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What Every Entrepreneur MUST Know About Brand

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    Guest Post By Squadhelp.com

    It doesn’t matter where you live in the world; we can all agree that business success is a fluid concept that varies from business to business. And what most founders are beginning to understand is that building a great company isn’t just about pumping it full of pesos and dollars but empowering it with solid branding.

    It only takes seven seconds for people to have a strong impression of your brand and a tenth of a second for them to decide if they can trust it. And surprisingly, 81% of customers only patronize brands they trust. 

    Now, seven seconds may seem small, but it’s more than enough time for a powerful brand name to win the trust of your target audience.  

    And embracing the power of a solid brand name had been the unique factor that transformed dull names like Jolibe, Backrub, Brand’s Drink, and Pete’s Super Submarines into Jollibee, Google, Pepsi, and Subway. 

    Thanks to their unique brand names, these brands were able to rise to prominence in their respective niche. And you can also replicate these results in your business by finding the best company name ideas for your business. 

    Before we get into how it works, here’s why your business needs the perfect name.  

    Why Do You Need a Powerful Business Name for Your Business?

    Because you’re creating a high-end business doesn’t mean you wouldn’t compete and outperform other brands to earn the trust of your target customers.

    Business rivalry is fierce. It is no longer a secret that 4.4 million and 5.4 million businesses were recently launched in 2020 and 2021. If present trends continue, entrepreneurs might easily develop more than 5 million businesses in 2022.

    And, considering that millions of new businesses are launched every year, it’s no wonder that the typical customers encounter around 5,000 and 10,000 advertisements every day. And, without a doubt, a sizable portion of these adverts will flow from your rivals.

    Aside from having a good product, utilizing a unique business name is one of the finest methods for your firm to shine in the market. This is due to the fact that a memorable name will allow your brand to:

    • Make a powerful statement about its unique personality 
    • Attract your customers’ attention and build a solid relationship with them
    • Increase your income by improving your brand’s reputation
    • Lower your advertising expenditures
    • Easily recruit skilled workers

    Now that you see why your business needs a strong name, let’s see an example of a Filipino brand that rose to popularity because of its brand name.

    Jollibee: A Perfect Example of What a Powerful Brand Name Can Help You Achieve 

    Jollibee is an iconic Filipino brand and a great example of the opportunities a great brand name can provide. And sadly, most times, founders only realize this after they’ve started their business. 

    And just the same way Amazon and Nike saw true success after adopting a brandable business name, Jollibee also began its rise after a name change. 

    Here’s How it all Began

    For those not aware, Jollibee is the largest fast-food chain in the Philippines. As of 2019, the brand had a robust network of over 1,300 stores spread across countries like Vietnam, Canada, the U.S., Saudi Arabia, and Qatar. 

    But before all these successes, the company primarily used to be an ice cream parlor that offered sandwiches and hot meals on the side. When the food they sold became more popular than their ice creams, the company pivoted into a fast-food restaurant, and Tony Tan, the founder, made up the name for his new restaurant, Jollibee. 

    And seeing that the name didn’t embody what his brand needed, he repurposed the spelling, and the word took on a whole new meaning of its own and even birthed the mascot, the Jolly Bee. 

    Selling the Dream

    But Tony Tan didn’t just stop with creating a fun, catchy name. He also connected it to his target audience, the Filipino people. He revealed that he chose the name Jollibee because it relates to the happy and hardworking Filipino people.

    And in one simple statement, Tony didn’t just sell his business to his customers but also sold his brand’s identity. The ideas stuck, customers loved what the brand stood for, and Jollibee began its rise to the top. 

    Today, the company has attained success. It’s valued at over 3 billion dollars, has gathered a loyal customer base, built a vast network of stores and franchises, and even established a reputation that it could leverage anytime.  

    And just like Tony Tan, any entrepreneur can find the best name that’ll plant their business deep in the hearts of their customers. All you need to do is follow these four simple paths.

    Four Paths to Choosing the Right Brand for Your Company

    Measure the Future of Your Business

    Before you start your search for a compelling brand name and logo for your new business, you should have a clear idea of everything you want it to become and achieve in the future. Knowing this will deeply impact every creative idea you generate for your company.

