Michal Wendrowski

When you want to grow a business by acquiring new customers or hiring new employees, you have to be able to precisely communicate the value that your organization provides. This will allow your audience to position your company in the right place without having to show them your product or office. In this article we’re going to focus on creating a value proposition from a potential customer’s point of view.

When writing a value proposition, I include the following parts in this order:

1. Product name
2. Software category
3. Buyer persona
4. Problem solved
5. How
6. Magic sauce

Example:

Rublon is cloud-based cybersecurity software that helps companies protect their data, applications and networks by providing trusted access via easy-to-use two-factor authentication.

Let’s pick this example apart:

1. Product name: Rublon
2. Software category: cloud-based cybersecurity software
3. Buyer persona: companies
4. Problem solved: protect their data, applications and networks
5. How: by providing trusted access
6. Magic sauce: easy-to-use two-factor authentication

Using this template you are able to create one sentence that will explain your value proposition in a clear way. You can use such this as a general product description and add it to your social media profiles or exhibitor directories if you attend trade fairs. Basically, such a value proposition can be used everywhere whenever your product is advertised. It makes sense to invest some time into getting it right.

From my experience in naming companies, SaaS products and service businesses, I can tell you that there are several ways of approaching this. Each has its pros and cons. My clear favorite is to combine two popular English words because it makes the name already somehow familiar to your customers.

Two English Words

Combine two short and well known English words, which are not necessarily connected to each other. Such a name usually is about 7–9 characters long and is very easy to remember because its parts are already encoded in your customer’s brain. Such a name builds an instant, although subconscious, sense of familiarity with your brand.

Examples:

• Facebook
• Snapchat
• Salesforce
• Pipedrive
• Microsoft
• Autodesk
• Red Hat
• YouTube
• WordPress
• LinkedIn
• Bitcoin
• ServiceNow
• Workday
• Check Point
• Wirecard
• Softbank
• Freshdesk
• PayPal
• SoundCloud
• Skyscanner

There is another twist possible with this scheme. Combine an English dictionary word with a custom name.

Examples:

• Gmail
• Instagram
• iPhone
• Netflix

Three-Letter Acronym

Examples:

• IBM
• SAP
• CDW
• NXP
• DXC
• AMD
• BMW
• DHL
• UPS

Invent New Name

Examples:

• Spotify
• Shopify
• Zynga
• Vimeo
• Lyft
• Trulia
• Adobe
• Symantec
• Intuit
• Xilinx
• Xerox

Dictionary Name

Examples:

• Apple
• Amazon
• Square
• Intel
• Alphabet
• Slack
• Float
• Zoom
• Signal
• Chrome
• Oracle
• Wish

Create Word

Nowadays, with the huge number of businesses already on the market promoting their existing and new brands, it may be quite difficult to use a nice dictionary name that is still available. Instead, you may consider creating a new word.

Examples:

• Authy
• Booksy

Other aspects of choosing a name

Check trademark availability

Before deciding on a name, make sure that you do not infringe on anyone’s trademark. Depending on your country of residence, this may not only be very costly if neglected, but will also make it difficult for you to build a strong, reputable and defensible brand.

Enter your desired name into Google Search and see what appears. If Google suggests a similar name, then someone else might have already built a brand that looks or sounds like yours.

Check pronouncability

Call a friend and tell them that you started a new business, say the name and then ask them to text you the name. If too many people send you your name with spelling mistakes, then you know that you need to either adjust the name, choose a new one or prepare a solid marketing budget to get this name into your customers’ minds.

It’s also a good idea to use Amazon’s Polly service, which is available from AWS. It’s free for testing purposes. Simply enter a phrase like the one below and hear how your name gets pronounced:

I work at Adips

Start with a letter close to “A”

If your name starts with the letter “A”, then you have a higher probability of being placed at the beginning of company or product lists, as they are often sorted alphabetically. The closer the first letter of your name is to “A”, the better. Don’t make this a blocker though if you have a great name that starts with one of the last letters in the alphabet like X, Y or Z.

Get a .com domain name

If you want to gain instant credibility, then consider investing in the .com domain that includes your name, like adips.com for Adips. Good .com domains are scarce nowadays and often quite expensive. Having such a domain name sends an instant message to your customers that you’ve invested money into your brand and that means that a good brand and hence good reputation is important to you. A .com domain will help especially if your website is going to be your main source for lead generation.

Nevertheless, if you’re in competitive business and don’t have much capital to start with, a domain with a different TLD like .net will do fine also. Just make sure to take care of all other areas in marketing that will prove your competence and value proposition to the customer.

Register social media usernames

Even if you don’t plan to acquire customers through social media, your employees will care about how you present yourself on these popular platforms like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram. Make it easy for them to find you by registering proper usernames, which comes with no cost.