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Christina Mayer
Christina Mayer 21 January 2015
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Why It Takes Seven Days To Name A Brand

A newbie marketer should at least allot 7 days for brand naming. Why? Read it all here!

Ever since Wet Seal’s bankrucy controversy popped out, there have been hundreds of articles exploring what the store do with it’s employees. Usually, the comments that you would see on these articles will talk about how the store should’ve fixed the problem or what will happen to the company after it suffers from the major lay-offs.

I’ve read one article about it, and a certain comment of that particular article stood out from the rest. Nope, I think it’s not a troll and it’s not about anything serious, but I’m pretty sure it would attract a lot of web traffic if it was presented in another way. The commenter simply said: “What a weird name for a store anyway.” One of the most underrated things that are ignored by newbie marketers is the would-be-name of their brand.

Besides the logo, the name is one of those gems that will carry your business. Your brand name will be the flagship of your future success. If you screwed-up in identifying your brand name, expect it to fail instantly. That’s how brand marketing should work. One time, I’ve been asked by one of my clients who is planning to build up a new business.

He asked me some useful tips as a newbie marketer. I asked him if he already has a name for his business. He said he still has no idea about it and promised that he will give it a go the next day after. That’s completely wrong. Names shouldn’t be formed in a day.

In my own opinion, brand names should be brainstormed for 7 days. Now, you’ll think I’m exaggerating. But think of it this way. Would you rather be that brand that people would comment: “What a weird name for a brand, anyway.” You could simply lose not only your loyal customers, but also lose “cool” since people do not want to be related to something which isn’t hip or the likes. So should you spend your 7 days in naming your brand?

First Day
Understand your brand clearly. Picture it in your mind What I meant was you really REALLY need to understand your business. You must master your products, services, your goals and the like. 


Second Day
Identify your target audience. Know your targeted traffic for your website. Your name will depend on the type of consumers that will like your brand.

Third Day 
List down possible inspirations for your brand name. You can’t simply write down and identify your brand name. Before you could figure that out, you must first know the inspirations that could lead you to that perfect name.

Fourth Day 
Create a list of possible brand name from those inspirations. Now is the time to list down possible names for your brand. Don’t hesitate to list down even the “oddly sounded” names. Don’t stop yourself from listing them all, and make sure that you include the reason why you’ve included it on the list. This list will be your basis whether your brand name will attract business traffic or not in the future!

Fifth Day 
Disregard others but still keep a list of it. Shake off all the names that you don’t want to include on your final list. Leave only possible names that could fit perfectly to your brand. Just remember, don’t throw those disregarded list yet! You may still use them tomorrow!

Sixth Day 
Reassess everything! Look at both list again and start reassessing. Further cancel out names and look for possible brand names from the “disregarded” list that you’ve made on the sixth day. In this way, you could still have that second look that is usually “unbiased”, giving you a better chance to come up with a greater name.

Seventh Day
Deliberation After getting the “filtered” list, it’s time to vote off! Together with maybe 3-4 other team mates, friends or family member, decide which name would perfectly fit to your website.

So there you have it! If you really want to boost website traffic in the future, you might as well allot 7 days for naming your brand. Be smart enough to understand that names will be the reflection of your brand. Choose a name that perfectly fits your bill, and use it as your main flagship in promoting your business in the future!

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