To effectively promote your product, you must have a concise, yet meaningful description of the product. This can be much more complicated than merely picking a name.

There are consultancies built around helping organizations to name or brand their products and services. You have to be sure that you're not using a name that is already trademarked or service marked.

You should not have a name that closely resembles an already established name in your area, or customers will confuse your services with those referred to by the other name -- or, the organization with the other name may choose to sue you.

You need a name that makes sense locally, but if you grow, the name will still be understood elsewhere. The name you choose for your product will be around for a long time and can have substantial impact on your products are perceived. Therefore, seriously consider some basic forms of market research to glean impressions of different names.

For example, convene several focus groups to glean their reactions to various names. Have survey cards that clients can complete to suggest names.

A great brand name is one of the most powerful forces in branding, marketing and advertising. It is at once the story about what makes you different from your competitors and the emotional tug that connects you with your audience—all in one or a few words.

A brand name that wields that much power can only come through a powerful positioning strategy—one that keys in on the kind of appeal that can touch the hearts and minds of your market in a way the world may have never seen.

A great brand name can do this and own the talk of an industry. As you can see, there’s quite bit in a brand name.

Brand names have so much riding on them—way too much to leave to already overworked brains of a few employees, tossing around ideas at lunch or entering a contest, as many companies like to approach naming. Those people simply don’t have enough time to take into account the many things that must be considered when developing a brand name, such as: comprehension, memorability, ease of pronunciation, negative and positive associations, competitors, trademarks and domain name possibilities. These are just a few reasons smart companies that need a brand name turn to naming professionals, like Brand Identity Guru Inc., for guidance.

Advantages of Naming And Branding:

Memorability. A brand serves as a convenient container for a reputation and good will. It's hard for customers to go back to "that whatsitsname store" or to refer business to "the plumber from the Yellow Pages." In addition to an effective company name, it helps when people have material reminders reinforcing the identity of companies they will want to do repeat business with: refrigerator magnets, tote bags, datebooks, coasters, key rings, first aid kits, etc.

Loyalty. When people have a positive experience with a memorable brand, they're more likely to buy that product or service again than competing brands. People who closely bond with a brand identity are not only more likely to repurchase what they bought, but also to buy related items of the same brand, to recommend the brand to others and to resist the lure of a competitor's price cut. The brand identity helps to create and to anchor such loyalty.

Familiarity. Branding has a big effect on non-customers too. Psychologists have shown that familiarity induces liking. Consequently, people who have never done business with you but have encountered your company identity sufficient times may become willing to recommend you even when they have no personal knowledge of your products or services. Seeing your ads on local buses, having your pen on their desk, reading about you in the Hometown News, they spread the word for you when a friend or colleague asks if they know a ____ and that's what you do.

Premium image, premium price. Branding can lift what you sell out of the realm of a commodity, so that instead of dealing with price-shoppers you have buyers eager to pay more for your goods than for those of competitors. Think of some people's willingness to buy the currently "in" brand of bottled water, versus toting along an unlabeled bottle of the same stuff filled from the office water cooler.

Extensions. With a well-established brand, you can spread the respect you've earned to a related new product, service or location and more easily win acceptance of the newcomer.

Greater company equity. Making your company into a brand usually means that you can get more money for the company when you decide to sell it.

Lower marketing expenses. Although you must invest money to create a brand, once it's created you can maintain it without having to tell the whole story about the brand every time you market it.

For consumers, less risk. When someone feels under pressure to make a wise decision, he or she tends to choose the brand-name supplier over the no-name one. As the saying goes, "You'll never be fired for buying IBM." By building a brand, you fatten your bottom line.