A couple of weeks ago the Wall Street Journal ran an article about the challenge and importance of naming a company, and the role of a company’s name in positioning it in the minds of customers. If memory serves me, the article was focusing on naming a new enterprise, but it seems to be equally relevant in modifying or renaming a company.

The gist of the piece was basically that one should give the process of naming a nascent business more than a little thought before investing in a logo, signage, ads and a website. Does that seem like a “Well…duh!” to you? If so, you might be surprised that – in my experience anyway – many  business folk put more effort into naming their bowling teams than they do naming their businesses.

When driving through this part of the world – Sonoma

In like fashion, because Sonoma County is one of several counties immediately north of the

So why comment? Because mundane, unimaginative names make a business invisible – or worse – cause it to be confused with another unrelated concern. What would you think if the entire 6^th grade roll call began with the name Empire? As in, Empire Jones, Empire Gonzales, Empire Fredricksen, Empire Rosenblatt, etc.? Make it kind of hard to summon kids individually, wouldn’t it?

Naming a company is a great opportunity to begin a process that is essential in a market crowded with competition – the process of differentiation. Personally, I think a visit to the Internet or the Yellow Pages is a prudent place to start any name search, with the idea that any name you find there should not be your first choice, and any name you find there more than once should be totally off limits. There are a couple of time honored ways to proceed: One is create a new word, or neologism. Also one can use words out of context – non sequiturs. And, of course you can use personal names. Neologisms – some famous examples include Kodak, Xerox, Clorox and Jacuzzi to name a few. One word of caution if you are going to take this route – do some research beforehand. Just because something is new to you doesn’t mean it’s new to everyone else.

Non-Sequiturs – the world-famous on-line purveyor of nearly everything, Amazon, comes immediately to mind. The Internet is full of examples: Google, Yahoo, YouTube, eBay, …

Personal Names – that’s what we did when naming the current iteration of our company some years ago. Rustad is a fairly uncommon name in these parts, so Rustad Marketing had the virtue of being unique. If your surname is more common, you can use a first or middle name if they are more distinctive.

Or course you not only want your name to be unique but once your company starts to make money, you want to prevent your competitors from copying it. That’s what Trademarks are for. If you intend to apply for a trademark I suggest you check out www.uspto.gov beforehand. They have a great little tool that allows you to research existing trademarks. Also, it’s a good idea to visit www.godady.com and do search on URLs (.com, .org, etc.) before you get too far down the naming road.

Whatever you choose to do, when all is said and done, it’s the product or service which you deliver that gives name its real meaning and value.

I call this blog Marketing Wisdom instead of say, “Marketing Information” or “Marketing Knowledge” because, of the three options “wisdom” is the most valuable and like all genuinely valuable commodities, wisdom is both hard to come by and costly.

Most of the lessons I relate are personal and a good deal of that experience was gained not from just the successes, but from mistakes. These mistakes and their consequences are the price I paid for the wisdom. It’s precious to me and in presenting it here my hope is to assist the reader in his or her marketing endeavors while helping them avoid some of the pitfalls.

Additionally, I’m a professional with over 30 years of experience gained from working in or around virtually every aspect of Marketing. Like any other professional I’m committed to the on-going, often painful, process of gaining information, knowledge and wisdom so that I can be – not just competent – but among the best at what I do.

So, I find it more than a little ironic when someone who presumably hires me for my professional experience and expertise, proceeds to second-guess my efforts – often at the prompting of some less-knowledgeable, or even blatantly inexperienced, confidante.

There are many reasons why a client seeks a “second opinion.” Some clients are chronic micro-managers and are looking for some reason to wade into the process. Others are insecure or outright distrustful. Some clients can’t bear the thought of another person knowing more than they do and seek to undermine the other person’s “position.”

Does this sound neurotic, childish and self-destructive? Well, it is, and it’s also pretty common. Anyone who hopes to survive in the service business needs to both accept and learn to deal with this sort of behavior.

Let me give you a recent example. A smart, resourceful and determinedly self-sufficient client recently hired me to create a new logo, stationery, brochure and a website. In the hopes of maintaining control of the project and minimizing costs the client had already chosen the printer as well as web developer – both long-time vendors to the client.

As the project unfolded it became clear that the client had, without necessarily meaning to, tailored the project to the capabilities of the printer and web developer. Unfortunately, neither vendor was current in their specialty. In spite of, or perhaps because of, that both vendors implied that the materials I provided were less than professional.

I have to give the client credit because the client gave me the benefit of the doubt when relaying their vendors’ “concerns.” In each case, a patient and carefully phrased explanation of the process, coupled with the examples of results achieved with other professionals, revealed the limitations of the clients’ chosen vendors.

Now, loyalty to one’s long-time vendors is commendable. In this case, however, the client’s loyalty to the printer and web person was wasting money and producing inferior results. In the case of the printing, the client was printing 2-color business cards “to save money” when full-color business cards of superior quality and at a lower cost are readily available from other vendors.

While the client’s printer was merely out of date, the web person was clueless. At one point the client requested that I speak with this person to help correct a “problem” in a Photoshop file that I had provided. It turned out that the problem was that the web vendor didn’t know Photoshop. It gets worse, but I’ll spare you the details. The punch line is the client’s web guru wasn’t even close to being a “professional” or even current in website design.

What could the client have done differently? There is no short cut to hiring a professional. But it’s not that difficult, either. Here are a few tips:

1) A professional is neither overly submissive nor arrogant in the interview. One who is genuinely competent is generally willing to let their work speak for itself and prefers to spend time hearing about your needs rather then bragging about their history.

2) A professional will treat you with respect. That means they will respect your time, your money, and your wishes. That doesn’t mean that you, as a client, will always be “right.” A professional will tell you if they think you’re making a mistake, or have a misunderstanding. Disagreement is not necessarily disrespect. In fact, because a genuine professional has your best interest at heart, they will work hard to give you their best as well as what you are asking for.

3) A professional will tell what they don’t know. A key example is in the area of the estimate. Some fees and costs are easy to predict, while others are impossible to foresee until the project is underway. A professional may know virtually everything about their job, but until they’ve worked with you, they don’t know your tastes, budget or needs. This is one reason that professionals provide estimates, which by definition are changeable, as opposed to fixed bids.

Finally, if you hire a professional while simultaneously wanting to preserve relationships with current vendors, allow the professional to provide some alternate proposals for vendor services. If your vendor “buddies” prove to be competitive – great – and if not then at least you know that you’re balancing loyalty with results.