Choosing The Right Product Name!

In “Romeo and Juliet”, William Shakespeare’s legendary character Juliet says, “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose, by any other name, would smell as sweet.” Juliet may be suggesting that names do not matter here, but Juliet was no expert in Brand Advertising, Direct Response and Consumer Marketing. That was in a time before Super Stores, The Internet, and National Retail Chains. The name you give your product is extremely important, and there are many good strategies you can follow to make sure you choose a name that helps sell your product and make it unforgettable.

I have named hundreds of products. It’s one of the first things I am usually asked to do. Naming things can be a challenge. Your name is important because it creates an instant image in a consumer’s mind. Your name and your product will be connected forever, and hopefully, it will eventually create brand recognition, familiarity, and trust.

A good inexpensive idea is to do a web test or a survey to check the concept, name, and measure if there might be strong consumer intent to buy your product. It can also help you identify specifically what features and benefits generate the most consumer interest. A limited web test or consumer survey is by no means a way to actually decide whether your product is going to succeed or not. It is a very inexpensive way to check whether your product generates interest and buying intent and can also help you identify what names might appeal most to consumers.

Online survey services like MailChimp.com, or SurveyMonkey.com can help design and launch a survey or web test for you. Simply Google “Sample Web Test Surveys”. You will find plenty of information and guidance.

A survey can probe for things like consumer desire, most wanted benefits, most exciting features, intent to buy, and potential names. A web test is like a sample online advertisement that probes for actual intent to buy your product. These are by no means random tests you can rely on to make actual decisions; however, they can help provide some insights you may not be aware of and these may help you make your name and message more appealing to consumers.

This information can be very useful in developing your product’s name and the key message, features, and benefits you want to emphasize in all of your marketing elements. It can give very surprising results. As a marketer, you see your product one way and consumers may see it another way for very different reasons. It never hurts to probe consumers for their thoughts. The things you may think are important may be less relevant to a consumer who actually needs to solve the problem your product is intended for.

Keep your mind open and let the learning you get from surveys and web tests help enlighten the way you look at your product. With that learning you may discover a great idea for a name or for a benefit you never realized was compelling.

Create A Strong Name

There are a couple of guidelines we use to create a strong name. First, it should be easy to spell, easy to read, and easy to pronounce. You want people to be able to spell it easily when they go to google or another search engine. Your name should be unique so that you can avoid conflicting trademarks, acquire a good URL, and also be easy to search. A unique name can also mean that you can buy important keywords for less because everyone else is not bidding up the price on them. Finally, keep your name short, punchy, and memorable. Long names make it harder to remember, harder to spell, and more likely to be shortened into a nickname or acronym that you don’t have control over.

Here are a few quick and simple naming techniques that can make it easier to choose a good name that works: Name it for what it is. Name it for what it does. Name it for the benefit it delivers. Name it for a unique technology that makes it work and no one else has. Let’s examine two Brain Support Supplements, Prevagen and Focus Factor and how they went in different directions to name relatively identical products.

Prevagen vs. Focus Factor

These two products fall into the Brain Support Supplement Category. I am not an expert on the different formulations but the promised benefit to the consumer is very much the same. Better mental acuity, improved memory, and an improvement in awareness. Prevagen took the technological, medical, or scientific route. It sounds almost like a breakthrough prescription formula or medication that delivers amazing results. On the other hand, Focus Factor named the product for what it does. It helps you focus, remember, and stay alert. It seems like both products are doing well and they both chose names that work. My personal preference is to name a supplement a more consumer friendly name like Focus Factor. The name tells you exactly what the benefit is. Prevagen sounds like a serious medication, and this may build it’s credibility which contributes to its success.

Naming products is an art and not a science; however, these are two successful product names that went in completely different directions.

Check Your Name On TESS

What I normally do is brainstorm about 20 different possible names. For each name, I check for trademarks. It is easy to do online at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office - Trademark Electronic Search System (TESS) at: https://tmsearch.uspto.gov.

This can give you a quick idea if there are already similar names that have the trademark. Searching first prevents people from falling in love with names they cannot clear and will have to change in the end. It’s also a good precaution to help avoid possible trademark violation lawsuits. It’s always a good idea to avoid a possible lawsuit. If you come up with a name idea that has trademarks, don’t fall in love with it. Move on to the next idea. It will save a lot of heartache and legal issues later on.

It is also a good idea to check each name on your list for its .com URL. If someone else has the URL it is not a dealbreaker. Just because your productname.com is taken, does not mean it is trademarked. The owner may not even have a product or a website up. You should check for that. If they do have a functioning website, it is a good idea to explore other names because when people are searching for your product, they could be directed to the other product. You don’t want to pay for advertising that helps someone else.

Brainstorm Without Judgement

For now, let’s say you only want to name your one brand or product. You need a good product name. Take some time to brainstorm many ideas. Even if you think you already have a great name, it never hurts to explore other ideas. Sometimes, you can come up with another name that fits your product better than the original one.

This is simply a process of generating a list of possible names. At first, do not pass judgement on each idea. That will slow you down. Just write down the ideas that come to you, and once you have a list go through it and see which name you like best. Many times I end up combining a syllable from one name idea with a syllable from another and create a hybrid name that works very well. There is a non-stick technology named, Cerami-Tech, which used syllables from the word Ceramic and a syllable from the word Technology. By using two simple words, they created a unique name for an innovative technology.

The best advice when naming a product is to relax and let your creativity fly. Don’t hold back. Don’t criticize. Just let the ideas flow. You can criticize later. Throw out the poor ideas and keep the great ones. Just remember, keep it simple, easy to spell, easy to pronounce, and easy to remember.