What's in a name? For me, naming products and services is somewhat difficult. I want something catchy, clearly describes the benefits, isn't too long, and is memorable. It's always a struggle.
I was reviewing the transcript from the Blogging and Beyond interview we did a couple of weeks ago with Liz Goodgold of Duh Marketing. At one point Liz talked about "naming architecture" which she describes this way:
Naming architecture is just really a way to make sure that each brand, product, or service that you offer relates to the other. So, we take a really easy example: we might find a book called "Chicken Soup." So, we know the first soup is called "Chicken Soup for the Soul." Then, we had "Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul." Then, we had "Chicken Soup for the Chicken's Soul," right?
We know that all of those books are part of that family of brands.
The same thing: PepsiCo with its Frito Lay, right? You have Cheetos, Doritos, Tostitos, Myitos; if it's got an itos, I am going to eat them and we know that it comes from Frito Lay. Great type branding. If you go into the book store under my favorite section of mystery, you could find Sue Grafton. "A" is for Alibi, "B" is for Burglar, "C" is for Court.
So, you can see by creating a brand like that, no one else can invade her mind share or her territory. No one else can write a book called 'T' is for Terror without people saying, "Duh, that's obviously a Sue Grafton book."
It makes sense. If, as a professional, author, speaker, you name your services and products so they are related, your customers and prospects learn to know that anything under that brand name is something they can trust and they know it comes from you.
As The Blog Squad, we have a lot of products and services and I think we haven't maintained our naming architecture very well. We're developing a new blogging service and before it launches, we need to look carefully at how it relates and enhances our existing product line.
I'm curious to know how others have managed the naming process. Let us know!
Listen to the interview with Liz Goodgold.
Read the transcript of the interview.
