In the old days a business name wasn't considered so important. No overpaid creative geniuses were brought in to create a thrilling name like "General Motors."
But, I assure you that since then, GM has paid big money to consulting firms to create names for their brands and vehicles.
A Chicago-based consulting company called NameLab does nothing but come up with product and company names (www.namelab.com). A few of their more well known creations include: Olive Garden, Acura, CompUSA, LUXOR (LV casino), AutoZone.
So, what do they have to say about what makes a good name? They use all types of fancy language to describe their naming strategy. After sorting through it and adding a few thoughts of my own here are my "take-home" points:
1. Names derive much of their meaning from experiences with similar products or services. For example, if is started a website called schmoogle, you would doubtlessly begin forming associations with the search giant. Therefore, you'll want to ensure that similar sounding names/brands carry positive connotations. You'll also want to be careful with associating too closely with another brand, if they ruin their reputation, it could drag your brand down with it. I wouldn't recommend naming an accounting firm anything that starts with "EN" or ends in "RON".
2. Unlike advertising that describes attributes or adjectives of the product, the product name is much more definitive. The name is the "subject" of the sentence. It doesn't just tell us what the product does, it tells us what it is. Therefore, don't pick a name that "describes" your product or company. Instead, let your name be something that can stand on it's own merit. Be inventive, create a brand new word.
3. Function matters. NameLab analyzes a name for its "speech stream visibility", which is the probability that a word will be recognized in a normal spoken stream of English speech. Think "iPod" or "Google" or "Yahoo!" These names all contain distinctive sounds that make them POP in a normal conversation. The same is true for "Notational Visibility", which is the probability that a word will stand out from a typed text, such as a newspaper column. Again, think about the naming convention Apple has used in putting a small letter "i" in front of all their product names. They don't follow conventional capitalization rules. There's a reason it's written as iPod instead of Ipod. "iPod" is far more unusual, hence it's more noticeable and memorable.
Showing posts with label marketing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label marketing. Show all posts
Monday, April 7, 2008
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Sticky Ideas
Why is it that some arguably worthless, incorrect, ideas such as urban legends spread like wild-fire while other far more intelligent and worthy ideas don't get anywhere.
They're not "sticky!" Companies spend so much time trying to say things that are descriptive or include all the messages they want to broadcast, but they often fail to spend the time tweaking the presentation of the idea to make it interesting... to make it stick.
That's what the book "Made to Stick", by Chip Heath and Dan Heath is all about. It's about deconstructing what makes ideas sticky.
The book gives the example of a man who worked for a non-profit group that educates the public about nutrition. His organization discovered that a typical medium sized bag of movie popcorn contains 37 grams of saturated fat. So what?!?!
In reality 37 grams is a tremendously unhealthy amount to consume in one sitting.
This man's job was to turn that statistic into a captivating story. The typical numeric explanation or graph would not have made much of a stir. The line he came up with was:
"A medium-sized 'butter' popcorn at a typical neighborhood movie theater contains more artery-clogging fat than a bacon-and-eggs breakfast, a Big Mac and fries for lunch, and a steak dinner with all the trimmings - COMBINED!"
The story was a sensation! It made the front pages of USA Today, the LA Times, and The Washington Post's Style section. It was featured on all kinds of news casts and the end result was a noticeable drop in popcorn sales and ultimately several major theater chains changed the type of oil they used!
The idea stuck! It's a fairly uninteresting stat, but it was crafted into a very "sticky" idea. That's the crux of effective marketing. Build a captivating idea, focus on how it needs to be presented, and take the time to make it "sticky".
The book concludes that sticky ideas generally need to have these characteristics:
1. Simplicity
2. Unexpectedness
3. Concreteness
4. Credibility (real or implied)
5. Emotions
6. Stories
The authors expand on this significantly. But that's the gist of it. It's a compelling concept.
They're not "sticky!" Companies spend so much time trying to say things that are descriptive or include all the messages they want to broadcast, but they often fail to spend the time tweaking the presentation of the idea to make it interesting... to make it stick.
