Marketing: Naming and Branding
Written by Carter McNamara, MBA, PhD, Authenticity Consulting, LLC. Copyright 1997-2008.To effectively promote your product, you must have a concise, yet meaningful description of the product. This can be much more complicated than merely picking a name. There are consultancies built around helping organizations to name or brand their products and services. You have to be sure that you're not using a name that is already trademarked or servicemarked. You should not have a name that closely resembles an already established name in your area, or customers will confuse your services with those referred to by the other name -- or, the organization with the other name may choose to sue you. You need a name that makes sense locally, but if you grow, the name will still be understood elsewhere. The name you choose for your product will be around for a long time and can have substantial impact on your products are perceived. Therefore, seriously consider some basic forms of market research to glean impressions of different names. For example, convene several focus groups to glean their reactions to various names. Have survey cards that clients can complete to suggest names.
Sections of This Topic Include:
3 Golden Rules of NamingDefinitions Behind Business Name Jargon
Are You Legally Permitted to Use Your Chosen Business Name?
Also consider
Basic Methods to Get Customer FeedbackSome Major Sources of Market Research Information
(also see
"Naming Your Website")
For the Category of Marketing:
Related Library Topics
Recommended Books
Basics, Planning and General Information
Basics, Planning and General Information
The following books are recommended because of their highly practical nature and often because they include a wide range of information about this Library topic. To get more information about each book, just hover your cursor over the image of the book. A "bubble" of information will be displayed. You can click on the title of the book in that bubble to get more information, too.
Market Research and Trends
The following books are recommended because of their highly practical nature and often because they include a wide range of information about this Library topic. To get more information about each book, just hover your cursor over the image of the book. A "bubble" of information will be displayed. You can click on the title of the book in that bubble to get more information, too.
Competitive Intelligence
The following books are recommended because of their highly practical nature and often because they include a wide range of information about this Library topic. To get more information about each book, just hover your cursor over the image of the book. A "bubble" of information will be displayed. You can click on the title of the book in that bubble to get more information, too.
Note to nonprofits: Nonprofits "compete" with other nonprofits, too. They compete for funding, attention from their communities and for staff. Also, funders often want to see if their grantees have closely considered whether other nonprofits are already offering the same services in the same areas. So nonprofits should use competitive intelligence, too.
Nonprofit
Field
Guide to Nonprofit Program Design, Marketing and Evaluation
- by Carter McNamara, published by Authenticity Consulting, LLC. There are few books, if any, that explain how to carefully plan, organize, develop and market a nonprofit program. Also, too many books completely separate the highly integrated activities of planning, marketing and evaluating programs. This book integrates all three into a comprehensive, straightforward approach that anyone can follow in order to provide high-quality programs with strong appeal to funders. Includes many online forms that can be downloaded. Many materials in this Library topic are adapted from this book.
The following books are recommended because of their highly practical nature and often because they include a wide range of information about this Library topic. To get more information about each book, just hover your cursor over the image of the book. A "bubble" of information will be displayed. You can click on the title of the book in that bubble to get more information, too.
Also See
Public Relations -- Recommended Books
Sales -- Recommended Books
