The first time I created a brand name, it was for a friend. We had a conversation about a dream they had been nurturing for years. It was a deeply personal dream.

When we graduated from the University, my friend pursued her dream with a lot of informal training and self-tutoring.

Years after, she would go further to a fashion school and build a mindblowing fashion line, training and charity.

The story of her brand went even deeper than these experiences we had after finishing school. So when she asked me for a name, we had to work around her Yoruba roots from Ondo to find a word that connected with the values she wanted the brand to express and settled on one that at the time sounded almost weird.

The brand is now an industrious fashion brand in Lagos called Ojufin. I also chose the brand colours which are now a reflection of all that the brand does.

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CREATING A BRAND IDENTITY FROM NOTHING

In creating brand identities, I think the biggest struggle owners have is how to blend the known with the unknown.

You either find a brand with a name that’s just too common for it to make any significant mark or some names are too obscure that you are left confused every time you think about their business name.

A while back, I got a brief to write campaign taglines for a black-owned entity in the United States. They wanted something like Wakanda as their brand identity.

I have had the opportunity to shape such brands and show them how much can be achieved using the perfect blend of history, the familiar, and the unfamiliar.

HOW ABOUT TAGLINES?

When I write taglines, I am always looking out for the kind of expression that follows these simple principles:

1. Historical links to legacy and culture.
2. Simplicity and clarity.
3. A blend of familiar and unfamiliar feelings.

Notice the third item talks about feelings. When creating brand items like business names, taglines and domain names, it’s important to consider how you want your customers and even competitors to feel.

It must be memorable enough and easy on the tongue that it cannot be mistaken. I know we all struggle with achieving this perfect blend.

A BRAND IDENTITY IS UNIQUE TO YOU

In my ebook “Create Work that Matters to You” I shared about an author whose book features a reverse harem with the female lead character. She wanted a tagline that would speak to how she wanted women to feel about themselves. It had very little to do with the dominatrix fetish that one would expect to pursue. It had more to do with the author’s need to create a world where women could be led, could hold their own, and could be just as passionate as men in pursuing their desires.

This kind of work brings you close to people’s innate desires and it should be given its due respect. It’s sad that when most people are building these “tiny” business elements, they don’t understand the value of these assets.

A major bottleneck for most businesses that this approach resolves is the aspect of registrations.

When creating your brand, you are often faced with the struggles of finding an original business name for registrations and domain name registrations. Imagine having started your business brand and suddenly, you are unable to register the company because the name has been taken or the domain name has been bought.

When I create brand assets with this method, I always find that clients who are open to exploring deeper meanings of their brand are less likely to struggle with registrations. If you choose to go with a copy-and-paste approach, you might spend another extra fund redesigning websites and pages after you are forced to change your brand name.

This is a little bit DIY and might need guidance to implement. However, I hope this helps you to map out your business launch a little bit more intentionally and with the kind of clarity that will stay with you for years and years to come.

If you’d like a consulting session, I am
just a dm away. Come with your wallets, this is where the free advice ends.

I’ve got a lot more of this type of content coming. If you’ve been looking for resources to grow your online business, brand or product browse my bookstore for helpful resources. Contact me to write copy for your product launches.