Six ways to use your naming strategy
It can do way more than help you decide what kind of names to make.
A strong naming strategy is critical to a successful naming project. But if you’re only using your strategy as a tool to guide name generation, you’re probably working harder than you need to.
If you’re running a naming project, your naming strategy is your everything
It’s your…
Rosetta Stone
Compass
Constitution
Vows
User manual
Stage directions…
From start to finish, here are six ways to make a naming strategy work harder:
1. As a snapshot of the brand and business realities of the offering being named
It might be summarized simply, but it should carry over the critical elements from:
Brand strategy + value proposition
Target audience needs, languages, environments, experiences, and context
Current strengths and competitive differentiators
Future ambitions + aspirations
This helps everyone feel extra sure we agree about what it is, exactly, that we’re naming.
2. As a translation from brand opportunity into naming opportunity
It draws a simple line from brand and business realities to creative direction for the name: the job of the name, what it should say, and how it should say it.
3. As both guardrails and inspiration for name creation
It should define creative spaces within which namers will generate names—that might be metaphors that feel appropriate to the brand, emotional themes, and richer landscapes from which to draw inspiration then “trust” or “authenticity."
4. As a filter for what gets filtered
Once you have a long list of names (that you generated alone or with a team), it’s there to help you pick which ones are worth the additional effort of screening for trademark/linguistic/common-law or other conflicts.
5. As final shortlisting criteria
Naming will always be deeply personal and emotional on some level. But re-surfacing the naming strategy ahead of presenting names, and then again as a tool for choosing the most successful ones, can help focus everyone’s attention on names that are best suited to the kind of brand everyone agreed they want to build.
6. As the foundation for designing validation research
Your questions can line up pretty directly with the language of your strategy and be designed to answer: How well does the names do the jobs they were designed to do? How well do the names convey the creative or strategic ideas behind their creative territories?
Learn more about this, and other ways to set your next naming project up for success, at an upcoming Naming for Everyone class!
Happy naming!
Caitlin
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