WHY STRATEGY MATTERS.
The KILLER Naming Guide, Part I.
Your are looking for a great name for your company, product or service? Well then, here come the bad news: Great names do not fall out of the sky. They mean hard work – in analytical, strategic and, of course, creative terms. The good news? When you have done your homework, you will be rewarded with something wonderful: with your costumers’ longterm trust and love and the sustainable success of your brand.
In order to offer a little orientation to all those who are not strategy or marketing experts, let me say a few words about the things you should have accomplished before starting the naming process.
Let us begin with the analytical part. Of course, you know your market, its trends and longterm developments. You have dealt with your competitors, their offers and strategies. You have identified potential target groups and know about their social environments, values and needs. And, surely, you have elaborated the chances, threats, strengths and weaknesses of your own offer in a SWOT analysis.
You have done all this and now you are sure, that you can make your clients a unique offer that is not yet available in this form. Yes? Great, then the now following strategic part will not be too difficult. Here, you define your mission statement, the core values of your brand and your vision.
Your mission statement is your reason of being, the answer to the question why your company, your product exists, respectively has to come to life in the near future. If you have no idea about your mission after the analysis, you do not have a business case. This may sound hard, but, sorry to say so, it is the truth.
The next step is about defining the core values of your brand. What does your company, your product stand for? Brand values are sustainable, passionate und distinctive. Confine yourself to five to seven specific! aspects that you write down in short phrases. And keep in mind: Values want to be shared – internally as well as externally! Thus, make sure that they are understood and accepted by all (potential) stakeholders.
Your vision answers the question where you want to be in the future. Where do you see the company, the product in three, five, ten years? A vision is future-oriented, bold, motivating, inspiring, contagious and based on the core competence of your company or product. John F. Kennedy’s statement is a wonderful example of a great vision:
„Before this decade is out, we will land a man on the Moon and return him safely to Earth.“
Holding his graduation speech at Harvard University's 366th commencement ceremony, Marc Zuckerberg told a meaningful anecdote about this vision: When the former president visited the NASA, he saw a caretaker with a broom in his hand. Asking him what he was doing, the janitor answered:
“Well, Mr. President, I am helping put a man on the moon.“
This is exactly what a great vision is about: It makes us part of something bigger.
Of course, a business strategy involves further factors, but these are more operational ones and therefore neglectable for the naming process. But having defined the mission, the brand values and the vision we can now proceed to the second strategic part which is indispensable for the development of a great name: the market positioning.
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