A Few Painful Lessons in Corporate Branding

I’m no stranger to branding. I’ve started - or helped to start - multiple companies in my twenty-plus years as an entrepreneur.

One of the fun parts about starting a company is coming up with its name.  It’s your chance to differentiate yourself and really brand what you’re doing.  I’ve named a lot of companies at this point in my career, and let’s just say I’ve made some mistakes along the way.

Today I want to tell you about a few companies that I co-founded that comprise our “Burner” brand software.  The brand started with PhoneBurner, and over the past few years we’ve added FaxBurner and MeetingBurner.

Here’s some quick background on these companies to give you context for why we chose those names.

PhoneBurner is a personal power-dialer that lets sales professionals dial through lists of contacts at super-speed.  When we started thinking up names for the software, we wanted to convey that we were taking old technology and lighting it on fire.  We tossed around a number of different ideas, but finally settled on PhoneBurner.

Next I had the idea to create on-demand fax number software.  Nobody has fax machines sitting at home anymore, but we all have smart phones, and occasionally, we need an actual fax number.  It was a new look at old technology, so it made perfect sense to add it to the Burner brand as FaxBurner.

MeetingBurner quickly followed suit.  We wanted to take on the big, slow and clunky guys like GoToMeeting and Webex, and turn online meetings into something easy and fun.  Once again, it was a good fit for our growing suite of Burner software.

By the time MeetingBurner came about, though, we had started to see some of the pitfalls of adding Burner to our brand.  While the “Burner” name certainly isn’t bad, there are a plethora of potential pitfalls that we didn’t consider in the naming phase, and since the brand is already established, a name change isn’t something we’d consider at this point.

Chalk it up to a lesson learned by a group of techies who set out to create simple and smart software solutions, but lacked the marketing arm a giant corporation would have had to help with these sorts of branding challenges.

Skip Cool and See Context

Rather than choosing a brand name that sounds cool, it’s pertinent to consider the domain name from all angles. How are you going to use it? How are others going to use it? Are there puns or innuendos that are common? In short, you might think one thing about your brand, but the public might see it another way entirely.

Take PhoneBurner as an example.

At PhoneBurner, we offer white-label solutions so our clients can use their own domain, branding and logo on top of our software.  The problem is, our white-label clients all want to use “Burner” in their name. I don’t know if it’s lack of creativity, or if they’re just enamored with the brand, but some of the ideas they come up with are pretty outrageous.

Much like we did, one can only assume they’re thinking “Burner” sounds cool, without thinking of the actual message they’re delivering to everyone outside of the company.

Some actual suggestions that I’ve had to shoot down include FreedomBurner, GOPBurner and believe it or not, “MoneyBurner.” Nothing screams “buy me” more than a brand name that tells people you light money on fire.

We haven’t managed to stop all the bad names, though, as evidenced by one of our early clients who went with Heartland Burner.

Yes, Heartland Burner.  Looking back, I’m not sure how this one slipped through the cracks.  I mean, what comes to your mind when you hear “Heartland Burner?”

Personally, I can only picture huge swaths of wheat fields going up in flames.  And yet, the business was created, launched and now it has become a sort of inside joke; a reminder of what can go wrong if you don’t pay attention to your message. As you can probably guess, this particular white-label brand never really gained much momentum.

The Lesson: Some things sound cool when leaving your mouth, but it may take months or even years to realize all the possible ways in which the brand can be used out of context. Try to see all the ways in which the consumer could visualize your name, and do what you can to keep the bulk of those positive.

Names are for Life

When you name a company, you’re essentially stuck with it. Once a business is established, changing the name brings forth the potential for client or industry backlash for name changes. Plus, you’ve spent time and money on the brand, and changing the brand late in the game is a real “Money Burner.” Sorry, it’s just too good to pass up another chance to get a playful ribbing in over what could have been the worst naming decision in the history of the Internet… probably.

On top of the potential loss in time and revenue, think of the clients who will always associate you with your original name no matter what you change it to. A long-term client of ours is a great example of this. AT&T bought Cingular in 2007, yet he still says he’s with Cingular if you ask him about his mobile provider. People are stubborn, and changing consumer reaction to a brand, or consumer behavior when relating to a brand is commonly known as one of the hardest marketing tasks in the business.

The Lesson: Changing names is expensive, and often leads potential clients to do business with your competitors as it creates brand insecurity. Unless you have a solid plan behind a name change, avoid it at all costs.

Public Relations Matter

As you sit down to brainstorm, remember that naming a company is a big deal. While it’s rare that a name makes or breaks a brand (at least initially), it certainly has the potential to down the road.

Think of potential PR nightmares before ever officially deciding on a name. For example, “Burner” is a cool-sounding name until a massive wildfire wipes out half of the Midwest. Now, although this is relatively unlikely, it’s still something that demands consideration in the naming process.

The Lesson: While it’s impossible to think of everything that could go wrong with a name, it certainly isn’t a bad idea to brainstorm and consider some potential issues.

We’re certainly not perfect in terms of branding, but we’ve managed to build a thriving business in spite of it. Not to mention, we’ve learned some important lessons (and had some laughs) along the way. In my opinion, corporate naming can often be sort of an afterthought, and the ramifications of this way of thinking have the potential to be huge.

Take your time and be diligent. Once you have a name, sleep on it. Let it simmer for a period of time and ensure that it fits your internal vision of your brand, your message and your product.

When it comes to company names, you generally get one shot at picking a solid name in which to build a company on. Don’t make the same mistakes we did by being entirely unprepared for the future ramifications of what a name can mean to your company.