Brand Naming Paralysis

[Surrealist]

What's in a name?

Some companies spends hundreds of thousands of dollars and months of focus on naming their brand. I have a few different brand entities that I'm trying to name, and have been brutally quagmired with this problem for years. Not having a name you believe in means you can't throw all your weight into cranking out content and propagating that brand, so it's a serious bottleneck I have to deal with. 

What are some of your strategies for naming things? 

[Jecht Spencer]

The name is synonymous with the content that comes behind it. It has a lot less to do with the name and more do with the brand behind the name.

"Amazon, Zappos, Tesla, Uber."

What do these names really mean? Nothing. They are just words that are now in conjunction with the service provided.

It has a lot less to do with the name and a lot more to do with the content. You can make any name work. Of course if your trying to drive direct SEO traffic a direct domain name definitely helps.  (i.e: If your selling real estate and you have realestate.com for example.)

Another thing to look for is being able to have your name across all social media platforms... this of course helps with brand awareness.

"Good Artists Copy, Great Artists Steal." Pablo Picasso

Steal a name from someone you already respect and put your spin on it. You like Coca-Cola why not do Koka-Kola?

The name is so arbitrary. Any name can become great if there is a quality product behind it.

(Of course be smart...)

(Leo is actually a prime example of someone who used a (.org) which is often a no-no in the marketing world and making it work anyway because he had the content to back it up.)

Don't get caught up in a name... it really is arbitrary. Focus on your product and quality of content.

[Surrealist]

@Jecht Spencer Thanks for your advice. I agree predominantly with that, but with some caveats. I do find myself subtly judging things based on the name alone, so even if a name is MOSTLY arbitrary, it can be negatively consequential in a big way. One subtle example would be the band "Audioslave". It just sounds so uncreative to me, and evokes images of dudes vaping in guitar center, so I'd never bother giving the music a chance (totally irrational/emotional of course). 

I made the following rules for naming the brand, and I wonder if they are so limiting that it has screwed me over: 

1. It must be the only thing that comes up when you google it, BEFORE it has a following

2. You need to be able to shout it in someone's ear in a bar without having to spell it out

3. It can't be more than two words

... and it should, but doesn't have to, have something sensory associated with it.

I do already have small followings on a couple of the platforms I hope to flip into this new name, so I'm really eager to just figure this out already and not be all timid when people ask what the stuff is named, and just get the momentum rolling. It seems like a decision that should be a little more emotional than all this criteria I have set up. 

Some names that I think are good
Snapchat, Google, Zappos, Facebook, Aphex Twin

[DreamSpirit]

Definitely want to give yourself time to think of something that grabs your attention.  Get a thesaurus even and just throw spaghetti at the wall and see if it sticks.

[Surrealist]

Just wanted to share this great resource I found for this problem

http://phrontistery.info/

[Leo Gura]

Branding is not really about the name itself. There are many successful products and companies that have stupid names, including Amazon, Apple, Google, the Nintendo Wii, and many others.

The key is the quality of the product, knowing WHO your target audience is, and testing the marketplace very strategically to make sure that your product/service is economically viable. As long as you got these 3 elements down, you could name your product an iTurd and people would buy it.

[A way to Actualize]

7 hours ago, Leo Gura said:

Branding is not really about the name itself. There are many successful products and companies that have stupid names, including Amazon, Apple,

I know that Apple is a consciously chosen name btw. It is so that people have a connotion that their product is healthy. 

I would say that chosing a brand name has some influence, not much. Every word has a certain vibe, especially highly sensitive people can feel it. If it sounds bs, it is okay. But I would notice that ones perspective is not the only one on the world. If you are someone that is not that sensitive and find this not true, just consider open-mindedness.

[Systemic]

www.wordoid.com

This website is a useful tool to generate fake words for brand names.  You have to trudge through a lot of terrible words to find the diamonds but it is great for generating ideas and is what I use when coming up with brand names. I recommend selecting all the languages.

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Also, avoid words that sound similar to things with negative connotations.  For example, Jeff Bezos incorporated future Amazon as "Cadabra" but changed the name to Amazon after a lawyer misheard its original name as "cadaver".   

[Surrealist]

@Systemic Thanks, word generators are definitely useful.

@A way to Actualize Yes, negativity is the main issue I've been stuck on. I had chosen a name that has some obvious negativity to it (it included the word "Bad"...) and it has definitely taken a toll. A negative name isn't something you want to proudly shout from the hilltops. 

[Leo Gura]

When in doubt, just name your biz or product after a fruit:

Peach, plum, watermelon, orange, banana, kiwi, etc

[Surrealist]

@Leo Gura @Jecht Spencer Thanks for your input guys. I've finally picked a name after years of struggling, and united all my platforms under one name. I really just had to pick something that wasn't so negative, and now I feel like I can totally let go of worrying about it (even though it's inevitably not perfect) and just crank out content relentlessly. It doesn't have to be 100%, but it should meet some basic criteria... at that point you can let go and not freak out. 

Thanks!

[nrpar66]

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