"What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." --
Romeo and Juliet (II, ii, 1-2)While philosophically, Shakespeare may be right in that names are artificial and meaningless, and we are to love the person and not the name, in the world of business, nothing can be further from the truth.
Over the Christmas and New Year's Holidays, I did a little bit of traveling which involved a lot of driving. On some of these trips I found myself in the passenger seat, which gave me some time to look at billboards along the highway, as well as some of the cars and trucks that passed by. I also spent some time in various supermarkets and other stores and banks which have community bulletin boards on which locals can post everything from "lost pet" signs to their business cards.
In each instance, I couldn't help but take note of a few names of businesses which caught my attention, because of their vagueness. Of the 15 or so that stood out, my favorite was Hyper Harry.
I saw the name Hyper Harry on a white truck that passed me by on the Garden State Parkway in New Jersey. There were no other markings on this truck; just Hyper Harry, in small black letters on the driver's side of the truck, with a phone number.
I immediately thought Hyper Harry might be a consumer electronics or a home appliance store because, inside of my memory, silly/funny/crazy names like this one were synonymous with stores of this type. The best example I can give is well known by those of us who lived in the New York City Metropolitan area in the early 1980s: an electronics chain store called
Crazy Eddie's. They were famous for their outlandish commercials and their spokesman, Jerry Caroll, would be on every radio, print and TV advertisement acting, well,
crazy! Crazy Eddies was one of the biggest successful stores of its type in the late 1970s through the late 80s because they knew that by branding their name tying it to the created image of an insane spokesperson, in each of their advertising and marketing pieces people would remember them and shop with them -- and they did! Even now, over 25 years later, I will never forget their call to action which became embedded into my then, young mind: "
Shop around, get the lowest prices you can find -- THEN GO GO CRAZY EDDIES'S AND HE WILL BEAT THEM!!!!" Every commercial and advertisement ended with their memory hook which was "
Crazy Eddie's Prices are So Low THEY'RE INSANE!!!!"(The company ultimately filed for Bankruptcy after it's president & co-founder Eddie Antar was indicted and convicted on securities and other fraud charges).
Getting back to Hyper Harry, I decided to call the telephone number listed on the truck and I found that Hyper Harry is an auto supply warehouse in Plainfield, New Jersey. Even though those in Plainfield, New Jersey, may know who/what Hyper Harry is, someone like me doesn't. In my opinion, the name of your business must be positioned in each and every advertisement and marketing piece so that it become branded into the memory of everyone who reads, sees, hears and experiences it. Just putting Hyper Harry on a truck isn't enough to generate a brand or to result in sales.
I contrast Hyper Harry with my friend, Michael Brooks. Michael is a private, personal trainer in the Hartford area of Connecticut. His business is called
"No Judgements". His memory hook, "
Progress, Not Perfection," is branded on everything from his business card, to his gym bag and his T-shirts.
Mike's business card (a sample can be found by clicking here) shows someone working out, along with his contact information. It sends a clear message about what he does for a living.
From my professional point-of-view as a business and marketing consultant, Mike is doing the right thing by creating a brand that will attract people who may have had poor results from working alone in the gym, to those who have worked with personal trainers in the past and didn't feel comfortable or get the desired results, and for those who are too embarassed to even go to the gym because they are feeling "judged" by others.
To Mike, his business name and memory hook also hold a special, personal significance. If you look at Mike, you will see a very handsome, energetic, healthy guy, who stands about 5'6" and has a body of a Greek god. Michel is an amazing guy in that he not only lives what he preaches and teaches in terms of getting fit and staying healthy, but he manages, lives and deals with a disability: Michael has cerebral palsy. Yet his disability does not deter him -- in fact, it motivates him to do more for himself and his clients, and subsequently his clients more.
(Disclaimer to reader: I would be a client of Mike's but he lives almost 100 miles from me. Working with a personal trainer is something that cannot be done by phone, fax, or email -- you've got to be there to have the experience).After recently talking to Mike, it reminded me of a chapter in the book Live Rich
in which author Stephen Pollan wrote the following in a chapter called "Judge Your Progress, Not Your Results":
"Don't give up because you're not at the place you think you should be. You are just where you are supposed to be. Stop measuring yourself against everyone else. There will always be someone who has a larger home, who drives a more expensive car, who makes more money, who has a higher-paying job, or whose business generates more profits. There will also always be someone who has a smaller home than you, whose care is in worse shape than yours, who makes less money than you do, who is under you in the hierarchy, or whose business isn't doing as well as yours."
"You shouldn't feel bad about yourself because there's someone with more than you. And you shouldn't feel good about yourself because there's someone less fortunate. Judge your personal progress rather than your outward trappings. Are you moving toward meeting your own real needs? If the answer is yes, then you're doing fine. If the answer is no, then you're off track. All you need to do is start moving toward your goals."
Mike's business name and image was so powerful to me, that it not only makes me think of people who need his services and would be a good fit for him, it even conjured up a chapter in a book that I hadn't read since I bought it in 1998. Hyper Harry, on the other hand, while having an interesting name, did nothing to move me (except to call out of my own curiosity - something I doubt the average person would do). If Hyper Harry had on his truck that he was an auto parts store, perhaps I would be inclined to give them a call when the time arose when I needed a part that my local Autozone may not have had in stock.
So branding is very important to your business and it all starts with your name. Does it reflect what you do or is it like the old ACME company in the old Warner Brothers', Looney-Toons Cartoons: a company whose name was so generic, you had no idea what was going to be in the box when Wylie Coyote got a delivery in from them in his quest to get the Roadrunner. They "sold" everything from explosives to aspirin, to bird feed.
Is your memory hook (or tag line) on every piece of advertising from your business card to your website to your trucks and cars and does it so clearly define what you do to the person who experiences it?
In this world of increasing competition, the small business owner or business person needs to distinguish themselves from their competitors by branding their company name and their affiliation into the minds of everyone they meet.
More on the power of branding in my next post.
