Answer
Jul 10, 2021 - 02:41 PM
You probably know a brand’s name is the first thing customers learn about a business. Great names position businesses and establish a great first impression in the minds of their target audience by giving them a hint of what they should expect from the brand.
So why does this matter?Suppose you’re going to start a business in today’s market. In that case, you’d need a really powerful name that’ll help your business stand out from the 4.35 million businesses started in 2020, and the 1.3 million businesses started in the first quarter of 2021.
A solid brand name could be the difference between a successful brand and a failing one. We see a great example of this with Hydrox and Oreo.
Both companies offered identical products. In fact, Hydrox was the original sandwich cookie and had Oreo beat by four solid years of market dominance.
But even its market dominance meant little when a company with a better name, Oreo, entered the market. And because Hydrox sounded a lot like industrial bleach and less like a sandwich cookie, customers didn’t hesitate to abandon the company.
By the time Hydrox became Droxies, the damage had already been done, and customers had already moved on to Oreo.
Although the case of Hydrox and Oreo was a clear picture of what a weak name does to a great product, what about Apple?
Is Apple’s Name Great?Well, Apple’s name might appear ordinary until you consider its story and compare it to its competitors in the tech space. Take a look at these names and tell us which one stands out the most:
IBM, Microsoft, Dell, HP, and Apple. The answer is simple, Apple.
But Apple takes this a step further not only by positioning its brand as something different but as something exclusive.
Blue Ribbon vs. NikeIf shortened to just blue ribbon, Blue Ribbon sports would have made a good name, but not a great name, not like Nike. And that’s because the image Nike forms in the minds of their audience, a goddess of victory, is far stronger and a lot more appealing than any image blue ribbon sports could’ve formed.
Now, a big reason we don’t get to see some major companies with truly horrible names in the market is simply that most of these brands don’t go through with it.
What Makes Uber and Square GreatNames like Uber and Square sound plain and boring, but they strike a strong chord with their audience. For example, Uber was coined from a german word that means “above all the rest.” And Jack Dorsey, in search of a simple name people would easily trust, opted for Square because it aligned with the sayings “Fair and Square” and “Squaring Up.”
So even though these names sound ordinary, they communicate a compelling message that resonates with their audience.
The bottom line, don’t let your lack of a great name be the reason why your brilliant business fails.
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