Marcia Yudkin

Whether you're trying to name a new company or rename an existing product, it's far from easy to generate a name that sounds great, looks cool, means what you want it to and sets you apart from all the competition. Narrow down the range of possibilities by first figuring out which...

Business owners and corporate namers often get stuck naming a new product because they don't use powerful brainstorming methods. Simply waiting for inspiration to strike doesn't work as well as systematically generating dozens of words, syllables and ideas, then combining and tweaking them in all sorts of ways. Use the following...

In 1915, California farmers banded together to rename the ahuacate, a pear-shaped fruit with pebbly skin and an oversized pit inside. They knew this Aztec word was hard for Americans to pronounce, and the Spanish version of the name, aguacate, was just as difficult for them. The new made-up name...

"Reach out and touch someone." "The ultimate driving machine." "Finger lickin' good." Chances are, you not only know immediately that those slogans come from AT&T, BMW and KFC, in that order. Those catchphrases may also very well have persuaded someone you know to place more long-distance calls, purchase a particular brand of car...

If you've ever run across the old joke that "fish" should actually be spelled "ghoti" ("gh" as in "tough," "o" as in "women" and "ti" as in "nation"), then you won't be surprised to know that many companies put this quirk of the English language to work by concocting an...

According to Dr. Marti Olsen Laney, introverts make up roughly 25% of the population. Yet when you look at high-IQ people and high earners, the percentage is far higher. So if you hope to capture the attention and patronage of introverts, it's vital to downplay or avoid marketing tactics that...

High-priced branding consultants who huddle together for months to concoct a new company name would like the public to think that effective naming involves secrets revealed only to those who earned a Ph.D. in linguistics, speak 17 languages or learned advertising through working their way up the ranks at a...

People who intensely dislike your company or feel wronged by you will always find some way to complain. However, a lack of attention during the naming process can inadvertently make it easier for comedians, protesters and whiners to poke fun at your company. Before finalizing your new company name, run it...

A tag line is the little slogan that follows a business name on a web site, in ads, on company stationery and elsewhere. A prime branding opportunity, it presents one of the biggest challenges in marketing. You want something that's catchy, appropriate, appealing and distinctive. The tag line should say...

Increasingly popular, "crowdsourcing" involves inviting a large number of people to perform a task, with a prize promised to the person or team whose work is selected as the winner. Specialized web sites now exist where you can ask people to compete by creating designs for T-shirts, logos or ads....