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The name of your product or business won’t make or break you. But a good name can:

convey an idea instantly
create an image
make your product or business more memorable.

Would you choose to do business with Nancy’s Yard Service – or Lawn Jockey Landscaping? With Bob’s Housecleaning – or Nook & Cranny?

A few thoughts. It’s best to avoid literal descriptions, which are often flat and unimaginative. They typically use too many words, and end up as acronyms – the kiss of death. Too-long “Effective Business Marketing” shortens to the meaningless “EBM.” Conversely, “MarketSpace Partners” is easy to remember and pronounce. It conveys the idea of creating a space in the marketplace; “Partners” suggests a small consulting firm. Bingo.

Using partners’ names is OK for professional services, especially if the names are well known in the field. It works well for law firms and architects, identifying the company with individual expertise. But this approach expresses no service value or differentiation, and leads to name creep when adding partners (e.g., Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and did we forget anyone?). And it’s so bland.

Creating a good name isn’t easy, as Ed Abrams and Elisée LaBrecque recently discovered. Repositioning their firm to focus on healthcare branding, they wanted a good name – and a trademark. Attorney Mark Guay advised that HealthBrand was too generic to trademark, and WellBrand was too close to the existing Brandwell. They decided to retain “Abrams LaBrecque” and add a tagline: “Healthcare Branding” – a smart (and less costly) solution.

For start-ups, new products and re-branding, Attorney Guay often advises coined words (Exxon, Kodak) to avoid trademark problems. That works best from a marketing standpoint when the word suggests a concept or relates to recognizable words. Genuity and Verizon are good examples.

Don Flinn, who named his Web Services Security firm Flint Security, cautions of unintended connotations – like the Chevy Nova that “wouldn’t go” in Mexico.“ The same can happen when someone in a different field mentally translates your name,” he says. Don found that the acronym WSS, while understood in the IT world, could be a liability elsewhere. “Get feedback from others, such as your marketing consultant.”

A few names and taglines Marketalk has recently helped develop:

BostonNetSource – The “Works” in Networks
Leaders & Company – Building management and leadership depth in organizations
Flint Security – Cutting-edge Web Services Solutions

What do you think? Email Robin Lawson, rlawson@marketalk.com.

Think Again is a monthly e-column intended to inspire a fresh look at marketing-related business issues. Marketing is what the enterprise does to motivate buyers – not just what the enterprise says. Think Again is published by Marketalk, a marketing advisory firm in Newburyport, Mass. that helps business clients achieve the highest return on their marketing investment. For more information, please visit http://www.marketalk.com/.

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