You only have one chance to make a great first impression, these moments can set you on a path for success in daily life under the right mix of circumstances. Managing impressions requires an attention to detail regarding how you represent you and your organization.
Paying particular attention to how your brand is represented through relevant imagery, naming conventions, slogans, individual interactions and marketing content.
A well-crafted company name and powerful logo will help deliver the impact of a brand by mere sight or mention. Influencing consumers through inherent meaning and understanding of the character of the company with little to no face-to-face interactions. We recognize several iconic brands through name, slogan or logo (McDonalds, Starbucks, Disney, Michelin, GE, and Apple) accomplished through effective branding and product positioning. The world’s most iconic brands create a connection to the company and its products through their branding strategies, helping us feel like we are a piece of the brand itself. We begin to identify with the core values and associate products or experiences with family and fond memories.
Creating a strong brand, consistent and connectable messaging can be the most powerful first steps you take in defining what your company represents and what the brand will deliver to consumers, catalyzing consumers to build a brand with you! For instance, when developing our consulting firm, Sophic Synergistics, we knew that our name would be an essential ingredient in our brand strategy. A name, which if chosen wisely, would help disseminate meaning to the community without additional investment beyond a few simple but impactful words. The name had to embody the core tenets of our organization regardless of areas of specialization. Sophic is rooted in the meaning of wisdom and Synergistic conveys two entities working together towards joint goals. Sophic Synergistics is built on the philosophy that each client represents the foundation of a wise partnership. Similarly, our logo leverages the image of an owl representing the brand as a wise partnership through a recognizable symbol. Reinforcing the core focus of the company through the context of words and a strong and memorable image.
Of course, the brand strategy isn’t the only critical ingredient in the recipe, but it is one that is often underestimated and underutilized. A company name is not reliant on face-to-face interactions to generate meaning among the community, rather it can subtly communicate what the organization aims to contribute to the world. A brand naming strategy can be a powerful and simple tool for companies who desire to build brand recognition. Specifically, through ubiquitous use of multiple human sensory pathways (visual, auditory, tactile etc.) to achieve successful conveyance of meaning and understanding of value. Spend time on this step, the brand will often enter a room before you do!