What is a Brand Name? What is the purpose of having a brand name? Let us learn its Origin and Types with its importance.

Brand Name

A brand name or trade name is a name applied by a manufacturer or organization to a particular product or service which can be applied as a symbol of identity.

These days, these are considered as the most often planned strategy of marketing tools engaged toward building up consumer awareness and fostering its loyalty ultimately escalating the prosperity of the industry.

What is the Purpose?

In other words, it can be considered as a symbol of identity and is the mark that is used to represent us to the world. It gives credit to the creator of a particular work or service and sets it apart from those created by others.

Its two main purposes include - Identification is used to differentiate a particular product or service from another, and verification is to authenticate that a product or service is genuine or authentic.

Origin

During the Second Industrial Revolution, companies started branding themselves with the names of their powerful owners. Examples of this trend are the Singer Sewing Machine Company, the Fuller Brush Company, and others.

These targeted practices started just after the Second World War when a booming consumer market started a boost of new products from competing companies and made finding unique, memorable names a necessity.

What are the Types?

Descriptive brand names

They have the attribute that explains the service offered by the company in a proper descriptive way. There is hardly another way for appealing content since the name is complete which describes the occupation of the company.

The positive aspect of having a clear and clean brand name is that it describes the brand story in a precise and effective way to the audience. Secondly, on the other hand, the negative part is that the same brand name does not go with the new product or business when the company moves towards diversification.

Evocative Brand Name

These are considered as a cornerstone of brand positioning. They are usually eminent, exceptional, and act as the powerful identifier in the industry.

There are exactly on the opposite side of creativity and they suggest bringing powerful experience with the positioning; for example, Nike and Amazon.

These have the attribute of originality and are innovative and are much easier to remember. They must maintain their dignity in the market by offering the products that suit their names since within an evocative type comes with great responsibility.

Invented brand name

The products which are entirely innovational or new and initial in the market, then it becomes difficult the naming such products. That is when these get invented into the pictures as they help in naming a product that is introduced.

They are not only distinctive but they are articulate and offer unique names by giving a great attribute. They are not at all easy to make but very easy to remember if it clicks with the brand. For example, Kodak. They have no innate definition assigned to them which is the most challenging part.

Lexical brand name

They depend entirely on a game of wordplay for their remembrance by having a combination of different kinds of compound words, spellings, and foreign words are the most popular styles of naming this kind of brand name.

Lexical Brand Names are more often than not clever, and at times too clever to get their impact on customers. Examples of the lexical brand name include Dunkin Donuts, Burger King, Coca-Cola, etc. These types mostly appeal to contemporary audiences who have been exposed to such names for a long time.

Acronym Brand Names

Most of the time these are the acronyms of the entire name of the company which might be difficult to pronounce.

Acronyms have always been used as a brand name for a long time. For example, KFC and NASA; are a few of the renowned Brand names. It is seen that as a rule, acronyms are usually hard to remember for audiences and even harder to trademark attorneys.

Geographical brand name

These include the geography or territory in which the brand operates or has given birth to them, then those are termed as the Geographical brand name. Like American Express, are few examples of Geographical types.

It is found that expanding such a business in different countries has its limitations which comes with such kind.

Founder Brand names

These have also been associated with the name of their founders. The principles of founders can easily be trademarked with the brand name and they can be distinctive position correctly.

It is also found that some companies have used certain names of celebrities to promote their brands as a signature edition.

Modern Brand names

Brands these days are taking up names that have where is this meaning to the product or service but the words are compound and complex and have different meanings and are open to interpretation. For example, Facebook or Snapchat, Instagram, etc.

Establishing a modern brand name requires promotion on a heavy scale to ensure that people recall the brand name easily. The presence of a product or service that such a brand name is offering, should be felt by the customer everywhere for them to recall the brand name.

Historical brand names

These are associated with historical figures and names which have no relation with the company but may indicate support of the company towards the particular historical figure. For example, Nike is the name for the Greek Goddess of Victory.

Mixed Brand Names

These are the ones that use a combination of one or more of the above categories. For example, Toyota company that uses half of two words the first part describing the work and the industry they are in that is the second part describing its geography that is Norway.

Another example of the same would be Linkin Park, a musical band that derives its name from Lincoln Park. Forex is a combination of two words Foreign Exchange. Elizabeth Arden brand sells its line of skincare products at Walmart with the brand name - Skin Simple.

Why is Branding important?

Branding is critical to a business because of the overall impact it makes on your company. Branding can change how people perceive the brand, it can drive new business strategy and increase brand value in every perspective, but it can also do the opposite if done wrongly or not at all.

Let us set something straight: Reputation builds up whether the business does something about it or not. The result can be a good or bad reputation. Understanding and using branding only mean that you take the reins and try to control what that reputation looks like. This is why it is recommended to consider branding from the very beginning of your business.

Contrary to popular belief, branding is not an expensive marketing tactic that only big brands use. On the contrary, branding has a lot to do with common sense and is heavily influenced by the market you are in and the level you want to play at.

Branding involves a consistent mix of different competencies and activities, so its cost can wildly differ from case to case. High-level consultants and flawless implementation will, of course, be more expensive than anything below it. Likewise, branding an international, multi-product business will be much more challenging and resource-heavy than a local business, for example. There is no one-size-fits-all approach.

The result of the branding process is the brand, which incorporates the reputation and value that comes with it. A strong reputation means a strong brand which, in turn, translates into value. That value can mean influence, price premium, or mindshare.

The brand is a business asset that also holds exceptional value in itself and must have a place of its own on a line of business to balance have a sheet because it increases the overall growth of the company. It is a difficult task for many companies for giving financial weight to the brand, as it is as important as branding itself; this results in the brand valuation.

Creates trust within the marketplace

It is the brand that helps to create the trust within itself along with raising the trust of the industry. A brand reputation ultimately moves down to the amount of trust that clients can have in it.

The more trust we have in a brand, the better we percept it, the stronger it helps its reputation to get build up and, thus, the brand itself becomes the identity.

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