What is the key to picking the right brand name for your company or products inside your business? How important is that choice really? Should you use your own name or something totally unrelated to you? Do you need to name your business by the domain names that are available?
On The Small Business Radio Show this week, I talked about this with Alexandra Watkins who is a leading and outspoken authority on brand names with buzz. If you have ever eaten a Wendy’s “Baconator”, you have literally eaten her words. For nearly 20 years, she and her naming firm, Eat My Words, have created love-at-first sight brand names for countless companies including Amazon, Coca-Cola, Disney, Twitter, and Google. Her own “Name Hall of Fame” includes frozen yogurt franchise Spoon Me, the Neato robotic vacuum, Burger King’s Mac n’ Cheetos, and Spanish language school Gringo Lingo. The vertical farming company she named Plenty was recently named one of the Top 100 Most Influential Companies by Time Magazine.
Alexandra is a former Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center Author in Residence. Her breakthrough creativity book, “Hello, My Name is Awesome: How to Create Brand Names That Stick,” was named a Top 10 Marketing Book by Inc. Magazine. She lives in San Diego in her Barbie Dream House with a lot of pink.
5 questions I talked with Alexandra about when it comes to branding your company or new products.
- What are the qualities of a strong brand name for a small business?
- What are the biggest mistakes people make when naming a brand for their company?
- Should someone have a brand name or use their personal name for their business name?
- What are some common brand name misconceptions and what do I need to avoid?
- What tips do you have on finding a good domain name?
Listen to the entire interview with Alexandra.
Image: Alexandra Watkins