I’m currently at University studying a BA in Musical Theatre and one of our projects is to set up a theatre company so we can tour a musical in schools and theatres. We need a catchy name for our company; something edgy that stands out.
###
Jay’s Answer:
I am planning to start my own business in student recruitment to study overseas (Australia, Singapore and
Malaysia) and still thinking what is the best company name? Could you please give some ideas? Many thanks
###
Jay’s Answer: Here are a few ideas to play with:
I have started business of Event Management & Brand Promotions also providing the Corporate gifting & merchandising solutions. Please give me a very impactful tagline for my Company ProIndia.
###
Jay’s Answer: The reason you’re probably having trouble creating a tagline for your business is because your business doesn’t solve a specific problem for a specific group of people. It’s a collection of services for a variety of people all offered by a single company. Because of this, there’s no way to create a specific/impactful tagline that’s likely to help your business. Instead, the best you can do is create a generic tagline which won’t tell the reader anything about your business (nor help to explain what ProIndia “means”). This problem will become even larger when you attempt to create other marketing materials (website, brochures, flyers, etc.) – you won’t be able to describe your offerings succinctly to your target audience. Therefore, I strongly encourage you to rethink your business strategy sooner rather than later. It’ll save you both time and money.
I am opening a trendy boutique that carries an array of jewelry, candles, clothes, coffees, teas, handbags, ornaments, accessories etc. I’m all about customer comfort and experience and hopefully have created an inviting environment to inspire my shoppers. Boutique name is Lily Lanetree. Stuck on a great tagline…please HELP
###
Jay’s Answer:
I am having a Computer Institute teaching computer and other course. I want to know some good ideas to market my new taxation courses and attract more student. please help me in this regard. I am only person to teach this course in my city.
###
Jay’s Answer: Because you’re the only one to offer such a course, you have an advantage and a disadvantage. Your advantage is that you’ve got a monopoly – if someone wants to learn locally, they must attend your class. The disadvantage is that the awareness for your course in general might be low, and having competitors actually raises the awareness of the need for your offering. And that’s the key – focus on why someone (who specifically?) really needs to take this class NOW. Why would waiting to take the course potentially be a bad thing to them? What specific advantages would your course offer to their business/community? Why should they trust you to teach them this?
As for how to convey your message – first focus on who you’re trying to attract, and then figure out what method of communication would be the most efficient – flyers? Email? Social media? Television? Radio? Advertisements?
Can you think of a name for a gym that is upstairs (20 Stairs to be exact) and downtown in a small town. We would like more of a masculine name and one quick word, well two at the most. The room looks like a loft with top of the line equipment in it. Really nice laid out and design. Very private and airy – lots of windows. Hope my description helps. It is used mostly by professional females but we would like to attract more males. Thanks for your time. Meet you at …….
###
Jay’s Answer: Given the information you provided, here are some suggested names:
As far as the names you’ve chosen, without understanding more about your target market, demographic, unique selling proposition (USP), competition, etc. – all I can do is guess. And a guess does not truly benefit your business goals.
Names are also a tricky balance. You can pick something straightforward (“Karen & Joe’s Gym”) – it might be boring, but it’s obvious what you’re offering. Or, pick something clever-sounding (“Fat Shed”) and then spend time/money explaining what it is you offer (perhaps with an associated tagline and/or supplementary marketing materials).
Names don’t matter as much as you think – it’s the experience that matters. A name might be easier to spell/remember, but if the feel isn’t right, all the work you spend on a name is wasted time/energy.
That’s why I strongly urge my clients to focus first on their business/marketing strategy. After that’s nailed down, work on the naming, since all the information you need to evaluate the “right” name will come from this document.