That's what the book "Made to Stick", by Chip Heath and Dan Heath is all about. It's about deconstructing what makes ideas sticky.
The book gives the example of a man who worked for a non-profit group that educates the public about nutrition. His organization discovered that a typical medium sized bag of movie popcorn contains 37 grams of saturated fat. So what?!?!
In reality 37 grams is a tremendously unhealthy amount to consume in one sitting.
This man's job was to turn that statistic into a captivating story. The typical numeric explanation or graph would not have made much of a stir. The line he came up with was:
"A medium-sized 'butter' popcorn at a typical neighborhood movie theater contains more artery-clogging fat than a bacon-and-eggs breakfast, a Big Mac and fries for lunch, and a steak dinner with all the trimmings - COMBINED!"
The story was a sensation! It made the front pages of USA Today, the LA Times, and The Washington Post's Style section. It was featured on all kinds of news casts and the end result was a noticeable drop in popcorn sales and ultimately several major theater chains changed the type of oil they used!
The idea stuck! It's a fairly uninteresting stat, but it was crafted into a very "sticky" idea. That's the crux of effective marketing. Build a captivating idea, focus on how it needs to be presented, and take the time to make it "sticky".
The book concludes that sticky ideas generally need to have these characteristics:
1. Simplicity
2. Unexpectedness
3. Concreteness
4. Credibility (real or implied)
5. Emotions
6. Stories
The authors expand on this significantly. But that's the gist of it. It's a compelling concept.
Sunday, November 4, 2007
The Big Wheel
Jim Collins, the author of "Good to Great" presents an analogy that I found to be extremely useful in explaining the phenomenon of extraordinary business growth.
He says that there are not really all that many true overnight successes. The reason we view them that way is because when the publicly visible upswing occurs it can be very dramatic. But, if we study what caused the successes, which is exactly what Jim Collins did, we often find that there were months, if not years of preparation leading up to that "overnight success".
Collins explains it as a giant, heavy, wheel that is mounted on a center post. Imagine it like a big merry-go-round weighing many tons.
Something heavy has a tremendous amount of inertia. It's impossible to spin it with a single hard push or even lots of individual pushes every now and then. More than anything else, consistent pushing is required to get it spinning.
Getting the business model articulated may be one long push, then making the right partnerships is another one, getting the right technology working for you can be another one, getting a key clients may come next, getting a bit of external funding, increasing market awareness, refining product offerings... you get the idea. All these things are pushes. Together they can get the wheel started in the right direction. It may be slow, but you just have to keep pushing and pushing. Soon it may be spinning at 1 revolution per minute, then 2, then 5, then 20...
Now, momentum is on your side. Steady pushing is still required, but each push now has greater impact and it starts to go... and go... and go. When it spins, and I mean really spins, it would take some really big set backs to even slow it down. You can then use smaller motors to keep pushing on your behalf. The whole goal is to just keep pushing. You just crank and crack.
At that point, you may get the media to tune in, and they may be there to watch you go from 20 revolutions per minute to 1000 rpm. From their perspective it will all have happened very quickly, without all that much effort. Well, they don't know about the thousands of pushes the company made before the media started paying attention. It all started long before that with one single push followed by thousands of others.
Seeing incredible results requires consistency more than anything else. I've been pushing my company HouseFLIX for almost two years now and now we're finally seeing inertia working for us rather than against us. There's no way it would have even been spinning at all if I were the only one pushing. I've got several committed people working to make it happen. Together we're seeing that big wheel turn.
He says that there are not really all that many true overnight successes. The reason we view them that way is because when the publicly visible upswing occurs it can be very dramatic. But, if we study what caused the successes, which is exactly what Jim Collins did, we often find that there were months, if not years of preparation leading up to that "overnight success".
Collins explains it as a giant, heavy, wheel that is mounted on a center post. Imagine it like a big merry-go-round weighing many tons.
