I’ve been involved in marketing for over 20 years. There are a lot of challenges involved - finding the right customers, creating the right messages, spending media dollars smartly and efficiently, getting PR hits, etc. However, one task stands out as the most difficult - Naming a company or a product.

Why naming is the hardest task in marketing:

• It’s REALLY important. A great name will give you instant acknowledgment and credibility. This is especially important for new companies that don’t have large brand budgets (10’s of millions of dollars) because they have a relatively finite financial runway. A great name, the resonates immediately with the public will give the business a major boost out of the gate.
• EVERYONE gets involved. Executives, lawyers, marketing, PR - everyone. Marketing is a little unique because everyone thinks they can do it. Not everyone can code or believes they can code, but everyone believes they are a great marketer and has an idea about what a good name is.
• The name becomes the BRAND and everyone will work under it. The better the name is, the more connected the entire organization is which translates to a more motivated workforce.
• TRADEMARKS are tricky and time consuming. You may have a great name that accurately describes your product/company but working through potential trademark issues - at the state, national and international level.
• The DOMAIN is critical to the business. As readers of this blog knows, the domain is critical to establishing credibility and consistency with the product and brand. Not to mention the visitor acquisition via type in traffic and branded search.

As the last bullet points out, the domain is critical in the naming of a business, the hardest task in marketing. This is one of the reasons Domain Strategies is focused on building an internet business based on the domain name vs building a business and then finding a name that fits. There are many generic, solid, domain names that are parked or have an extremely weak business. There is no reason - other than time and effort - that a good domain name should not have a legitimate business built on it.

If you provide the domain, we will build the business - contact us to discuss and have a great day.