Brand naming guide to help you reduce advertising costs by 50%

Think for 3 seconds before reading, what do you think is a good brand name? This article will temporarily put aside issues such as brand quality, operation, and scale, and focus on the topic of brand naming.

How important do you think a good brand name is?

In the past business era, it might not make much difference if you picked a random name. Because there were fewer brands at that time, consumers had fewer choices. For the same category, there may be only one or two brands on the shelves of shopping malls. Moreover, the Internet was not as developed as it is now. Consumers only needed to remember where your store was in the village or town and go there directly to buy.

Maybe your brand name is the same, "Lei Ji" or "Xiaomi", the name is not the most important thing at that time. However, product homogeneity is becoming more and more serious, the number of brands is far greater than in the past, and people’s mental resources are limited. Therefore, a good brand name has become more and more important, especially for Internet-related companies.

A good name can help you save a lot of advertising costs!

Marketing master Shi Yuzhu said:

"If a name is not catchy and hard to remember, it often takes dozens of times more advertising effort to make it memorable."

For example, the names of second-hand car platforms - Guazi, Renrenche, and Youxin. These three brands have invested the same amount of advertising money, and it is obvious that the name Guazi Used Car has more advantages. The second is Renrenche, and Uxin Used Car may have to invest more than 1 times more in advertising to make consumers remember this name.

Even a good name can change the fate of a brand.

For example, the name of Coca-Cola in China at that time was "Tadpole Gnawing La". When domestic consumers heard the name, they felt it was strange, a bit like taking cough medicine, so sales were naturally very poor. Later, after the name was changed to "Coca-Cola", the situation began to reverse.

For example, there is a brand called "Jinshi" which sells very poorly in Guangdong and Hong Kong. Why? The main reason is that the name is not good. Because the “shi” in “Jinshi” sounds similar to the Cantonese word “lose”, consumers in Hong Kong and Guangdong felt unhappy when they heard this sound - "All my gold was lost? I won’t buy your stuff!" Later, it was changed to "Goldlion" and became a huge success.

Therefore, a good name can not only save marketing costs, but also affect the development prospects of your brand.

So what makes a good brand name?

1. Principles of brand naming

A good brand name must at least meet the following two principles.

Principle 1: Can reduce communication costs

Why should a good name be able to reduce communication costs?

Because names are meant to be called, not looked at.

In early human life, there were relatively few people and almost everyone knew each other. They could quickly identify who was who by their faces and appearance. But at night, they couldn't see each other. Then, one can only identify and summon others by calling their names.

If you want to "call out" a good name, the first thing is that the name can reduce the cost of communication.

Like many people who become stars, they will take a stage name or change their name, such as Jackie Chan, Andy Lau, Liu Jishou, Zuoyeben, etc. One reason is that these names are more contagious. (Even I, who am not an internet celebrity , have my own nickname: Mr. Monster.)

According to the sharing of Hua & Hua and Xiao Ma Song , communication costs mainly include the following four aspects:

(1) Identification costs - easy to understand

For example, "apple cider vinegar" is easier to understand than "fermented apple juice," and "secrets of nature" is easier to understand than "biology."

Some names are not easy to identify what the brand is, so it is best to add category words when promoting. For example, "Xiaomi" is better called "Xiaomi mobile phone", otherwise people who have never heard of it will think it is a brand selling rice.

(2) Memory cost - easy to remember

After seeing or hearing this name, do you find it easy to remember it? For example, the names of the used car platforms mentioned above are ranked in order of memory cost: Youxin > Renrenche > Guazi.

Some people say that name length is the key to reducing memory cost. In fact, the length of the name is not the most important thing. More importantly, see if it conforms to our memory rules. For example, names like “Everyone is a Product Manager ” and “ Mantou Business School ” are easy to remember, but “Bocheng” is difficult to remember.

Of course, it is better to keep the name within 2-4 characters so that it is less tiring to read.

(3) Representation cost - easy to explain

Many people think that using uncommon characters is "creativity" and that something that others can't understand is "differentiation." In fact, this not only makes it difficult for users to understand, but also increases the cost of retelling, making it difficult to explain clearly at once.

“The food in this restaurant is delicious”

"Which one?"

“奔鱻羴”, “奔” is composed of three cows, pronounced bēn, and 鱻 is composed of three fish, pronounced…”

"I'd better go home and eat the dishes cooked by my mother..."

Therefore , using uncommon characters as brand names will increase the cost of repetition, and your brand will lose many potential users.

In addition, in order to avoid reading difficulties, we should be cautious when using polyphones and polysemous characters. For example, for the brand "Shell", I initially thought it was pronounced "壳(ké)牌", but later my friend corrected me and I realized it was pronounced "壳(qiào)牌".

So try not to use uncommon, ambiguous, or mixed Chinese and English words as your brand name.

