What’s in a name?
Quite a bit, my young Shakespeare.
I should know, having been blessed with an almost unpronounceable, unreadable name for all but a small part of this planet’s population (“John” is just my “professional” name).
As for people, so for products: names matter.
Yes, sometimes a great product can sell even in spite of an awful name (hello Psycho-Cybernetics).
But why not give yourself the best advantage by having both a good product and a good name?
Let’s look at some products I’ve bought in the last year to see what makes a good name:
“Quit in 6”
Buck Flogging’s course on making it with your own business. Buck says a good name will say what a product is, while a great name will say what a product will do for you. I guess he took his own advice.
“Email Client Machine”
Ben Settle’s product explaining how to get booked with clients using his email tactics. A good name in my opinion: it also says what it will do for you, and the word “machine” draws attention because it’s unusual in this context.
“Energy Blueprint”
Ari Whitten’s course on increasing your (physical) energy. There was a spate of these “blueprint” courses over the past decade. Today I think “blueprint” products have become cliche, putting this name into the good-but-not-great category.
“Dartboard Pricing”
Sean D’Souza’s product on how to set and raise your prices. It’s named after the methodology — how to set your prices — rather than the outcome. However, it definitely gets bonus points for the unusual, attention-grabbing term “dartboard.”
“Email Players”
This is Ben Settle’s monthly newsletter on email marketing. I think the “Players” bit is a reference to Gary Halbert and the way he used that word. If that’s true, then I don’t think this name is really about what the product will do for you… rather, it’s about the identity of the kind of people that Ben wants to assemble as his customers. Knowing Ben’s emphasis on building relationships, this would make sense.
So what makes a good name? I’d say you have two options:
Appeal to self-interest.
Or appeal to identity.
The decision will depend on what kind of clients you want to get, but that’s a topic for another day.
Either way, you get bonus points if you can make the name fresh (of course, without making it confusing).
Here’s why I bring all this up.
I’ve been playing around with the name of my upcoming book on email marketing for the health space (the ugly “Health Email Splash” has gone out the window).
Whatever the final name will be, the offer remains the same. If you sign up now, you can get a copy for free when it comes out. Here’s the link: