So how do you choose an excellent name for your software?

I found an outstanding and free report on how to name your product and company and I know this is a question that is often discussed by Micro ISVs so I felt I must share it with you…

It’s created by Igor, Naming and Branding agency and covers a wide variety of naming issues such as:

• The Six Steps of the Igor Process
• Step 1: Competitive Analysis
• Step 2: Positioning
• Step 3: Name / Brand Development
• Step 4: Trademark Prescreening
• Step 5: Creative / Testing
• Step 6: Name and Tagline
• Naming Tools
• A. Naming Process Filters – Evocative Names
• B. Name Evaluation
• Blank Name Evaluation Chart
• C. Name Taxonomy Charts
• Studies in Naming
• Studies in Branding
• Case Studies of Igor Naming/Branding Projects

I especially enjoyed reading the studies in naming where Igor looks at “Chrysler Crossfire and IBM T-Rex among others. A couple of things that the report doesn’t cover and it is especially important when naming software – you will need to do research on how common searches are for the name, how easy it is to get listings for your name and if perhaps the name is already taken from some website.

You can download the report here (it’s in .pdf format).

If you have any comments about naming, please share your thoughts in the comments area below.

Best of luck with your cool new names

Peter – Your Software Marketing Secrets Guide

Other Software Naming Resources

Igor Naming/Branding Agency

Definitions behind business name jargon

WordLab

Brand name development

Related posts:

1. Software Branding: Introduction

I hope you have had a chance to check out the first part in this series; Software Branding: Introduction, and have an understanding of what I mean by brand and branding. To make a long story short I am not referring to the company/product, logotype or slogan. What’s really important is the brand identity, or the associations and expectations that are connected to a brand.

There are several important reasons as to why you should work with building your brand or brands. In this article I have included 6 major reasons why it is vital to build your software brands.

The reasons are…

1) Create Repeat Clients by Brand Recognition

With a strong brand you will have bigger chances to attract clients back to you when it is time to upgrade, crosssell or upsell your products. You can read more about up-selling and cross-selling software here.

2) Competitive Advantage – Differentiate Yourself

Few products are truly unique. In most software niches there are several strong competing brands, at least in the niches that are worth existing in.

If you can do what it takes to stand out you gain credibility and competitive advantage. Your products may be chosen before the competitors solely because of your brand.

2B) Protect Yourself

Reverse engineering, copying of software products – face it, anything you can develop most likely your competitors can too, but copying a well built brand identity is far more difficult.

3) Retain Increased Sales Price

A strong brand increases the perceived value of your product and with a higher perceived value you can charge higher prices. This also means that you have a better defense against competitors trying to compete by lowering their prices.

4) Transfer Value Between Products

If you have built a strong company brand and you are launching a completely new product under a new brand you can transfer value from your other products as they are already connected to your company brand. Thus your new products can get a flying start.

5) Decrease Marketing Costs

It costs money to build a brand. It doesn’t need to cost lots but you will need to invest. But when your brand image is memorable, you can actually invest less and still trigger the impulses you want. So a stronger brand can mean a higher ROI on your marketing campaigns.

And last, but not least…

6) A strong Brand Has An Economic Value

Have you ever pondered about selling your software company in the future and perhaps work with something else? Microsoft’s brand was valued to 56.9 Billion US$ in 2006 according to Business Week. A software company on the second place of Top 100 Global brands Scoreboard.

The actual value of a brand is calculated based on: “reports from analysts at J.P. Morgan Chase, Citigroup and Morgan Stanley. Interbrand projects five years of earnings and sales for the brand. It then deducts operating costs, taxes, and a charge for the capital employed to arrive at the intangible earnings. The company strips out intangibles such as patents and management strength to assess what portion of those earnings can be attributed to the brand.”

Furthermore “the brand’s strength is assessed to determine the risk profile of those earnings forecasts. Considerations include market leadership, stability, and global reach—or the ability to cross both geographic and cultural borders. That generates a discount rate, which is applied to brand earnings to get a net present value. BusinessWeek and Interbrand believe this figure comes closest to representing a brand’s true economic worth.” (Internbrand)

When researching this article I did a quick scan to find articles on this subject and there is no end to articles covering the fact that it’s important to build brands.

But when it comes to why I should spend my time building brands I came up surprisingly short. I admit I just spent a few minutes searching, but in this time I didn’t come up with one single in-depth article on the subject.

The closest I came was comments such as brands build loyalty and drive sales. Please do comment on this post if you have any good articles on the subject. Also, please don’t hesitate to post any comments or questions you have in the matter.

Recommended reading: Interbrand and BusinessWeek Rank the Best Global Brands by Value for 2007.

You may reprint or distribute this article as long as you leave the content and this information intact. This Article was written by Peter Gillberg and published at http://www.SoftwareMarketingSecrets.com

Related posts:

1. Software Branding: Introduction

Wrong, wrong and wrong again.

I just did a quick Internet search on the subject and the erroneous statements above are very common. The most common misconceptions are that it’s expensive, difficult and that it’s all about the looks.

Well I am here to tell you that when it comes to marketing software, building your product brand and company brand are among the most important things you can do.

I am going to do a series of posts about why and how to brand your company and your software, why this is important and what you should think about.

So what is Software Branding if it isn’t about the looks?

Wikipedia defines a brand as

“A brand includes a name, logo, slogan, and/or design scheme associated with a product or service. Brand recognition and other reactions are created by the use of the product or service and through the influence of advertising, design, and media commentary. A brand is a symbolic embodiment of all the information connected to the product and serves to create associations and expectations around it.”

I find the last part especially interesting – “a symbolic embodiment of all the information connected to the product and serves to create associations and expectations around it”.

Stephen King from WPP Group, London says: “A product is something that is made in a factory; a brand is something that is bought by a customer. A product can be copied by a competitor; a brand is unique. A product can be quickly outdated; a successful brand is timeless.” (Aaker in Managing Brand Equity, 1991)

This is the first post in a series. Let me know in the comments section below, what you think, if you have any questions, if you agree or disagree and if there is anything in particular you would like me to cover.

Related posts:

1. Six Reasons Why You Should Build Brands
2. Naming Your Software