Back Rub, Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo, DrivUrSelf, Research in Motion, Sound of Music.
Wonder if the original names of these big brands would have been as successful if they chose not to go by Google, Sony, Hertz Rent-A-Car, Blackberry or Best Buy?
(more…)
Sponsored by Verisign
Guest post from Alexandra Watkins, author, Hello, My Name Is Awesome: How to Create Brand Names That Stick
When you build a house, you want a strong foundation. The same is true when you build your online presence. The website, email address and social media accounts for your business all rest on an enduring foundation – your domain name. That’s why it needs to be rock solid.
Sponsored by Verisign
Guest post from Alexandra Watkins, author, Hello, My Name is Awesome: How to Create Brand Names That Stick
Every naming professional, me included, has a favorite tool for brainstorming. For some, it’s a well-worn thesaurus. Others rely on etymological dictionaries. And one of my colleagues starts the ideation process by making ‘name soup’ with Scrabble® tiles.
Those tools work well for them but for me, they are too time consuming and old school. More importantly, they are too clunky to fit in my skinny little purse. I prefer a more modern method. A tool I can use on my phone. That’s why my new go-to brainstorming tool is NameStudioTM. I call it, “the biggest thing in brainstorming domain names since the invention of the white board.”
Registering a domain name is one of the first steps to starting a new business. That’s because whatever name you choose will represent your business’s space on the internet – and, possibly, a customer’s first impression of your company.
But once you have that domain name, what do you do? Don’t stress over building your online space. You can start using your domain name right away. Here are three ways to do it.
If you send emails to your customers, it’s not only about what you say in your emails, but what your email address says about you. If you use a generic email like Gmail or Yahoo for your business, it might be time to consider something more professional and specific to your business. For example, what dental practice would you choose to contact, one that uses an email address like info@pearlybrightsmiles.com or toothymike88@gmail.com? It’s probably safe to assume you’d pick the first one. Yet, in 2015, almost half of U.S. small businesses still did not have a company-branded email.1
Here are a few myths about a customized email address that may be holding you back from growing your online brand:
They say first impressions are the most lasting. Today, that first encounter – whether you’re looking for your dream job or starting your dream company – often happens online. If someone searched for you on the web, what would they find?
Take control of your presence online and build a personal brand. Shape your professional story based on your expertise, skills and passions, and tell the world what you can offer.
Need some inspiration? Take a look at how others have used the power of the internet to build their personal brands.
Guest post from Fernando Espejel, VP Director, Digital Platforms at FCB Chicago
In advertising and marketing, regardless of company size, category or demographic, we all have one goal: great campaigns. Campaigns that resonate with our target audience, spark conversation and ultimately lead to conversion.
At a high level, the formula for this is relatively simple: integrate across all channels and focus on relevant and engaging content. It is the execution of this formula that often proves to be extremely difficult. The goal of this post is to provide a bit of guidance along the way, in the form of inspiration from those who’ve done it well.