founder institute / naming & positioning
DESCRIPTION
I created this deck for my talk at The Founder Institute, San Juan. It walks through how to strategically select your company or product name.TRANSCRIPT
Lisa Morales-Hellebo
Lisa Morales-Hellebo
Where do you start?
PROCESS
PROCESS
PROCESS
Where do you start?
1. What is the product?
2. Who is the customer?
3. Who is the competition?
4. Why/how are you different?
What is the product?
1
Hasn’t been built yet
or
MVP complete
What is the product?
1. What does the product do?
2. What problem does it solve?
3. Who needs it?
What is the product?
$1,216.95
$489.95
1. Does? Generates variations of outfits via
algorithms from multiple retailers
2. Solves? Quickly finding head-to-toe outfits,
specific to your taste and budget
3. Who? Women 27-45 with money and no time
What is the product?
Who is the customer?
2
Who is the customer?
?
PERSONAS
1.Gender? Age?
2.Where do they live?
3.Where & when do they use your product?
4.What matters to them?
5.Besides the problem you solve, what should
they expect from your brand?
Who is the customer?
Who is the customer?
the collector_____________________________
KimiaAge: 43
Occupation: Marketing Executive
Home life: Single, no kids, never married, owns a townhouse in Buckhead, Atlanta
Education: Masters in Marketing & Business from NYU
HH Income: $125k
Frequency of Shopping: Weekend shopping with friends, but only buys via sample sales
Avg Look $: $500-$2500
Shops for: Herself, her dog, mother/father, & brothers (in that order)
AGE27-45
FUNto shop
URBANinfluencers
$150item
Who is the customer?
Who are your competitors?
3
Polyvore
Shopstyle
OpenSky
Wanelo
Who are your competitors?
Fancy
Lyst
Pose
CHECKLIST1.Where are they in the alphabet?
2.What is the visual shape of the word(s)?
3.Long or short name(s)?
4.What type of name is it? Literal, Invented, Experiential, Evocative
5.How does it work in other languages?
6.What is their brand voice?
7.Does it have “stick”?
Who are your competitors?
Who are your competitors?
TYPES OF NAMESLiteral/Functional CheapCaribbean,
RentTheRunwayInvented Google, Shopsy
Experiential Pose, Explorer
Evocative Twitter, Apple
Why/how are
you different?
4
PRODUCT POSITIONING
1.What are the competition’s SWOTs?
2.Who is their audience?
3.What are your SWOTs?
4.What feelings do they evoke?
5.Where do you want to live in the competitive
landscape?
Why/how are you different?
Why/how are you different?
SHE-commerceSelf-Expression
Age 27-45Age 14-24
Algorithmic Curation
Non-Scalable
Trained Curators
Crowd
LooksSingle Item
VOICE POSITIONING
1.What is the company’s personality?
2.What are the company’s values?
3.What is the company’s taste or appearance?SELECT TOP 5 FOR ALL
Why/how are you different?
The #1 brainstorming tool is…
Why/how are you different?
Why/how are you different?
Here’s how to use it
NAMING BRAINSTORM1.Have every stakeholder participate
2.Word association w/Post-Its
3.Decider as facilitator
4.Everyone presents their Post-its
5.Organize into groupings
6.Top 3 get weighed against previous findings
Why/how are you different?
Domains & Trademarks1.Google — Try unusual spelling, but not too crazy
2.USPTO.gov Trademarks Trademarks Search
3.Domains — Why domains after trademark? .COM, .CO, ______APP.COM, GET_______.COM
4.LegalZoom vs law firm?
Securing your IP
EVERYTHING HAS MEANING.
Make it more than a name,
build a brand.
