Brand Marketing: What are the principles of brand names?

1. Why is the brand name worth millions?

1. Because it is important

Confucius said, "If the name is not right, then the words will not flow; if the words are not flowing, then things will not be accomplished."

Trout said: The only marketing decision you can make is to give your brand a good name.

A brand is first and foremost a name, and it is this name that customers ultimately remember. Companies spend so much money on publicity, and the investment ultimately falls on the name. A good brand name can greatly save communication costs.

2. Because it is difficult to register

After so many years of market economy, most common names have been registered, resulting in an extremely low approval rate for new brand registrations.

Because it is so important and difficult to register, a good name is naturally very expensive. A name could cost tens of thousands or even millions. For example, the BBK brand “Little Genius” was purchased for 3 million yuan.

2. What are the principles of brand names?

There are four principles for brand naming: "easy to remember, relevant, unconfusing, and unambiguous."

1. Easy to remember

The most important thing about a brand name is that it should be memorable to the audience. There are three points to make it easy to remember: few words, uncommon, and using Chinese characters.

① Few words

Two or three words are best, and no more than four words. If four words can make people directly associate the product or are easy to remember, you can consider it. For example, "Nongfu Spring and Three Squirrels".

Names with more than four characters are too expensive to remember and spread. Consumers usually shorten this kind of name to "Beauty Diary". For example, most consumers will shorten it to "My Beauty Diary". But phrases like “I have something to offer, I’m glad to meet you” are difficult to abbreviate, and are difficult to remember and spread.

② Not unfamiliar

Try to use high-frequency words that everyone knows. Don’t use uncommon characters because they are not well-known and if you don’t recognize them, how can you remember them? How to pass it to others? If we have to spend money to educate customers to read, the cost will be too high.

For example, these products and brand names are "pork rice, oat noodles, Mark Feng..."

③ Use Chinese characters

When building a brand in China, use Chinese for the name. Avoid using English or English abbreviations because the cost of remembering and communicating is too high.

A brand can have an English name, but the Chinese name must be the core. Don't come up with an English name first and then transliterate it into a Chinese name. For example, SCALERS. Most Chinese people don’t know what SCALERS means. They remember “SCALERS” when they remember the brand. However, these three words are not easy to remember and have nothing to do with outdoor products.

Don't use abbreviations. Even if your meaning is profound, consumers won't know it. for example:

The full name of BYD is Build Your Dreams. Does anyone know?

The full name of TCL is Today's China Lion, which means "Today's Chinese Lion". Does anyone know?

Do not use a combination of Chinese characters and foreign languages ​​or characters in names, such as "鲜の每日C". It is hard to pronounce or type, and it is long and uncommon. The cost of remembering and spreading it is too high.

2. Relevance

It is related to the industry, product characteristics, or population characteristics, so that others can associate it with what it does or what characteristics it has as soon as they hear it. There are three specific points.

① Industry related

It is related to the attributes of the industry, so people can know what it is selling as soon as they hear it. Specific related products and related industry characteristics.

1) Related products

For example, the name of a water seller may contain words that represent or have the meaning of water. For example: Nongfu Spring, Baiguoyuan, and Xianchengduo, you can tell what they do just by listening to their names.

2) Related industry characteristics

What characteristics of an industry do consumers care about? For example, the express delivery and distribution industry is "fast" and the security doors are "strong and safe." Like these names: Flash Express, DeDun, Rejoice

② Characteristics related

Related to brand positioning or product characteristics, if the brand positioning is "durable, fresh, cheap...", the product characteristics are that the product is unique in formula, production, shape, packaging..., which can be reflected in the name.

BMW, positioned as a driving machine. The Arabian horse is the ultimate vehicle.

Zaixiang is positioned as "strong and durable, even able to support an elephant".

Red Bull is positioned as a "refreshing drink" and is full of energy.

Zhou Hei Ya, with unique production method, is black in color.

For Baijiahei, take the white tablets during the day and the black tablets at night.

③ Crowd-related

The brand name should sound consistent with the image and psychology of the target group. If it is sold to men, it should not sound too feminine, and if it is sold to women, it should not sound too manly. for example:

Jinba is a men's clothing brand with a tough clothing style.

Langsha, a women's socks brand, sounds feminine.

Wahaha started out as a children’s drink called Wahaha AD Calcium Milk, which sounds childish right away.

3. No confusion

The name should be significantly different. Do not leverage big brands, do not leverage IP, and do not have the same name as other products in the same category.

① Don’t take advantage of big brands

Don’t be too close to other brands, especially big brands, otherwise it will feel like a copycat.

In the jewelry industry, after Chow Tai Fook became successful, many brands like to use the three words "Zhou, Da, and Fu" in their names, and there are a lot of "Chow Tai Seng, Jin Da Seng, Jin Da Fook..."

Once it becomes big, the brand will still be seen as a copycat, and the cost of changing the name is extremely high, which will put it in a dilemma.

② Don’t leverage IP

Some also like to be clever. Taking advantage of famous IPs (such as celebrities, famous objects, famous buildings...), for example, the antidiarrheal medicine is called "Xie Ting Feng", the dried durian is called "Liu De Hua", and the condom is called "Central One Set".

