What is word ownership, and what can it do for your business? One of the main focuses in business is exposure; the more prospects you have access to, the higher your chances of making a sale. But what if you could get these prospects to do some advertising for you, for free? By creating a single word that you want to have people attribute to your business, you not only create brand recognition but also word of mouth advertising.
A brand is a perception. The company owns the physical brand, but the value of that brand is what it means to the consumer. Take Mercedes Benz whose single word they chose for us to identify their cars with is “prestige,” or Volvos identifying word “safety.” With enough repetition, these words are meant to conjure up images of their products in our minds.
This works with politics too. Hillary Clinton launched her campaign by focusing on “experience,” while Obama focused on the word “change,” a word that matched the mood of the majority of the American public desperately wanting change after 2 terms of Republican rule. Word ownership is more powerful when it is a verb.
Verbs are action words that people can replace your company name or product with. Think of millions of people “Xeroxing,” instead of copying, and have you noticed how you no longer “search” for information on the Internet, you “Google” it? Facebook was never going to become a successful verb, so they cleverly created the “Like” button.
In “The 22 immutable laws of Branding,” Al and Laura Ries tell us that to differentiate your business, you should create a new category and then own it in the mind of the customer. Don’t let the market throw you in a heap with everyone else, and instead define a category and stand out above your competition.
There is a game played around the table at dinner parties, where each person is asked to identify a single word that best describes who they are, heart and soul. This word must be truthful and all-encompassing and create an image for the other people at the table to identify the person with. If you attempt to create a false image of yourself, or one that is unidentifiable, you risk being laughed at and napkins tossed at you from across the table.
This is the same as word ownership in business. How do you want people to react and feel when they hear or see your company’s name or product? What is a truthful and accurate image you would like to portray? Remember, if you are successful then this could be a word you live with in your business for a long time, so make it count.
Call (786) 594-0435 to contact Kompani Group and learn how we can help your business succeed.
