Today, we are constantly bombarded with marketing messages that seem to be just one big blur of sameness. Limited by society's very short attention span, your marketing message has to be effective enough to communicate and create top-of-mind awareness within an extremely short amount of time. Thus, the name is the best tool -- and often the only one -- for accomplishing this efficiently.

When positioning a company or product, your name has to "stick" firmly in the mind of the marketplace and must do so almost instantly. While uniqueness is an important factor, there are other elements that will help you in the anchoring process; elements that cause a name to be easily remembered as well as chosen when a customer experiences a specific need or desire. So, here are some simple rules to follow when choosing a name for your company or product.

WHAT DOES IT DO?

To make a company or product name truly memorable, it should convey its main feature or benefit. If I give you the word "Die Hard," for instance, you will naturally think of a battery or motor that dies hard. If I tell you "Jiffy Lube," you will naturally assume that it's a garage offering oil changes in a jiffy. If I tell you "Band-Aid," you will think of an adhesive bandage that comes to your aid.

Names that do not convey at least the basic nature of a company will be easily forgotten. This includes acronyms, such as "MGF Holdings Limited" (that name makes you wonder "What in the heck are they holding?"). It also includes self-titled companies, such as "Michel Fortin International" (which was, believe it or not, the name of one of my original companies -- one that failed nonetheless).

Benefits are particularly effective because such a name would make a company or product appear as if it had some added value. As a result, being positioned above the competition in the minds of people, the name will thus be quickly remembered when people make their decision to buy.

RHYMES MOVE MINDS

Ever since the spread of books, memorization became less important and the process of rhyming, in the same way, has gradually fallen out of favor. We all remember in one way or another the nursery rhymes we were told as children. In today's memory management courses, for instance, they tell you to use rhymes and word association. Rhyming is pleasing to the ear and, beyond ease-of-recall, it also tends to adds credibility.

Dr. Matthew McGlone, a researcher at Lafayette College, has found that rhymes not only make a phrase more memorable, they also make it more believable. People surveyed prefer sayings like "Woes unite foes" to "woes unite enemies." He says, "Sometimes a singsong quality is a pleasing thing, and by virtue of the words being pleasing, they can confer a greater sense of truth."

While some names use multiple words such as "Blinds of All Kinds" or "Ronald McDonald," most names are made up of a single word. In these cases, therefore, the job would be conferred unto the tagline (that small sentence that follows and complements the name).

If I said "It takes a licking but keeps on ticking," you will probably know what product I'm talking about. And if the tagline rhymes with the name with which it is associated, the name will stick even more effectively as a result.

REPETITION RESONATES

What do "Saran-Wrap," "Coca-Cola," "Willy Wonka," "GI Joe," "Barbie," "Wayne's World," "Hamburger Helper," "Crispy Crunch," and "Blockbuster" all have in common?

Similar to rhymes, the repetition of sounds, particularly consonants, have that pleasant and obviously effective singsong quality. They make the name more memorable by making the pronunciation more simple. In other words, it is definitely easier to remember a string of similar sounds than it is to remember a combination of totally different sounding words. Did you "See the softer side of Sear's" lately?

Remember, above all, that branding, while a powerful tool in your business, is even more powerful when names stick. From the simplest product to the most abstract or complex technical service, a memorable name helps to make the company or product memorable as well.