What’s Behind A Name?
PHOTO/JACQUELYN GUTC
Cathy Walsh, owner of Sprout in Worcester, arranges flowers in her shop. Walsh said she makes sure that everything she does is in line with her company’s brand, which she says evokes the words “fresh,” “fun” and “creative.”
When an entrepreneur focuses on the potential success of a new business venture, the major concerns are likely to fall within the financials and business plan. But marketing experts say a company’s brand is a crucial piece of the puzzle.
“It’s so important (to have a good brand), just because it’s so difficult to start up a company,” said Andy Davis, president of Davis Advertising in Worcester. “Why put more hurdles in front of you?”
Whereas the brand once meant just a name and logo, today it goes beyond that, encompassing social media presence, websites and even the office space and customer service. Experts say all of that has to line up and communicate a consistent message.
Christine Tieri, president and creative strategist at smith&jones in Sturbridge, said her company changed its own brand in the last year to reflect the changing landscape of its business as clients called for ideas beyond traditional advertising. She said the company has been asked to help design waiting and conference rooms.
“Right now, a brand is more than just a logo or a tagline. It really has become an experience that you have and there’s so many touchpoints nowadays,” she said. “Whatever your brand message is, it needs to come in, whether it’s how somebody answers the phone (or) how your waiting room looks. Companies need somebody to be the keeper of the brand and make sure the brand is consistent across all the media.”
Jodie Boduch of Much Ado Marketing, in Sturbridge, agrees. “Everything you do on Facebook and Twitter is supporting your brand. If you are projecting an image of being super-serious on paper and then your Twitter feed or Facebook has a certain playfulness, there’s a certain cognitive dissonance there.”
Blooming Through Social Media
Cathy Walsh, owner of Worcester flower shop Sprout, helps spread her brand by giving it a voice in social media.
“Our website is a blog, so we are constantly updating it with new content,” she wrote in an email. “We also use Facebook, Twitter and now, Pinterest. I try to make sure all of these social media outlets are always spreading the word about how Sprout is fresh, fun and creative. Social media is a two-way street. It’s about developing a relationship with your fans, friends, customers, local businesses. We try to reply to as many comments as we can, ask our fans their opinions and encourage them to share their great flowery stuff with us.”
Those who know say branding is all about setting yourself apart from the competition.
“We try to get people to put a lot of time into a brand message up front,” Davis said. “There’s got to be something that makes you distinctive. The brand message should really focus in on that.”
So how do companies come up with their brand?
Tieri said she meets with clients to come up with a mood board, matching images with words that portray the mood the company wants to evoke.
Cindy Wright, president of The Communicators Club, of Worcester,, said when the club began to work with Tieri to develop a new brand for the organization — a result of a merger between the Society of Professional Communicators and the Ad Club of Greater Worcester — the words that expressed their values were “grow,” “share” and “collaborate.”
“What we did was really to take a very analytic, classic approach to understanding who we are as an organization, what we aspire to be, what we value in ourselves and our members,” she said. “I think one reason why ‘club’ is in our new name is really to harken back to the ad club. It definitely gives more a sense of inclusion, a welcoming organization.”
“Society for Professional Communicators sounded really stuffy and elitist,” Tieri said.
She said focus groups are important in the branding process to get outside people’s gut reactions to words and images.
The Goal: Easy And Memorable
Tieri said when choosing a name, companies should make sure it’s easy to pronounce and spell, and is memorable.
Walsh said she wanted her business to evoke words like “fresh,” “fun” and “creative.”
“Cathy’s Flower Shop would have been none of those things,” she said. “I finally hit on Sprout. Sprout is short, snappy, most people can spell it. When Sprout really clicked for me was when I realized that it was not only a noun but a verb, so there was also active growing imagery that went with the name. That made it more dynamic.”
Just as important as the dos of company naming are the don’ts. Boduch, of Much Ado Marketing, said companies shouldn’t pigeon-hole themselves by having a name that mentions one service offered when they may expand to offer more. She said names that are people’s names or initials aren’t ideal because they may not be memorable. Davis also said businesses should avoid having their address in the name.
“If you decide to move (the company) to bigger and better headquarters, what do you do?” he asked.
Clarity Counts
And what they offer should be clear. Davis said his company worked with Medway Co-operative Bank when it changed its name to Charles River Bank in 2009, the year it opened its first branch outside Medway.
“(The name) was hurting their expansion plans, and the word co-operative, people didn’t really understand what it meant,” he said. “They did the research to say they were a very successful bank but they were hurting potential business.”
When it comes to slogans, similar guidelines should be followed. Boduch said they should not be clichés or make promises a company can’t keep.
“Slogans have to be short and sweet, nothing too long and nothing too generic either,” she said. “Everybody in the world says they’re the best or their customer service is the best. This is your chance to be creative and independent in a very crowded marketplace.” n
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