It's Not High School Anymore - Stop Trying to be Just Like Everyone Else

One the credos that I harp on in my articles and while teaching seminars is "be creative." In fact, I've often pointed out that creativity and common sense are probably the two greatest equalizers on the Web. While I'm generally talking about marketing plans when I tell companies to "be creative," Steve Woodruff at Small Business Marketing & Branding reminds us this week that you also need to be creative when coming up with your business name and tag line.

Part of building your brand, your search presence and your social and viral marketing campaigns is having a company name and tag line that quickly lets people know what you do.

Search Engine Guide. "A Small Business Guide to Website Promotion"

Yeah...pretty descriptive.

The Lactivist. "Nursing out loud"

Again...if you are in the target audience, you'll get it.

It doesn't happen often in life, but every now and then we're tasked with coming up with a business name and/or tag line. While it might be easy to gloss over this little detail, Woodruff makes a great case for why you need to devote some series time and energy to this task.

Come up with a business name that means nothing. Ah, yes, Global Business Solutions - that tells me a whole lot about what you do! Or, how about A & B Associates - catchy, definitive, truly memorable! Or, to memorialize the two partners who so brilliantly launched the enterprise, let's go with Froghammer and Smith! That'll tell the world what's being offered! Remember - the goal is to keep the audience guessing - we wouldn't want those pesky potential clients to immediately understand what the business stands for, would we?

He goes on to make another good point:

5. Try to please everyone. Hey, it's a complicated world, and lots of people get in on decision-making. So craft your message so that there isn't a chance that a single person could possibly be offended, or (heaven forbid!) conclude that you have a different focus than what they're looking for. Remember, all business is good business, so you don't want to miss a single opportunity by narrowing your message to your unique core competencies!

All very good advice, and advice that can easily be ported to the realm of blogging and search marketing as well. After all, standing out from the crowd is pretty much the entire point of a good organic search plan. Blogging? Well, that's all about saying something in an entirely new way as well.

So keep in mind that from the moment you name your business on through every last marketing decision you make...you need to be creative and to be unique. After all, if you look just like everyone else, why would anyone buy from you?