Q. What’s one of the most common naming mistakes?

And more importantly, how can I avoid it?

Something I see all the time is companies confusing (and it’s easy to do) what I call their “descriptor” with the company name. Typically, descriptive names (those which attempt to describe the product or service function) are weaker names. For one thing, I’m told descriptor names are much more difficult to trademark because they are simply too generic. And generic is the last thing we want to strive for in branding. Let me give you an example.

If you are a new software firm, you may be tempted by a name like Advanced Software Solutions. It’s a bit long, but many tech names are and quite frankly, it doesn’t sound that bad with the double alliteration. I see this type of name all the time. More often than not this type of name will be initialized, or become an acronym, so be sure to write out and say those letters aloud.

Naming Tip: A trend in naming now is initialization or what I call “monogram” names. Lucky-Goldstar became a more consumer-friendly LG, the ‘M” Luxury Resort, and so forth. This naming minimalism might work for you as an elegant solution if you’ve inherited a longer descriptor name.

The problem with our example name, as most of you know, is that it contains three extremely vague words. When strung together this adjective and two noun combination (note: a common sign that you have a descriptive name) becomes exponentially less powerful as a brand name.

More on descriptive names in upcoming posts.
Need help fixing your descriptive name? Send me an email--I'd love to help you.