Your Name Impacts Your Marketing
Your name impacts your marketing and sometimes it makes your marketing much harder. Name things to make your marketing easier. This is a motto I live by and frankly so should you. Why make your marketing harder than it already is. Your name for your business, projects, CDs, shows, books, your act, when well chosen, can be a boon to your marketing or a complete hindrance.
I recently had a conversation with a band member who was concerned that their band name and then the album name was going to be problematic for their future. I tried to demonstrate how a good name can make a world of difference when it comes to marketing the band. Using the band’s older and better name, I created some sample headlines for press releases and then did the same with the newer and not so marketing-friendly name. The results were glaring.
Before settling on the final name for something, I think about how it might be used by the press and how a journalist might make a play on the words in the title to create a headline. I try to create a few headlines manipulating the words to see how flexible the name or title is. Does the name or title use alliterations to help the words roll off the tongue and create something playful or is it hard to say. Something that is fun to say is also memorable, and believe me, you want it to be memorable and you want it to be fun when someone thinks of you.
As you name your next album or band or show or song, think about how it can be used to help market you before making it official. Test it with friends, group members and fans. Take their reactions to heart, not as criticism but as constructive feedback. Be ready to change the name by doing some more work to find just the right one. Your name impacts your marketing in so many ways, from media attention to fan recognition to ticket and CD sales.
So often I hear from artists who are dead set on a name for an album or their band and have not really considered the impact on their marketing or how the name will help or hinder sales.
When something is named appropriately, it’s amazing how easy it is to then create multiple marketing ideas and even create effective content to support the named item. Some of the most creative and effective time you can spend is time spent on naming things. Don’t be so quick to come up with a name and be done with it. You certainly don’t want to have to change a bad name and literally start from scratch to undo all that you’ve done. Give it time to marinate, live with a name for a bit, test it out, play with it, tweak it a bunch of times. It will serve you for a long time if it is the right name. It will pay you back in sales, in press coverage and in fan loyalty. There’s so much at stake when your name impacts your marketing so dramatically. Make sure you test all of the names you choose and give yourself a marketing edge throughout your career.
Have you noticed any marketing advantages when you’ve used a name that really works? Have you had any bad-naming experiences? How did you solve them?
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I can’t wait to hear about your success.
Now, Thanks to the band Curfew from the UK for providing the Biz Booster theme music, “Future Dance.” Check them out at www.curfew.co.uk
And for more career boosting tips, articles, books, resources, tele-seminars and online courses, visit me at Performingbiz.com
