What’s in a name?

Names are a box. We use them for recognition, meaning, repeating the process of knowing what something is by its label, over and over again.

With people, we put into this box our memories of what they look like, what they do, what we do with them, how we feel about them and more. And when we think of this name, we pull out the box and some of the things we store there pop up into consciousness.

So what’s in a name for a brand?

I’ll share a famous, but perfectly illustrative quote to kick it off:

“Your brand is what other people say about you when you’re not in the room.” — Jeff Bezos, Amazon

You can pour all your hopes and dreams into a brand name, but in the end, its what you do with it, how you repeat it, and how you treat it visually that creates a long-term, cumulative impression on individuals.

For instance, prior to Amazon, what did that proper noun mean to you? And now, after? Chances are the meaning is the sum of all your experiences with the brand and all its offerings.

For me, Amazon means ultimate convenience, fully stocked, fast, encyclopedia of products, amazing hosting and computational cloud offerings, cheap labor to micro tasks, plus music and books for my nearly 100% digital lifestyle.

This is tied directly to my experiences with the brand since becoming a customer in 2001. That’s 15 years of interactions with sales, search, email, advertising and more.

Would my list fit into a mission statement? Or a cute tagline? Nope.

So when you are crafting what you WANT people to believe about you in a marketing position, please do dream. Dream big, but be specific. Choose a name that can contain what you believe and build against. And then make plans on how you will demonstrate you are worth being those qualities, from the inside out.

That’s the hard work. Now, go get others to enroll in your vision and make it happen. But that story is for another time…