Tip #14: Sum up your brand.

Tasked with helping to name a new product, I googled for advice and found the brand naming specialists at namebase -- the folks behind AAdvantage, Fruitopia and WebSphere (among other notables).

The namebase philosophy is to sum up the essence of a brand in one word. They say naming a product is the most important marketing decision you make. No pressure.

Further research reinforced my notion that a product name and tagline should work together to tell people what it does, how it's unique, and how it benefits users -- all in 12 words or less.

Armed with a thesaurus and a list of words that describe our product's purpose and promise, I jotted down some ideas, then checked each name to see if it was in use (confirming that there is no such thing as a new idea).

The client will ultimately choose from among a few of the best options. Will the final choice sum up their brand and launch the product into stardom? That remains to be seen.