Choosing the right name for your innovative product is the basic building block of a successful marketing strategy. But product naming is not an easy task. This is why many companies find themselves struggling with new product naming. A good product name must be attention-grabbing. It must be unique, easy to remember, and vital to brand awareness.
So, where do you start the naming process? How do you distill your innovative product into a memorable name? Should the moniker focus on benefits or features? Should you pick a descriptive name or an abstract? This article answers all such questions and discusses the key factors to consider when developing a naming strategy. It explains how naming and branding are interconnected.
You will learn to choose the right naming strategy that aligns with your target audience and creative ways to brainstorm and evaluate potential names. This article also covers how to test names with your target audience. With the right approach, you can develop a catchy, impactful name that resonates with customers and sets your product up for success. Let’s dive in!
Essentials of New Product Naming
Every successful product naming process starts with a sound strategy. Companies must consider several key factors to develop an effective naming strategy for a new product. The newly selected name must align with the overall brand identity and strategy.
The aim is to choose a name that communicates the brand values, personality, and positioning to consumers. At the same time, companies must think about brand recognition goals. Businesses must focus on how this new product name helps boost awareness and memorability for your brand.
Choosing the Right Naming Strategy
Businesses may consider several product naming strategies before developing a good product name. Each strategy comes with its pros and cons. Therefore, brands must consider their brand personality, the nature of the product, and the target customers’ interests to pick the most suitable one.
Descriptive Names
A descriptive name directly states what the product is or does. It focuses on tangible features, benefits, or product attributes. Examples of descriptive names include Vitamin water, Kleenex tissues, and Q-tips cotton swabs. The advantage of a descriptive name is it immediately conveys to consumers what the product is. The major drawback is it lacks creativity and sometimes may sound too generic.
Suggestive Names
Unlike descriptive names, suggestive names do not directly state what the product does but instead evoke related attributes or feelings. Examples include Uber, Dove, and Swordfish. Suggestive names can be more creative and memorable than descriptive names but may require additional marketing to establish the link between the name and the product.
Invented Names
Invented names are made-up words unique and distinctive for a brand, like Kodak, Adidas, or Kleenex. The benefit is they can be protected legally from use by competitors. The downside is they typically require substantial marketing investment to build meaning and recognition. Verizon, for example, invested heavily in building an association between their invented name and telecommunications.
Aligning with Brand Identity and Brand Strategy
Once a company decides on a product naming strategy, the next step is to align it with brand strategy and identity. The aim is to select a name that communicates the brand’s personality, positioning, promise, and values to the consumers. The name must be a natural fit for the brand. For example, a brand famous for natural ingredients would seriously hurt its brand identity if it launched a product name that sound synthetic.
Considering Brand Recognition Goals
Brand recognition must be one of the primary goals when naming new products. Companies may ask questions like how their brand name will boost awareness and memorability. They may recall a direct impact on sales and revenue.
A unique and catchy name appropriately communicates the brand benefits and supports recognition objectives. For instance, Apple’s iPad is an invented name. It is distinctive and easy to remember. These features support the company’s overall brand recognition.
Supporting the Brand Architecture
When naming their newly designed products, companies must also consider them in the context of brand architecture and portfolio of the products. The name must feel cohesive and complementary to existing brands and products. At the same time, it should be distinct enough to represent the new offerings’s unique value proposition.
Businesses must aim to find the ideal positioning in the brand architecture ecosystem. For instance, Red Bull, one of the most well-known energy drink brands, launched their new product, Red Bull Sugarfree. It leverages the master brand while signaling a new variation at the same time.
Critical Steps in the Naming Process
Finding a good brand name requires a thought process consisting of multiple steps. A systematic approach helps find a great name that resonates with the target consumers. Rushing through naming without a strategic process raises the risks of choosing a suboptimal or ineffective name. Here are the essential steps to follow to boost the chances of success during the product naming process
Conduct Market Research
Market research is the first critical step toward the success of a business name. Companies must invest their resources in conducting thorough market research before approaching the product naming framework. It helps them learn about past market trends and the changing interests of potential customers.
Research and analysis also help companies learn about competitors’ standard product naming conventions. At this stage, companies may conduct surveys and extract data from focus groups or social media. This helpful information can help make informed decisions when finalizing the perfect name.
Brainstorming Potential Names
After conducting detailed market research, the next step is to brainstorm a list of potential names. The naming workshop taps into creative teams’ expertise to generate a list of naming options through intensive product naming exercises. Brainstorming has the power to uncover novel naming ideas that make the product distinguished.
Team members and stakeholders leverage techniques such as listing attributes, translating benefits into imagery, and drawing inspiration from category conventions and trends. The aim is to build an expansive list of names for screening. Whether brand naming after a merger or launching an entirely new product, brainstorming maximizes the possibilities.
