughters, she said, “...my food is always hot, that’s why my customers come here.”

3. Your brand name should be witty: You have to play with words until you get something catchy. Get all the words that individually portray essential aspects of what your firm is offering, particularly the ones that make you different. Work with them until you get the one word or combination of words that is memorable enough to that a person who sees it once can remember it unconsciously. The name has to appeal to the emotion of your target customers. Making them rhyme helps.
With all these in place, you definitely have a name to run with. The next step is making it known to as many people as possibly. “Just put it in our faces.” On flyer; on billboards; on TV; on radio; and very importantly on the internet.