    But, before you create your firm’s brand, do your homework and learn as much as you can about your business, its sector, its key demography, and industry since all of these factors will play a role in helping you build your business and choose a distinctive name that best fits your company and represents all angles of your company’s image. 

    Focus on your competitors’ products and services, brand identity, service quality, brand names, and marketing style while obtaining information about your organization. This way, you won’t just be able to get a good concept of what performs better in your industry and what doesn’t, but you’ll also get a good notion of what you’ll have to do to win your client’s attention.

    After extensive research on your firm, you’ll need to assemble all the ideas you’ve gathered and draw them down to the most fundamental ones that radiate your brand’s core values.

    Develop a Unique Brand Tone for Your Business 

    One reliable approach to creating a name that properly communicates your company’s true identity is to make sure it has a tone that will elicit a strongly favorable reaction from your audience.

    As a business owner, you need an intriguing branding tone because it expresses your company’s unique personality and can help you build a stronger bond with your customers right away.

    One method for determining the ideal tone your business needs is to study your audience and learn what draws them to other top-performing businesses in your industry.

    Knowing your target market will help you determine whether your brand’s tone should be: 

    • Prestigious
    • Amiable and inviting 
    • Innovative and modern
    • Intriguing
    • Pragmatic or practical
    • Emotionally powerful
    • Playful and fun

    Identify Your Company’s Branding Elements

    Choosing an interesting tone is important, but don’t stop there; you also need to consider your company’s branding elements, which are the foundation of your company’s identity and personality.

    So, pick up your pen and paper and scribble down your opinions on your brand:

    • Big ideas: What is/are your company’s core principles?
    • Values: What do your customers value? What does your business value? 
    • Benefits: What unique advantages will your company’s customers enjoy?
    • Feelings: When your customers connect with your brand, what powerful emotions do you want them to feel? 
    • Value proposition: Why should customers choose your brand over your competitors?

    Start Your Brainstorming Session

    After you’ve researched your organization, established an engaging tone, and identified your branding elements, the following step is to brainstorm words that match your firm’s name criteria.

    When brainstorming, scouring dictionaries and encyclopedias for the best words that reflect your company’s fundamental ideas is a smart strategy that can help you get better results faster.

    Concentrate on coming up with a diverse range of potential brand names for your organization during your brainstorming session. Compile a set of engaging, short, distinctive, interesting, and even metaphorical words that will grab your audience’s attention and help your business stand out in the industry.

    And if you’re having trouble coming up with unique and exciting brand names for your company, don’t be afraid to use a reliable name generator to create some original company names.

    Remember that the purpose of brainstorming is to collect as many possible options as possible, both excellent, awful, and ugly. So don’t be concerned if any of the words on your list don’t sound very interesting or fascinating.

    Each Word on Your List Should be Tested

    Brainstorming would provide you with several prospective brand names for your business. And all you have to do is create a shortlist by selecting the best words that fit your business’s naming needs.

    Recognize that choosing a great company name and using it effectively are two different matters. Our experience helping over 30,000 brands find the perfect name has made it clear that the freshest, edgiest, and trendiest names aren’t always the best choice because most of these names won’t evolve with your business and may even lead to long issues and challenges with marketing.

    So, to help you pick the best name for your business from the list of prospective names you’ve gathered so far, ensure you select a name that is:

    • Memorable 
    • Fresh, distinct, and isn’t similar to your competitor’s name.
    • Sounds pleasant and uncomplicated
    • Consistent with your brand’s current and future aims
    • Elicits a positive emotional response from customers
    • Loved by your target consumers 
    • Has a .com domain and social media accounts

    It’s not easy to come up with a name for your company. Naming is one of the most difficult and rewarding activities when it comes to branding your business. And we know that by following these six steps, you will be able to speed up the process and find the right name in no time.

    Grant Polachek is the head of branding for Squadhelp.com, 3X Inc 5000 startup and disruptive naming agency. Squadhelp has reviewed more than 1 million names and curated a collection of the best available names on the web today. We are also the world’s leading crowdsource naming platform, supporting clients such as Nestle, Dell, Nuskin, and AutoNation. 

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