Product Names That Sell
Heads up people, if you’re looking to name a business, product or service this week, eyes forward, ears open, and pay attention.
The name of your business, product or service can make or break your business.
If you’ve come from a ‘traditional’ business background, if you have an MBA or something, if you work for and ad agency, or if you’re just starting out and you only have TV ads to look to for examples of advertising, then you may well be filled with some very unprofitable ideas about product names.
Take half an hour of TV for example.
The number of good product names will be very low, unless you’re watching late night infomercials. Everyone seems to love to come up with cute or clever names, names which have little or nothing to do with the product or the benefit it provides. Many of them are even downright bad for business.
I was driving this morning and I went past a sign for a removalist firm, which said “U Help Removals“…I immediately pictured myself lugging furniture up a ramp into a moving van while the moving guys stood around watching. Not my idea of an appealing time, especially with my back. If I feel like a spot of hard labour I’ll go to the gym or something. This is not the image this company should be putting into people’s minds. Almost any name in the world would be better.
The world of Direct Marketing I live in has come up with some very good product names. An eBay marketing package I used to sell was called the ‘eBay SuperSeller‘ package. This was of course ‘swiped’ from eBay’s own ‘Powerseller’ program which recognises reputable sellers. I still use the name for my eBay marketing book which is still on Amazon. I also wrote “The Mother Of All Marketing Systems“, a 600-odd page book which I later broke up into 3 volumes, although the term ‘The Mother Of…” which means ‘The Biggest’, is better known in the US than other places.
And I’m about to launch a brand new book, which I’ve titled:
Copywriting Secrets Of Million Dollar Marketers Revealed
A name which any too-image-concsious, armani-suited publisher would immediately freak out about, which is why I’ve never approached them, I’ve always self-published.
I guarantee you can improve your business substantially by changing to a better business name, product name, service name, the idea is to never miss the chance to be a marketer. The name is there anyway, why not make it earn it’s keep?
When I owned a hair salon many years ago, one of the few slight positives about it when I first acquired it was the name “Supercuts“. This is one of the precious few genuine benefits of owning a franchise, you get to take advantage of all the money splurged on the ‘branding’ by the franchisor. Also, Supercuts isn’t too bad a name, although most of my clients could do much better with a little thought. How about “Perfect Cuts” or “Perfect Cuts Guaranteed” or “Perfect Hair Guaranteed”?
Why do people think a name MUST state a FEATURE of the business, product or service? “Cuts” is a feature of the business. “Perfect Hair” is a BENEFIT. And benefits always outsell features by a long way. I must admit, I’m sitting here struggling to come up with a half-decent business or product name I’ve seen in my local area or on TV. (Though “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter” is a good one).
Even many infomercials now are adopting this ‘cute/clever’ naming strategy which must have been thought up by a bunch of guys in suits, with ponytails, sitting in a room with funny-smelling smoke in the air. Seems the farther away they get from the actual product or what it does, let alone it’s benefits, the better. Although if YOU, as a small business owner, adopt this same strategy, it’ll cost you sales and profits. Big time.