I will be opening an Endodontics practice (Dental specialist in root canals), and have been stumped for an extremely long time trying to come up with a name. I would like to avoid the commonly used strategy of either using my own name or a geographic name/area. Ideally, I want a clever but not childish/unprofessional name that I could somehow tie in some sort of story or explanation to the front page of the website. Given that root canals generally have a bad reputation from the get-go, I am looking for something that tends to be positive and comforting as we are often dealing with the relief of pain and infection. A bonus would be something that was memorable, easy to say, as few syllables as possible, and has the word “Endodontics” in it somewhere.
###
Jay’s Answer:
I’m a young lady who wants to start an events management company specialising in wedding events. i need a catchy tag line for my company ‘makoti wedding parlour’ and makoti is a ndebele term for a bride. thank you.
###
Jay’s Answer: Rather than try something “catchy” I suggest you pick a tagline that effectively describes what you offer. Ideally, you’d put something in your tagline that indicates how you’re different/better than other wedding event planners. For example, you could specialize in weddings in a region, weddings for young people, second weddings, religious weddings, mixed cultural weddings, etc. The reason you want to identify a specific niche you serve is that you want to be seen as the clear best choice for a specific type of wedding (we all know that you can’t do everything well – so instead, showcase what it is you do best).
Here are some suggested taglines to get you thinking:
Photo by Craig Finlay
In a recent interview for Life & Style Magazine, Simon Cowell said that “he would have kicked Lady Gaga off the American Idol stage if she’d auditioned for the talent show before becoming a superstar”. Whether or not you’re a fan of Simon Cowell or Lady Gaga is immaterial – what’s important to notice is that a person who’s an expert at spotting talent wouldn’t have spotted her. If you’re looking for marketing advice for your business, be careful who you ask.
If you’re simply trying to evolve your marketing by doing such things as: improved website SEO, an updated logo, new business cards, a better newsletter, etc. – then by all means talk to the experts. They’ve seen lots of businesses like yours, and know which changes to your marketing can result in big results to your bottom line. Their advice will give you a needed reality check and you’ll understand which changes make sense, and why.
However, if you’re doing something revolutionary, then be prepared to hear a lot of people try to dissuade you from taking action. They might mean well, but if you’re doing something truly new/different, then the experts might not be the best judge of your plans. By all means, consult with them to understand where your ideas diverge from the commonly held best practices. Then, test out your different ideas yourself on your target market. Be prepared for a lot of confused people. But be ready for those that “get it” – they understand what vision you’re painting.
Evolution is easy. Revolution is hard and risky. Make sure you understand your goals and then use the right tools to achieve them.
Photo by JD Hancock
If you’re giving an instructional talk, you need to position yourself as an guru, someone who knows all and sees all to make your audience trust in you. But positioning yourself in this way will limit your ability to give a speech with passion, something that is remarked upon, remembered, and shared.
When you first start speaking in public, you’ll likely to feel comfortable talking more about what you know (your self) and less about what your audience is interested in (your content). You’ll soon realize that people invested their time and money to listen to your wisdom, and you’ll quickly remove your personal stories from your presentation to get to the “next level” of speaking.
The next level of speaking is all about your information. It’s packed with great tips and techniques that you’ve learned by doing and researching. You’ve got a lot of great set of slides that highlight your points. Perhaps you’ve even taken an extra step of finding stories about people who followed your advice and seen the results of your wisdom for them selves. This type of speech is likely to be fundamentally useful, but not memorable (except for those that came to learn specific academic techniques).
The highest level of speaking is about sharing your information, but in a way that’s memorable. And to do this, you need to go back to your roots. Why is what you’re sharing personally interesting to you? What excites you day-to-day in doing this work? What personal challenges have you faced trying to implement these ideas (both failure and success)?
Ultimately, people aren’t really interested in learning something new. People crave vicarious experiences. They want to see the world through others’ eyes and be excited to feel what they feel. To speak with passion, you need to be vulnerable. Don’t try to be a superhuman speaker (with no flaws). Be a super human speaker (who is believable). Share your passion, and let feeling imbue your presentation.