Make a Decision

Andrea Fitting — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 21:03:10 +0000

In building a brand from the ground up, I don’t believe there are any fatal decisions that should paralyze you from the beginning. Let your gut guide you toward making decisions that propel you forward. You can always rationalize later. One example is in picking a name for your company. This important symbol, although primary, can be changed if necessary or desired. Changing a name is always an opportunity for publicity. But a name, does not a brand make. It is, in the beginning, an empty vessel that must be filled with a collection of promises, experiences, packaging, friends, products and most of all feelings, before it has meaning or equity. Therefore, charge ahead! Pick a name and never look back. Start telling your story and make sure that you and everyone associated with your brand does your name proud. To get over that lump in your throat, knot in your stomach or whatever particular body part of yours gets involved, remind yourself that some of the most successful brands (Virgin, Google, Apple, Teva) have names that might easily have been tossed on the basis of logic or fear or worst of all…market research.

Now don’t get me wrong (especially if market research is your bag!). I l-o-v-e research and think it is incredibly valuable and necessary when used properly. But inviting opinion out of context about something so subjective can only lead to more equivocating, angst and delay. Remember — the name is an empty vessel until there is experience to fill it. Imagine what the focus groups in the 1970s would have said if asked whether Apple was a good name for a computer company…

It’s most important to suit yourself. Be proud. What are you afraid of? That it will be wrong? How can it be wrong? You are the only judge at first. That your future customer won’t like it? They won’t think about it in the abstract. They will only think about what it stands for. At first they will have to trust what you tell them (in other words, ‘we stand for…’) and then they will measure what you said against their experience. Phone operator, literature, website experience, quality of product — did it match what was advertised?

Brand Spanking » symbol

Make a Decision