Something heavy has a tremendous amount of inertia. It's impossible to spin it with a single hard push or even lots of individual pushes every now and then. More than anything else, consistent pushing is required to get it spinning.
Getting the business model articulated may be one long push, then making the right partnerships is another one, getting the right technology working for you can be another one, getting a key clients may come next, getting a bit of external funding, increasing market awareness, refining product offerings... you get the idea. All these things are pushes. Together they can get the wheel started in the right direction. It may be slow, but you just have to keep pushing and pushing. Soon it may be spinning at 1 revolution per minute, then 2, then 5, then 20...
Now, momentum is on your side. Steady pushing is still required, but each push now has greater impact and it starts to go... and go... and go. When it spins, and I mean really spins, it would take some really big set backs to even slow it down. You can then use smaller motors to keep pushing on your behalf. The whole goal is to just keep pushing. You just crank and crack.
At that point, you may get the media to tune in, and they may be there to watch you go from 20 revolutions per minute to 1000 rpm. From their perspective it will all have happened very quickly, without all that much effort. Well, they don't know about the thousands of pushes the company made before the media started paying attention. It all started long before that with one single push followed by thousands of others.
Seeing incredible results requires consistency more than anything else. I've been pushing my company HouseFLIX for almost two years now and now we're finally seeing inertia working for us rather than against us. There's no way it would have even been spinning at all if I were the only one pushing. I've got several committed people working to make it happen. Together we're seeing that big wheel turn.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
The power of... SURPRISE!!!
In his book "The Starbucks Experience" author Joseph A. Michelli talks about the power of the unexpected. It really hit me, because it's so blatantly obvious when you think about it.
As a business owner, making good on your promises is a good place to start. But, if you really want to set yourself apart, venture into the realm of the unexpected.
Popcorn, peanuts and molasses are not what made "Cracker Jack" a household name. It was the surprise!
You see, nobody tells their friends about getting ordinary service. Because IT'S BORING! You tell your friends about the stuff that blindsides you. The crazier it was the more people are gonna hear about it. Those are the items that make up conversation.
Any brand conscious company wants word-of-mouth advertising because as consumers we are completely inundated with bogus, outrageous advertising claims. We need not look further than the junk mail we throw away every day. That's why a trusted friend's recommendation is more effective than a hundred TV ads.
So, what's the secret to a successful "word-of-mouth campaign" (if there even is such a thing)? It's not rocket science, you purposely and consistently do things that are both unexpected and positive.
The more outrageous, the better! You may have heard the story of the customer who successfully returned a car tire to Nordstroms, or they guy who took a hacksaw to his new Craftsman crescent wrench in the parking lot at Sears only to walk back in and exchange it for a brand new one without a word of complaint.
See, these stories were so extraordinary that I'm sitting here writing about them years after they happened.
Surprise your customers and you'll give them something to talk about.
As a business owner, making good on your promises is a good place to start. But, if you really want to set yourself apart, venture into the realm of the unexpected.
Popcorn, peanuts and molasses are not what made "Cracker Jack" a household name. It was the surprise!
You see, nobody tells their friends about getting ordinary service. Because IT'S BORING! You tell your friends about the stuff that blindsides you. The crazier it was the more people are gonna hear about it. Those are the items that make up conversation.
Any brand conscious company wants word-of-mouth advertising because as consumers we are completely inundated with bogus, outrageous advertising claims. We need not look further than the junk mail we throw away every day. That's why a trusted friend's recommendation is more effective than a hundred TV ads.
So, what's the secret to a successful "word-of-mouth campaign" (if there even is such a thing)? It's not rocket science, you purposely and consistently do things that are both unexpected and positive.
The more outrageous, the better! You may have heard the story of the customer who successfully returned a car tire to Nordstroms, or they guy who took a hacksaw to his new Craftsman crescent wrench in the parking lot at Sears only to walk back in and exchange it for a brand new one without a word of complaint.
See, these stories were so extraordinary that I'm sitting here writing about them years after they happened.
Surprise your customers and you'll give them something to talk about.
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