From Dogpile to Fashism, many entrepreneurs have given their businesses terrible brand names. And these companies with inappropriate names suffer difficulties because instead ofe stablishing a positive brand image, their names become a cause of ridicule and misery.
This was literally the case with Ayds Diet Candy. It was regarded as the greatesta ppetite-suppressing sweet in its time. It maintained this dominance until the 1980s when its audience was informed of an awful disease called AIDS.
Their company’s name, Ayds, matched with AIDS, and that similarity had a severe consequence on revenue and caused a sharp decline of 50% within a few years.
Tragically, many businesses like Profilactic and Thoof make the very same error of adopting ugly company names and ignoring the need to rebrand their business quickly.
It doesn’t matter whether you found the ideal name for your business by yourself or by using a business name generator; you can avoid falling into the same naming mistakes that destroyed these brands’ disasters by following these steps.
1. Avoid Names With Negative Connotations
It’s ideal for an entrepreneur to avoid picking a brand name that carries any negative connotation in today’s market, especially on sensitive themes like politics, as this can cause your target market to become divided against you.
Therefore, while naming your firm, avoid names like Wanadoo, Hitler’s Kitchen, and K.K.K.
Similarly, avoid brand names like Dumass Taco and Analtech as they evoke negative images and ideas in the minds of your target audience and would just push them away from your brand.
Remember that your audience has a hard time discerning between the activities of a founder or CEO and those of their company. So, it is important to eliminate morally or politically controversial situations or to approach them with proper precaution; else, your organization may face public outrage like Mike Lindell’s, MyPillow, or might even get abandoned like CNN+.
2. Avoid Brand Names That Are Complicated
When looking for a great name for your company, it’s best to avoid using complex words.
Difficult brand names will lose your audience’s interest. No one wants to waste mental effort finding out how to pronounce your company’s name accurately.
People are captivated by simple, brief, and memorable brand names as they are both easy to remember and find on the internet.
If your brand is too long, you gamble on losing clients to competing companies that have brand names that are simpler, more original, and intriguing. More than 80% of customers don’t remember brand names after three days, and the easiest method to make yours memorable is to use a short and recognizable name.
3. Foreign Names with Negative Connotations
People from all over the globe can easily find your business and will not hesitate to switch to another if your company’s name is offensive in their language.
So, before settling on a business name, conduct comprehensive research on your prospective brand name and ensure it is not offensive to clients in or from other nations.
Sadly, some corporations have learned this lesson the hard way, as their brand identities have been eaten up by the meanings of their brand names in other languages. Mazda’s ‘Laputa,’ which means ‘The Whore,’ is a fantastic example.
And Spanish people were quick to dismiss products like Mazda’s Laputa and Nokia’s blockbuster phone, Lumia, which also happened to be a Spanish slang for prostitute.
So, when developing your brand name, consider how folks in different regions of the world would understand its meaning.
Focus on Your Business and Audience
Catastrophic brand names are frequently the outcome of entrepreneurs failing to place more emphasis on the demands of their business, clients, and sector.
These business owners end up with strange brand names that do not accurately represent their company, alienate clients, and do not suit the market. That’s why it’s critical for every creator to come up with a unique brand name that others will want to patronize.
Grant Polachek is the head of branding for Squadhelp.com, 3X Inc 5000 startup and disruptive naming agency. Squadhelp has reviewed more than 1 million names and curated a collection of the best available names on the web today. We are also the world’s leading crowdsource naming platform, supporting clients such as Nestle, Dell, Nuskin, and AutoNation.
