Surprisingly, many aspiring people in business treat naming as insignificant and a non-essential business step. If only they knew how wrong they are!

The title of a brand greatly affects customers’ behavior which means it can affect their overall success!

So, how can you hit the bull’s eye with your brand name? Coming up with a striking name for a product or organization requires a lot of time and effort. You should take into account the distinctive features of your brand as well as the possible psychological impact to your target audience.

What Are The Criteria To Meet When Coming Up With A Brand/Product Name?

Unique

The name must be unique. Otherwise, you’ll get lost among hundreds and thousands of other companies. Uniqueness is about associations. Once you manage to create at least one strong association with your brand, you’re half way there!

To test your brand name for uniqueness, you can try Googling it. If the top results are brands you can compete with, go for it. But if there are already giants using up this name, you’ll have to consider other options.

Short and Sonorous

People are more likely to remember a short and catchy name than a long and stringy phrase. If you do need a long name, reduce it to an abbreviation and avoid complex alphabetic and sound combinations.

Positive

Try to come up with a name associated with positive emotions. Your future customers shouldn’t feel unpleasant associations and emotions. Make sure the title doesn’t include prohibited terms, expressions or associations to government organizations unless that is the case.

Universal

If you are going to enter the international market, make sure your brand’s name is universal and can be easily pronounced in other languages. An unfavorable meaning in another culture can nullify all your efforts.

Relevant

Of course, the name should reflect the essence of what you are trying to promote. Firstly, it should tell potential clients about the specifics of your organization or product. Secondly, people should get a connection between what you offer and your name.

For example, if you are going to create a domain name, you can apply SEO rules to it using your target keywords.

See Also: Is No One Paying Attention to Your Brand?

Three Steps On How To Name A Product

1. Goal setting. At this stage, you need to analyze your target audience to determine their demands, requests, and needs. (information, physiological, aesthetic, combined, etc.).
2. The development of the name. This stage involves the creation of several options. Once they are ready, you need to conduct their phonetic and semantic analysis to take into account all the subtleties and exclude all unsuitable options. To easily conquer this stage, use brainstorming or any other collective thinking techniques.
3. Evaluation and approval. Here, an objective assessment comes into play. It should be made according to several criteria, including the perception of the name by the consumer and the conformity of the name with the status of the brand/product.

A well-thought-out name combined with a logo, motto and advertising activity will allow you to stand out and be remembered by people. And, if you sell something, it should guarantee a stable income.

Finally, let’s consider a few naming techniques and examples:

• The name of the creator: Procter & Gamble, Heinz.
• Legal terms: Abbreviations, like Incorporated (Inc.), Corporation (Corp.), Limited (Ltd.), etc.
• Geographical features: Australian Partnership, Air Asia, Bangkok Bank.
• Company’s activities: Apple Computers.
• A combination of words: For example, an encrypted name of the founder of the company: Adidas (Adolf Dassler).
• Rhyme and rhythm: Coca-Cola, Chupa-Chups.
• Associations: Jaguar, Red Bull.
• Secret meaning: Nivea, Daewoo.

See Also: 5 Smart Ways to Boost Brand Awareness

Use your imagination and creativity to come up with exciting and intriguing brand names. Take the process seriously, but don’t ignore the fact that the best names are just on the surface most of the time.

For example, Adobe was named after the river that’s behind John Warnock’s house. Apple was a favorite fruit of Steve Jobs while Hitachi means dawning. Subaru, meanwhile, is the constellation depicted on the company’s logo.

Look around and perhaps the name you need is already near you and just waiting to be discovered.

Good luck in your entrepreneurial endeavors!

The post How To Come Up With The Name Of Your Brand Or Product appeared first on Dumb Little Man.

http://ift.tt/2qKwWRX

If you want to get an interview for the position at the company you are applying for, then there are 6 things you should bear in mind. In this article, we will partially focus on cover letters as well as other important resume writing tips.

So, grab a pen, and get ready to totally change your approach to CVs and cover letters.

6 Tips On Successful CV Emailing Process

Address your email to a particular person

Avoid using general opening phrases like “Dear Sirs” or “To Whom It May Concern.” They are impersonal and cannot impress the recipients.

Most recruiters state that emails which are addressed to a specific person get higher chances of being read and paid special attention to. To know who to address your CV to, you can research the company’s LinkedIn account or company website.

Just think about it:

If you are getting dozens of cover letters a day, you are more likely to pay attention to the applicant who knows you by name than an applicant who simply addresses the company in general. So, if you do not want your resume to get into a stack of other similar “impersonal” letters, then address it to a particular person.

Use Keywords

A lot of companies use state-of-the-art technologies to analyze all the emails they get as well as the resumes in them. These technologies function in such a way that they identify the keywords in a letter or resume they receive.

Thus, after you familiarize yourself with a job description, make sure to check its keywords and major requirements. Keep these keywords in mind as you craft your cover letter and resume.

This will not only help a potential employer see you as a perfect applicant but will also help your letter avoid getting screened out.

See Also: Resume Action Words That Will Get You That Job

Be Original

In numerous resume examples one can find online, we see all the same patterns which candidates repeat time after time. Unfortunately, such clichés and standard phrases do not build up a strong image for you.  They can even do the exact opposite.

For this reason, we highly recommend that you try to be as original as possible. For instance, check out the story of Sumukh Mehta who created a resume for GQ magazine and structured it in the form of the magazine itself. His resume went viral and still serves as a brilliant example of a CV which can get you not only an interview but the actual job.

Find Connections

You probably know the theory about seven handshakes. If not, then you should be aware of it.

The theory says that all people on the planet are connected through seven handshakes. This means that you have connections with almost everyone through other people you know.