This kind of name is too sensational. People may find it funny, but they are not confident in buying this brand because it is too frivolous and lacks a sense of security.

③ Don’t use “generic words”

Common words refer to "category names, nouns, short sentences", such as "toothpaste, news, here I come"

Some people think that this kind of name brings its own traffic, which is very advantageous. In fact, this will confuse the brand and category.

For example, the toothpaste brand is called "News", the express box brand is called "I'm Here", the local tour brand is called "Let's Set Off", and the advertisement's appeal is "Local tours mean setting off", but consumers don't know what this local tour brand is called.

4. No ambiguity

① Don’t let your name not match your reality

Don't come up with a name that is completely different from what you associate with your product. For example, if you are cooking Jiangsu and Zhejiang cuisine and cannot come up with a name that is associated with Jiangnan, then you can use a neutral name like "Grandma's House" or "New Discovery" instead of a name associated with Sichuan cuisine like "Bashu Style".

For example, "South Beauty" makes people associate it with Jiangsu and Zhejiang cuisine, but in fact it serves Sichuan cuisine, which leads to cognitive bias.

② Don’t have negative associations

Some words may have negative associations in pronunciation, homophones, and semantics, so try to avoid them.

For example, Goldlion’s original name was Golden Lion (derived from the English word GOLD LION), but in Cantonese, “lion” sounds the same as “lose”, which is taboo, so it was later changed to “Goldlion”, which then became a success.

Shenzhen Airport was originally named "Huangtian Airport", but "Huangtian" easily reminds people of "Huangquan", so it had to be renamed "Bao'an Airport", which means "keeping safe".

3. Basic Law of Brand Naming

There are six commonly used methods for naming, namely "phrase method, extraction method, imitation method, keyword method, name of person and place method, and name of animal and plant method", which are described as follows:

1. Phrase method

It is a phrase consisting of "common noun + auxiliary word".

Common nouns refer to words that are relevant to the category. For example, the relevant words for the “home appliance repair” category include “home appliances, wrenches, masters…”

Auxiliary words are words that are combined with common words to increase the distinctiveness of the common noun and make the whole combination sound like a brand word.

The advantage of this naming is that it directly expresses certain characteristics of the business or product.

For example, these names:

Wrench + Club = Wrench Club

Genius + Little = Little Genius

Farmer + Orchard = Farmer Orchard

Driving test + guide = driving test guide

Note + Xia = Note Xia

Express + Easy = Express Easy

Alipay+Paypal=Alipay

2. Extraction method

Extract words from idioms, allusions, articles, novels, movies, etc. and use them directly or in a modified form.

Because it has a source and a cognitive basis, the audience feels familiar with it and it is easy to remember. If it has been revamped, the audience will feel both familiar and fresh, and it will be easier to remember. for example:

Alibaba

Smurfs

Wahaha

Tea without flaws

Xueersi

3. Imitation method

There are many good names on the market. You can imitate the formats or naming ideas of these good names. Please note that it is best to imitate other industries, otherwise it will easily cause confusion.

for example:

The format of Fengzhiyu Xizhilang is "X of Y"

The format of Afu is "Ah X"

The format of Fliggy and Tmall is "auxiliary word + animal"

The format of Three Squirrels and Seven Wolves is "quantifier + animal"

The format of white and black is (X auxiliary word Y, XY opposite)

…….

Use the above format to name the following:

X of Y = Pu's Words

A X = A Nan

Auxiliary word + animal = white peacock

Quantifier + animal = Shuanglong

X is an auxiliary word of Y, XY is opposite = heaven and earth

4. Keyword method

Based on industry attributes, product characteristics, brand positioning, idioms and allusions... extract as many keywords and words as possible, and develop combinations around these words.

For example: Lao Liu used this method when naming a tea drink and came up with several good names.

Extract some keywords

Name formed by combination

5. Name and Place Name Method

Directly use the founder’s name or place name as the brand name, or modify it to make it the brand name.

Many foreign brands use the name of their founder as their brand name, such as Chanel, Versace, Gianni Versace, and Estee Lauder.

There are also quite a few in China. For example: Wanglaoji, Laoganma, Wangzhihe, Zhang Xiaoquan, Wang Mazi, Fan Wenhua, Li Ning...

6. Nomenclature of plants and animals

This is very common in Internet companies, such as Tudou Video, Guazi Used Cars, Huamao Live, Ant Financial, and Elephant Condoms... Try to choose names that are familiar and highly recognizable to reduce the cost of memory and dissemination.

4. Summary of core contents

1. Why is the brand name worth millions?

① Because it is important

② Because it is difficult to register

2. What are the principles of brand naming?

① Easy to remember: few words, not uncommon, using Chinese characters

② Relevance: 1. Industry related; 2. Feature related; 3. Population related

③ Avoid confusion: The name should be significantly different. Do not leverage big brands, IP, or have the same name as other products.

④ No ambiguity: 1. Do not misrepresent the name; 2. Do not have negative associations

3. What are the methods for brand naming?

There are six commonly used methods, namely "phrase method, extraction method, imitation method, keyword method, personal name and place name method, and animal and plant name method".

Author: Liu Guoqiang

Source: Liu Guoqiang Demolition Marketing (sslj36)