Evaluating Potential Product Names
After generating a list of naming ideas, companies will likely have many options. It is time to start evaluating these names against specific criteria to refine the list. Refining the list will yield the best candidates that align with the brand and product goals.
A company may use the following criteria to evaluate the generated list of names:
- Uniqueness
- Memorability
- Likability
- Positioning fit
- Easy to Pronounce
- Visual appeal
It is essential to develop a prioritized checklist of attributes and rate each potential name on how well it needs those needs. Preformance name testing and online consumer feedback provide valuable input during evaluation. Thoroughly vetting names using a naming scorecard will allow businesses to narrow the list to a few outstanding finalists for further validation and selection.
Testing Potential Name with Target Market
A successful naming strategy is incomplete without proper name testing. Before finalizing a product name, testing potential options with the target demographic helps gain real market insights. Well-designed name testing provides invaluable consumer feedback on how appealing and appropriate potential names are.
Companies can conduct surveys and focus groups to test potential names for their products or services. These tests can provide quantitative and qualitative data on various aspects of the name, such as likability, uniqueness, memorability, and potential to drive purchase intent.
Businesses need to determine whether a name aligns with the desired brand image and evokes the desired emotions in consumers. By testing names, companies can eliminate guesswork and personal biases and ensure that the final choice resonates with their target audience – the potential customers.
Checking trademark availability
Verifying that a potential product name does not infringe on existing trademarks is crucial. Even if a name intuitively seems unique and original, comprehensive trademark screening is essential to avoid future legal conflicts.
Companies can search the USPTO’s TESS database or enlist professional services to conduct thorough trademark availability checks. Beyond direct trademark conflicts, companies must also evaluate if a name encroaches too closely on the brand identity of relevant significant players in the space.
Establishing that a desired name is legally available provides peace of mind before investing in a brand identity and product launch. Conducting proper due diligence to secure trademark rights upfront prevents the headaches of rebranding down the road.
Best Practices and Naming Principles
When choosing a good name for an innovative product, companies must focus on making it unique. At the same time, the name should ideally align with the consumer’s preferences to boost the brand identity. Businesses may follow these best practices and principles during the naming process.
Simplicity and Easy to Remember
Simplicity and memorability must be the top priority during the new product naming process. A name that is simple and easy to recall makes a solid and lasting impression. For instance, Peloton chose an elegant, unique word for their stationary bike that was intuitive to say and remember.
Another good example is Slack, derived from the acronym “Searchable Log of All Conversation and Knowledge. See how the company has intelligently compressed a complex idea into an unforgettable 4-letter name.
Easy to Pronounce
If customers stumble when trying to say the name, it won’t stick in their minds or trip off the tongue. For instance, software giant Adobe chose a short, punchy name that people could instantly pronounce and remember. Peleton, again, is an excellent example of an easy-to-pronounce name.
The company picked its name without tricky phonetic elements that sounded polished when spoken aloud. All these successful examples tell one thing! Choose names that are easy to pronounce.
Mistakes to Avoid
When naming a new product, there are certain pitfalls that businesses must avoid. Firstly, avoid complex names, as they can be confusing and difficult for consumers to remember. Secondly, names that are too limiting can prevent future growth into new product lines. Most importantly, the chosen name should resonate with the target market and meet their needs.
An overly clever or abstract name may seem reasonable internally, but it can miss the mark with customers. By avoiding convoluted, unmemorable, restrictive, or disconnected names, companies can give their new product the best possible chance of success with a name that truly resonates with their audience.
Bringing Your New Name to Market
After selecting the perfect name for your newly launched product, it’s time to bring it to the market. Companies may follow some essential steps to properly bring their new name to the demand for better results.
- Secure the relevant domain name to establish your branding online and own the URL customers will type.
- Complete trademark registration to protect your name and prevent infringement. File for the trademark after finalizing the name.
- Create brand guidelines that outline how to properly use the new name, logo, colors, and other branding elements. Ensure consistency across channels.
- Plan an internal launch to get employees excited about the new name and align on messaging. Make it a celebration.
- Orchestrate an external launch to announce the rebrand and new name to customers. Maximize buzz through PR, social media, advertising, and events.
- Update all assets and channels with the new brand identity, from packaging to websites, sales materials, and email signatures.
- Guide partners, retailers, or other entities that interact with customers on using the new name/branding.
Data-Driven Product Naming
Are you looking for the right name for your CPG product? Our data-driven product naming process guides you toward success. As a leading product naming agency, we specialize in creating product naming architecture that resonates with your target audience and drives sales. Book a time to discuss a project with our team.
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