All you have to do is find these connections and use them for your own benefit. If you can get a recommendation, then all the better as you can mention this when you write your cover letter. It can make all the difference.

Write a Bright Opening

You do not have much time to make a good first impression. In fact, professional recruiters say that they only have around 14 seconds for one resume as they get at least 250 applicants a day per position.

So, if you want to be among the people they will likely invite to an interview, remember to create a bright opening. Take one information from your resume and use it as your winning ticket. You can also mention some experience that you had which makes you brilliant for the position.

Write something like “I used to work as a sales manager for this company for a year, and I increased their sales by 30%.” This can draw the company’s attention and stimulate their interest in your resume.

Demonstrate Your Skills

Even if you do not have all the skills they expect from a perfect candidate, you can emphasize the ones you have and sell them to the company. To do that, you need to provide evidence to support your statements.

You can add some numbers that can illustrate how much you contributed to your previous place of employment. Think of your own unique way to present such experience.

We hope that with our practical resume writing tips, you’ll be able to email your CV correctly. We guarantee that if you follow our tips step by step, you will certainly get yourself an interview.

See Also: 16 Worst Resume Mistakes

The post 6 Tips On How To Prep Your CV For More Job Interviews appeared first on Dumb Little Man.

http://ift.tt/2rLlVgK

You’re an intelligent person, right?

You work hard and you’re driven to succeed in your professional and your personal life. You have great ideas that you believe can improve things for yourself and those around you.

But, if you frequently find yourself at the end of the week wondering where the time has gone and why your results do not match up your intentions, you have a problem. You are likely missing out on one key element for your success: self-discipline.

The willpower to forge on with a project can be hard to tap when you’re up against distraction, procrastination, and good old honest laziness.

So, if your inner voice isn’t giving you the support you need to be the person you could be, why not try some scientifically-verified techniques to get back in control of your trajectory?

Here are some tips on how to improve self-discipline.

Reboot with a bang

Setting a due date to begin your new routine will give you stronger resolve to see it through, according to some studies.

Instead of making vague promises to yourself that you’re going to get better, tell yourself that next Monday you’re going to start taking some specific steps. Discipline starts with a plan!

Concretize your motivation

Just as a solid start date can help you start strong, making the effort to write down the reasons why you want to improve can help give clarity to what you’re doing.

List the five top reasons you want to improve your self-discipline and keep that list handy. It will give you strength when you’re starting to wonder why you’re doing all the hard work.

Picture your success

Your written note will motivate your mind but visualizing the success of your project can motivate your soul. By visualizing the effects of your self-control, your willpower will last much longer.

Arm yourself against temptation

It’s one thing to tell yourself you’re going to go the gym no matter what. But, when your friend calls you up for a drink, it becomes a different story.

By preparing for such temptations in advance, you’ll be able to deal with them more favorably when they arise. For example, tell yourself that if a friend calls you for a meet up when you have a workout planned, suggest a game of tennis instead of spending two hours in the pub.

Forge positive associations with unpleasant tasks

If you find yourself unwilling to get out of bed half an hour early each morning to go for a run, try to make it more appealing for yourself. Saving your favorite podcast for your workout the night before can help you get on track.

Hide your temptations away

Out of sight, out of mind, they say. Experiments have shown that hiding the things that are likely to tempt you, like chocolates or your game consoles, can make you less likely to give into their call.

Sleep better

Here’s a guilt-free reason to put greater emphasis on your sleeping life: sleep deprivation actually impairs self-discipline by affecting the way your prefrontal cortex functions.

Start to wind down, like turning off your smartphones, at least an hour before bedtime and give yourself plenty of chance to get 8-9 hours sleep. The quality of your sleep has a profound effect on how one can improve self-discipline.

See Also: Are You Sleep Deprived? 8 Health Risks Of Poor Sleep

Get some friendly support

Nobody likes to be nagged, but you’re more likely to stay in control of your good intentions with regular reminders. If you’re working on quitting a bad habit, like nail-biting or cutting out coffee, ask the people around you to remind you when you’re falling back into that habit.

Take your time

When you make a split-second decision, it is very often the wrong one. The snap answer to “Ice cream with that?” is always going to be “Yes, please!”. So, before you actually blurt out an answer, count to five and think about the options before you commit. That way, you are more likely to make decisions with your mind and not with your belly.

Give yourself a glucose boost

Willpower seems to be closely connected to glucose levels in our blood. If you find yourself unwilling to put in an extra hour at work when it’s needed, try making yourself a drink or a snack with honey in it to bring your blood sugar back up.

Avoid alcohol

There’s a good reason why we associate drinking with regret. You don’t need to be a scientist to figure that out. When you are under the influence of alcohol, you are less likely to reflect on the implications of your behaviors.

It only takes a little reduction of your inhibitions to get you opting for a second slice of pie or to stay out at the party for another hour even though you have work in the morning. When you’re working on a goal, steer clear of the booze and you are more likely to make the right decisions when faced with temptation.

See Also: The Tell-Tale Signs You May Have Alcoholism

Use visual cues

You already have your friends watching your back, but they won’t always be nearby to help you avoid temptation. Most of the time, you’ll need to look out for yourself.

Leaving Post-It notes and other visual reminders around your home and office can help you regulate your behavior just when you need it. Leave a note on your front door to remember your gym kit when you leave for work in the morning. Wrap masking tape around your credit cards so you have to think twice before violating your personal budget.

Do it for you

Finally, return once more to your reasons for working so hard. Your willpower will not be as strong if you are just looking to please other people.

Figure out the importance of your self-discipline for your own goals and dreams and you’ll be able to give yourself a much better shot at success.

Source

The post How To Improve Your Self-Discipline appeared first on Dumb Little Man.

http://ift.tt/2qMD10p