What's in a Product Name?

Anne Miller, the author of several books on sales and presentations, including Metaphorically Selling, recently published a book titled "Make What you Say Pay! The Language That Opens Minds, Closes Deals and Wows Crowds".

Ms Miller points out that When there is a point to be made, attention to be grabbed, a wish to be remembered, or an audience to persuade, the savviest people in business and in the public eye regularly reach for a metaphor to do the job. Throughout the book, Anne Miller gives numerous examples of metaphors used in business communication.

Are your site and your competitors' sites comprehensive and filled with good information? Great! You all get an “A” for Content, but, guess what? You get a “D” for Distinctiveness. Raise your Distinction quotient with a metaphor and you will spark more interest in your site and gain more business for yourself. 

If you search “presentation technology,” you will find 42,400 entries, but only one called www.yawnbuster.com. YawnBuster brings PowerPoint slides alive with various applications such as audience polls, games, group exercises, and competitions. Yawnbuster gets an audience to think, participate and identify key take-aways quickly and easily – all while having fun. The name of the site is exactly the benefit presenters seek who are afraid they will bore their audiences to death -- a happy match of metaphoric name with what the site actually does for presenters.

(Chapter 6, Stand out from the Competition, Make What You Say Pay!)

What‘s in a name? A raft of associations. Consider what Ivory soap, London Fog, Jaguar, and Cheerios mean to you, says Ms Miller.