Last month while in the Amsterdam airport I entered in one of the perfumes shops there. Now, besides the maximum 6 colors I can see (hey I’m a man!), I’m completely smell-less when it comes to perfumes. Probably because of my biking thing I’ve lost my sense of smell, and quite frankly I don’t give a lot of importance to perfumes.
OK, so imagine myself going to the perfumes shop to buy some gifts. Had no idea what I need, so I’ve kind of started to look for the names. And suddenly I realized that these names set my expectations regarding how a perfume should smell. Let’s see some examples to help you understand what I’m saying:
- Hugo Energise by Hugo Boss for Men. OK, Hugo sounds like a good name for a man, and Energise makes me think that it should re-start my engines.
- CK One Summer by Calvin Klein – should be something about relaxation, vacation, sun?
- Secret Obsession by Calvin Klein for Women – should that remember you the times when you were young and in love?
- Nautica Blue by Nautica for Men – I can already see myself sailing.
Now, let’s picture a little bit the flagrance shop. Lots of products. The only differences between then are:
- bottle form, color and overall appearance
- brand
- name of the perfume.
Let’s take out bottle form, color and overall appearance because they don’t fit to this business case (but after all in a way they do if you think about business stationary, logos and so on) and think about the brand and the name.
And for the simplicity sake, let’s further consider that we don’t have individual product names, but the business name which, exactly, it’s usually the same with the brand.
Ok, so you have a business doing… whatever… I can bet that you have at least 10 close competitors on the products/services you are offering. Now. Image a customer enterring the perfumes boutique. All he can see is the bottle format (in your case logo, maybe), and company name. Let’s say that you are a shoe manufacturer. Will the visitor be interested more in a company called “The shoe factory LLC” or “John’s shop LLC”? Well, I would go for the shoe name. At least it says what it does.
Now, of course that are companies (even big ones) that managed to grow with an unrelated name. First one that comes to my mind is… Apple. Good name for organic food, but not really for gadgets. But well, they made it anyway.
As for the shoes, I would really go for a company called Perfect Shoes for your feet. Make your company work for you. It’s free help.
Well said. What it all boils down to is establishing your brand regardless of what product/service you are marketing. Forging meaningful relationships is the cornerstone of any successful business and leveraging them will result in real and lasting success. The ones who grasp this concept and consistently apply it (in both good and bad times) will solidify their position as the leader of the pack in their field. Cheers!