What's In A Name? Ask BOTOX®.

We're all familiar with BOTOX®. The magic injection that makes us look instantly younger. BOTOX® itself has become a word similar to Kleenex® or Xerox®, a brand name used to broadly identify its product category. There are many other uses for BOTOX® than the most commonly prescribed, but it's the very fact of the BOTOX® omnipotence that makes it such a marketing success story.

The name BOTOX® seems innocent enough. But BOTOX® is short for Botulinum Toxin, or botulism. Botulism, among its other traits, paralyzes you. Food-borne botulism is contracted due to poor hygiene (usually involving canning or food packaging).

And yet BOTOX® is one of the most popular elective medical treatments on the market. It's also one of the most impressive marketing success stories out there. Imagine if you were the agency in charge of introducing Botulinum toxin to the general public - the pitch meeting would go something like this:

"What's the new product?"
"Botulism."
"Botulism like the deadly botulism?"
"No, this is perfectly safe."
"What makes it safe?"
"You inject it into your face."
"Why?"
"It gets rid of wrinkles for a while."
"But it's botulism."
"Aside from the name, it's a great idea."

BOTOX® had a name problem. There was no way in the world they could market their product, no matter how effective it was, by calling it by its real name. It would be like introducing a new cereal called "Plague Flakes". So they came up with BOTOX®, a softer, gentler version of its key ingredient. Two syllables, rolls off the tongue, has no negative connotations, and is completely ambiguous. Millions of BOTOX® injections later, the name has done the trick.

It works the same way with your business. Sometimes calling yourself "Jones & Son" works. Sometimes it doesn't. If you run a mom-and-pop operation that builds relationships on a micro level, "Jones & Son" works. You have a small operation, your customers are usually dealing with either Jones or his son, and the business is designed to be small. For a larger organization, "Jones & Son" doesn't work. The more faces a customer has the potential to see means the company has a broader scope. Something like "Andrew Jones Incorporated" works if the name is well known - but a broader name, a less specific name, allows the company to have its own identity separate from the original owner.

If you are weighing the balance between having the name mean something and having the name sound good rolling off the tongue, rolling off the tongue wins. Look at "Google". Or "Yahoo." Or "Bing." Sometimes simply having a name that is unique will be the thing that gets you remembered.

There are benefits to having a simple, meaningful name. "Rosenplot Design", for instance, is purposely named because I establish personal relationships with my clients. My name is my company. My reputation is tied into it. As my business expands, it is quite possible my company name would change to reflect the broader influence of new partners. Another benefit of my name being the name of my business is that Rosenplot is an uncommon name. "Jones & Son" doesn't carry the same uniqueness as "Rosenplot Design".

Your name should also be dependent on your industry. The name of a technology company will and should be very different from a bakery, or a moving company, or a Realtor®. Keep in mind the vernacular of your market. What are your customers expecting? A bakery called "MotorGears" or a moving and storage company called "Fluffy Puppies" probably wouldn't connect with their customers. Choosing a name that's both unique and appropriate allows you to tap into the cultural references and language of your customers.

Take a lesson from BOTOX®. Sometimes a name is more than just a name.