(4) Search cost - easy to search

Nowadays, when we encounter an unfamiliar brand or product, many people will check it out online.

Your name is difficult to type or search. If consumers are not particularly interested in your brand, they may give up on learning more about your brand because the cost of searching your name is too high, and you will lose a potential user.

For example, there is an English learning platform called "tutorabc". When I type in this name, I have to enter the letters in the advertisement one by one. On the contrary, a name like "无忧" in English is easier to type and search.

In addition to reducing communication costs, let’s look at another principle of a good brand name:

Principle 2: Investment Value

Seeing this principle, you may wonder: "It's just a name, how can it rise to the status of investment value?"

Yes, a good name has investment value, and every advertisement increases the investment return for the brand name. For example, the name "Coca-Cola".

For example, many good names have been registered now, and many people are willing to pay a lot of money to buy them. Some people even make money by registering names, just like selling domain names.

What kind of brand name has investment value? In addition to reducing the cost of communication as mentioned above, we should also pay attention to the following two common points:

(1) Do not use words that create negative perceptions

For example, the names "Tadpole Gnawing La" and "Jinshi" mentioned at the beginning of the article will cause negative perception among the target users . For a brand name like this, the more advertising money you invest in, the worse the positive effect will be. Because these names have no investment value and are not good names.

For example, the name "margarine" easily makes people think of the negative perception that "this butter is made artificially with chemical raw materials", but it would be much better to change it to "vegetable butter".

(2) Avoid using words related to politics, pornography, legal issues, etc.

For example, there was a restaurant that named itself "Fanzuifenzi". It was said that it was ordered to suspend business for rectification by the Industrial and Commercial Bureau after only three days of operation.

For example, names such as "Eight Walnuts" or "Eight Original Walnuts" are obviously plagiarisms of " Six Walnuts ". Even if trademark law issues can be avoided, it will still cause disgust among some consumers and make them feel that the design lacks creativity. There was also a failed case of Lao Gandie imitating Lao Ganma, and it was the same.

Therefore, if you want your brand name to have investment value, avoid using words related to politics, pornography, legal issues, etc. Even if these names can be registered, they will not be conducive to the long-term development of the brand.

So, how do you choose a good name?

2. Tips for brand naming

There are a lot of brand naming techniques on the Internet. I will only share a few techniques that I think are more practical and effective.

1. Words that have formed mnemonics

There are two common categories:

(1) Directly using the names of animals and plants

When naming a brand or product, it is best to use words that have become mnemonics, and the names of animals and plants are typical examples.

Previously, an article about naming animals and plants from the Elephant Association was circulated in the circle. It talked about a lot of brand names that are easy to remember and spread. Basically, they are names of animals and plants, especially Internet brands. When you see Internet brand names, you think of zoos...

In fact, using the names of animals and plants as brand names is a way to reduce communication costs. Because people are more familiar with animals and plants, familiar things are easiest to remember, and animals and plants are less likely to cause trademark issues such as infringement (easy to register).

For example, brands that are directly named after animals include: Little Swan, Tiger Live , Wuchang Fish, Ant Financial , Cainiao Logistics, Xiami Music…

Plants include: Baihe.com, Tudou.com, Xiaomi, Mogujie , Wandoujia , Nut Mobile, Huajiao Live , Guazi Used Car, Pear Video, Lizhi FM, Guokr.com , Xigua Video...

For brands named after animals and plants, you should add a category word at the end of your promotion so that people can know what you do at first glance and reduce the recognition cost during communication. For example, the "Xiaomi mobile phone" mentioned earlier, if "mobile phone" is not added at the end, the first time you hear it, you will think it is a brand that sells rice.

(2) Other symbolic words

In addition to the names of animals and plants, which are familiar to the human brain, there are other familiar symbolic words. If it is available and has not been registered, it is also a very good name.

For example, Hammer (mobile phone), Zhen Gongfu, etc., and Marco Polo is also considered (because it has appeared in primary and secondary school textbooks and has become a familiar symbolic word).

Some people may ask, what if the names of animals and plants that we can think of have all been registered?

That’s a good question – so here are some naming tips.

2. Category-related words + words for plants and animals/familiar objects

For example, Sohu, Land Rover , Tuhu Auto Maintenance, BMW, Tmall , Tuniu Travel , Aidou, Fliggy Travel, Taobao , etc.

For example, the name of my public account, "Mr. Monster", was inspired by this idea. My friend and I thought of several names at the time, and finally we chose "Mr. Monster". Because this name is more vivid and easy to remember.

"Monster" is a word that everyone is familiar with, so let's just classify it as the name of an animal or plant (a somewhat forced classification). "先森" is a similar word to "先生" (in fact, "先生" is easier to spread and less likely to be misspelled. But I prefer "先森", haha).

