I am currently reading a great book on the 22 Immutable Laws of Branding. I will post a full review of this book when I am done. One of the chapters talks about how every business should own a word and build their brand around it.
The book provide the example of Mercedes and how they own the word prestige. When you do think about it Mercedes is well known for being a social status of prestige. Another example is FedEx which owns the word overnight. If you need a package delivered over night the first company that comes to mine is FedEx.
Can you think of any other companies that own a word?
With this idea in mind I have been mulling around with what word we can own at BlueFur.com. The word I always think of when it comes to BlueFur.com is innovative. We are always looking at providing innovative solutions that no other hosts are providing. For example we provide free automated backup software, powerful email marketing software and a unique failover solution for business sites.
We are also looking for new ways to continue to be innovative. We are the only host to have a social group programming site, provide a PHP 5 toggle script for cPanel switch and to blog on a daily basis. From some of my previous posts this week you can see we are working on introducing SaaS and VPS servers that again will push the level of innovation in the hosting industry.
These are just some of the reasons that innovation comes to mind for me.
What word comes to mind for you that BlueFur.com could own?
Peter
October 16, 2007 6:42 pm
When I’m looking for a host for a client, I’m not necessarily wanting anything innovative. I’m looking for robust, reliable hosting and good customer service. Yes, BlueFur offers innovative services, but I don’t know if that should be the main marketing focus — unless your target market is one that values innovation above all else.
You have a friendly and robust looking mascot, which aligns with the quality of your hosting and customer service. So maybe go with the brand you have already been building and add to that.
The word innovative implies experimental to some degree, which is not necessarily reliable. It becomes reliable after a lot of use and fine-tuning. But by then it’s not quite so innovative anymore. So the word innovative may actually be counter-productive for overall BlueFur branding.
If you could find a word, however, that means both reliable and innovative, that might be good.
Matt
October 17, 2007 8:31 pm
I’d say BlueFur is both innovative and reliable. They test out new things on servers meant for testing and not hosting clients, and they put out all the new stuff on new servers first, and then it’ll eventually end up on the older servers if it’s working out well.
blogadmin
October 17, 2007 10:10 pm
One idea we came up with was ‘community minded’. Meaning we do have a community here with our blog and forum where we do listen and communicate with our members.