Naming a company or product can be an exhilerating process if done correctly.  Red Rocket Media Group, a marketing communications company in Colorado has named countless companies and products throughout the last ten years.  And the names we create are founded on market research based on demographics, psychographics, genographics and geographics of the target market.

For instance, right now we are testing the name for a product that will be promoted to patients undergoing chemotherapy.  The product is, well… water. But this is no ordinary water.  This water is proven to hydrate the body faster than any water on the market but that isn’t the best part.  This water taste’s normal to chemotherapy patients that are suffering from MTS (Metallic Taste Syndrome). Yeah, you read that right. No more metallic tasting water for chemo patients. That is amazing.

Anyway, back to testing the names.  We’ve looked at popular keyword strings on Google, similar products and competition, we’ve bought every water bottle from here to Tanzania, we’ve looked at what drugs cause MTS and the research continued.  We’ve also had multiple brainstorming sessions, but none of them were more powerful than the one our Creative Director, Adrian Hanft put together.  We all drew a piece of paper out of a hat and on the paper was a character that we had to become. We had to step in the shoes of someone else; someone with cancer, someone who is a caregiver for a person with cancer, a daughter who lost her mom to cancer and so on.  It really opened our eyes to the emotions that surround these people.  It allowed us to see the disease and therefore the product from multiple angles. It was awesome.  We then nailed down our top 8 and presented the names along with the research and process to our client for him to choose the ones to test with the cancer community.

So the name one comes up with needs to have three characteristics to serve the product or company well.

1.  Pronunciation – It must be easy to pronounce and relatively easy to spell or you’ll be buying multiple domains

2.  Connotation – Make sure that the name doesn’t mean something else in another demographic and ask people what kind of product or company the name might be for.

3.  Memorability – The best way to help people remember something is to include movement or action in the name.  This increases memorability by 50% or better.  Also, it is important to see what names are remembered 10 minutes or so after presenting them to the client or focus group.

For instance, we met with a new client last week and he was telling us about a company that he licensed material from for over two years and he couldn’t tell us the name of the company.  The company name is Sales Training Consultants.  Now the pronunciation is easy, so is the connotation but the memorability has some serious issues.  It is too plain, too obvious, too common.  From a web standpoint it is great because those are the top keywords that people will search when looking for sales training, but beyond that, it is horrible.  Some work on a lasting and memorable name can be of great value.  In fact, if your business thrives on repeat customers but your customers can’t remember your name, you’ve lost them.  If you pay for Adwords, you really want that returning customer to remember your name so that you don’t have to pay for them to return to your site again through a search.

So, if you are contemplating starting a new company, selling a new product or creating an E-commerce website, I strongly urge you to do your homework and make sure your name “sticks.”  And if you aren’t a creative type or just aren’t up for the task, feel free to call us, Red Rocket Media Group, a Marketing Communications company in Colorado.

Also, if you have been affected by cancer in some fashion and would like to help us name this fabulous water for chemotherapy patients, please go to: http://www.snipurl.com/water_names