In addition, "monster" and "senator" are somewhat conflicting and contrasting, so they will be easier to remember once combined. Because conflicting and contrasting names can deepen the human brain's memory , like the "飞" and "猪" in "飞猪" (pigs can fly? How interesting. Then, I remember it quickly).

There is also the Sohu search engine, which I heard was originally called Sohu. But the founder Zhang Chaoyang later felt that the characteristics of foxes are agility, flexibility and intelligence, which also conform to the characteristics of search engines , so he later changed "Souhu" to "Sohu".

3. Reduplication

Another technique for naming is to use reduplication.

For example, QQ, DingTalk, Maimai, Momo , Tantan , Paipai, YY, as well as Didi , Dangdang, Beibei, Zhuan Zhuan, Wangwang, and Panpan.

In addition to two-character names, three-character names can also be named by reduplication, such as Taopiaopiao , Huolala, Pinduoduo, Qianduoduo, Fangduoduo, Yunmanman, Chuchujie, Wahaha, Renrendai, Paipaidai, Qichacha, etc.

Why are reduplications easier to remember? Quoting Professor Sun Qingjin’s explanation, you will find that when children are just learning to speak, reduplication of words is generally the easiest to learn. For example, "Dad, Mom", or "Food" when eating, "Pig" when seeing a pig, "Pee" when peeing...

It can be seen that it is relatively easy for humans to remember reduplicated words. After all, this is the memory law of the human brain.

4. Idioms

Names and our idioms can also reduce communication costs.

For example, Qunar , What’s Worth Buying , Ele.me , Alibaba (implying Open Sesame, the door to wealth is opened), Toutiao , 1088pax, etc.

Some time ago, I used this technique to help an offline retail store come up with a name. It’s a very memorable name. I don’t know whether they have registered the trademark, so I won’t disclose it.

Therefore, you can come up with a lot of good names using these everyday idioms.

5. Number + Category-related words

If this method is used well, it can also come up with a good name.

For example, Six Walnuts, Three Squirrels , One Cotton (pure cotton home furnishing brand), etc.

But it is important to note that you should not be clever and imitate existing brands by changing the numbers. For example, the "Eight Walnuts" mentioned earlier is obviously an imitation of the "Six Walnuts" brand, which can easily create a negative impression of the brand and violate the principle of "do not use words that create negative perceptions" in the investment value mentioned earlier.

Well, the above six tips are common and effective methods. The names picked out according to these tips will not be too bad. Of course, there are many other techniques, but by flexibly applying the above techniques, you can already come up with a good name that can reduce dissemination costs and has investment value.

3. How to detect a good name

After a name is chosen, you can use some simple methods to preliminarily detect whether it is a good name.

(ps: The first two methods below are recommended by Xiaoma Song, and the last two methods are personal summaries)

1. Can you write it down correctly immediately after listening?

When you tell someone this name, he/she can write it out correctly immediately, which means that the dissemination cost of this name is low (it is easy to understand, remember, say, and search). For example, Three Squirrels, Tiantian Express, Didi Taxi , etc. meet this testing standard.

For example, names like "奔鱻羴" and "tutorabc" are difficult to write out after hearing them, and they are also difficult to type out.

2. Do you want to switch keyboards when entering a name?

Names mixed with Chinese and English, and even uppercase and lowercase English, are very painful to type. This kind of name directly increases the search cost and is not a good name.

3. When others first hear your brand name, can they immediately know what you do?

This can detect whether the name is understandable and whether it will be misunderstood by consumers. For example, South Beauty. When people first hear it, they think it is an opera house, but it is actually a Sichuan restaurant. There is also Xiaomi mobile phone. If the category name "mobile phone" is not added after "Xiaomi", people who hear it for the first time will think it is a brand selling rice.

4. Does the target user feel uncomfortable when hearing this name?

Check whether there are any cultural or industry taboos or negative perceptions. For example, the original name of Coca-Cola in China was "Tadpole Gnawing La", and people in Guangdong and Hong Kong heard the name "Golden Lion".

Summarize

It's true love to watch it all. Finally, let’s summarize it with a mind map.

(If it is still blurry after clicking to enlarge, you can add my WeChat guaishou713 to get a high-definition picture)

What other brand names do you think fit the principles described in this article? Feel free to share in the comment section.

Remark

1. This article is my personal understanding of brand naming. If you have different opinions, there is no need to argue about right or wrong (because there is no right or wrong in marketing, as long as it is effective and appropriate), but you are welcome to leave a message to discuss and exchange your ideas. If you find this article useful, it is recommended that you apply and save it after reading it, and read it again when needed.

2. For the brands involved in this article, Mr. Monster only analyzes and explains them from the naming level, which has nothing to do with the quality of the related products. If there is anything inappropriate, please contact us to delete it. Pictures are from the Internet, and will be deleted if there is any infringement.

Author: Mr. Monster, authorized to be published by Qinggua Media .

Source: Mr. Monster