Is Your Name Killing Your Business?

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Is your company or product name a help - or a handicap? Is it a set of running shoes, or a ball and chain?

When you say your company name, do people say, "Ah, OK," and nod knowingly? Or, do they look at you quizzically, waiting for you to explain?

Here's the all-too-common situation. The entrepreneur starts a company, with a name like "TomorrowTech" or "YMX, Inc.," or "StardustSystems" or "TrailblazerConcepts."

The most common outcome: He makes enough to pay the bills, but that's it. He taxis around the runways for years, but never seems to be able to achieve lift-off.

The second most common outcome: He slowly builds the business, to the point where he is actually the leader in his market. But then, someone comes along with a better name and a decently run business, and that competitor takes over the leadership position. Mr. GoofyName becomes a minor player. So sad.

The problem is entrepreneurs fall in love with their company name because 1) they worked hard to come up with it; 2) it has some meaning to them; 3) it's their identity - it's how they think of themselves and their business; and 4) they've spent a lot of money trying to make it "stick" as the established brand. 

But bad company names don't stick. 

That's precisely the problem. They don't immediately spring to the customer's mind when someone is thinking of buying your type of product. They don't immediately "say what you do" and "make a promise that your company keeps." Bad company and product names actually behave as a non-marketing device, an anti-promotion vehicle.

Bad names work against all of your marketing efforts, instead of adding momentum to them.

Here's a great example. As I type this, I'm on a transcontinental flight, sitting next to a person who, as it turns out, is the perfect customer for a new client, one whose name is not related to or a description of the product - or the customer's need. I'm in the process of helping the client with their name strategy, and it's been tough for the client to let go of that nonsensical name - for all the reasons I stated above.

As I talked with this perfect customer - her name is Sasha - I had to say the company's name 8 or 10 times in the course of describing how perfect the company's products are for her. I wasn't surprised that she was having trouble remembering it. She even asked me what the connection is between the name and the products the company sells. There isn't any, so she really had to work hard to remember - she had to come up with some way she could remember, using a trick she'd come up with in her own mind.

What blew me away, though, were two things she said about the nonsensical name.

1) If the name doesn't ring true, they won't click through. My client is losing the sale before the customer even gets to his website. He's losing the sale while Sasha is looking at the search results. Sasha has had a medical procedure done that goes by a certain name. I won't say what that procedure is, to protect my client, but that name is Sasha's trigger word. Before you have the procedure done, the word means nothing to you. After you've had the procedure done, you're looking for products that are created just for you. That word is what I call the "go/no go" word.

If it's in the company or product name, she clicks. If it's not - even if the word appears in the search result text associated with the company/product name - she won't click. She will assume that it is only a sideline for the company selling those products.

Excuse me while I stand on my soapbox and say that more emphatically: SHE WON'T CLICK. My client was hoping a tagline would solve his problem. It won't. If his company name doesn't include that trigger word, he'll never even get the proper web traffic - traffic he actually deserves, given what he sells and what Sasha is looking for. Again, he sells exactly what Sasha is looking for.

2) The real decision: It's your bad name or your business. After trying to remember the company name, once she was convinced that they sell exactly what she's looking for, she looked at me and said, "You know, your client has to decide: His name or his business." Zing. Double zing. She's absolutely right. That's the choice: Cling to that substandard, non-helpful name, and slowly go out of business, or bite the bullet and make the change.

If you really can't bring yourself to change the company or product name just yet, at the very least you owe it to yourself to open a new website with the new name and give it a chance. It's never been easier to market test concepts and branding - by putting together a campaign consisting of natural search, Adwords, and landing pages.

The good news is, my client has a another company name/product line that has the magic trigger word in it, and he can easily offer his products under that branding umbrella. I'm going to be talking to him about that this coming week, now that Sasha has provided such a vivid example of how his name factors into the customer's buying process. [Note: After I wrote this, I talked to my client. He had already decided that he had to sell those specialized products in the site that uses the better name, because of the research we had already done for him, and our subsequent discussions. Smart guy.]

Good URL = More revenue This is obvious, but if you're clinging to a bad name, you might not want to face the fact that URLs are also really, really important when it comes to search engine marketing success. To use a simple example, if someone types "blue shirt" into a search engine, and your URL is BlueShirts.com, you've hit the search engine jackpot. The buyer thinks, "Ah. Here's a company that specializes in blue shirts. I bet they will have a lot to choose from."

Those initial thoughts - the ones that go through the buyer's head as he is scanning the search results - are what will make or break your sales.

Gerry McGovern, in a recent "New Thinking" article, did a great job of explaining why the right name (and associated URL) is so important in our web-dominated buying/selling environment.

On the Web, communicators must first and foremost help those who want to be helped, rather than trying to reach brand new audiences.

I've seen some powerful ads about drug use on UK television recently. They don't pull any punches. At the end they advise you to go to a website. Do you know what that website is called? No, not "drug-abuse.co.uk". The website is called talktofrank.com. Who is Frank?

90,500 people in the UK used Google to search for "drug abuse" in October 2009. 33,100 searched for "drug testing." 22,200 searched for "drug treatment." 18,100 searched for "drug rehab." 14,800 searched for "drug free." 6,600 searched for "drug awareness."

In October 2009 over 200,000 people searched for help by using "drug" in their search terms. There were also a huge amount of searches for words like "cocaine" (800,000 in October) and "cannabis" (800,000 in October). The "Talk to Frank" phrase was searched for by 60,000 people which, considering the extensive TV advertising, is not very impressive. The talktofrank website does do very well for a lot of the search terms, so at least it has a quality search optimization strategy.

However, the talktofrank website and campaign reflect classic old school communications and marketing. First and foremost it is a campaign. It is about being cool and getting attention. It feels that it would be boring to call a website "cocaine.co.uk".

The whole psychology of old school pre-Web communications and marketing is about telling you something you don't currently know or getting you to do something you don't really want to do. The marketer and the communicator set out with the aim of achieving the organization's objectives, not yours.

Government says that drugs are a problem. Government comes up with a policy. Government hires an advertising agency to promote that policy. Advertising agency creates a campaign and campaign website. Campaign does well. Budget is exhausted. Campaign ends. Project complete. And another website falls into decline.

The Web is where you give attention, not get it. People on the Web are already engaged. Someone who wants to buy a Ford Mondeo does not accidentally type "drug rehab" into a search engine.

There are millions of people out there who need help with a drug problem, and they are actively searching for help. The Web communicator must be absolutely focused on those who want answers. They must ensure that those who want answers actually get them.

This is much more boring work than planning and launching a campaign or redesign. It's about continuous improvement of a website based on the testing of top tasks with real people. It's about grinding it out by testing a link with 10 or 100 variations of a phrase.

Think about it. There are lots of people on our website right now whose attention we already have. Will they leave satisfied? There are many more searching for things that we have. They don't need to be convinced. They are already on a journey to complete a task that we can help them complete. Let's help them be successful. It's a massive opportunity.

Hear now, buy later

Your buyer is seldom ready when you make that outbound sales call. You are planting seeds. The customer, when he is ready, will try to think of the companies that provide your kind of product or service. If your name is obviously related to the type of service or product you offer, the chances of him remembering you - now that he's ready to buy - are much greater than they would be if your name were not related.

In fact, the chances of him remembering you, especially if it's been a few weeks or months, are slim to none. The same things applies to referrals. Someone hears about you, and makes a mental note. "Hmmm. That company does X. I'll have to remember that." Several weeks or months later, someone says to them, "I really need a company that does X. Do you know of anyone?"

The first person tries to remember. "What was that company's name? I can't remember." He will go to Google and type in a search phrase that makes sense to him. Your company may or may not come up, depending on the "customer relevancy" of your search engine strategy. He will scan the results, and find a number of vendors who could to the job. He will think, "Oh, well, I can't remember that other company's name - and I don't see it here. But it looks like there are a lot of other people offering the same thing."

The work you did - and the investment you made in that customer - are not going to bear fruit, all because you were determined to hang on to a name that is not helping you. If your name isn't optimum, your marketing and selling isn't optimum. Your website isn't optimum. Your word of mouth is probably pitiful. Any competitor with a better name will eat your lunch. The sooner you change it, the better. The amount you've invested will only increase over time, making it that much harder to make the change. If the URL associated with the better name can be purchased, and the price is in any way affordable, buy it. You'll make the purchase price back sooner than you think. What is interesting to me is how quickly customers and others embrace the new and better name. They always think, "Much better. About time."

There is no downside, beyond having to let go of that ball and chain, and maybe some printed pieces. Any value you've earned won't be lost. It will just be attached to the new name, and the new name will give you new energy, new momentum, and new revenue.