A good name is not enough: the real positioning puzzle

The most common confusion in branding

In Vietnamese, we don't yet have a word that clearly separates “naming” from “positioning.” Both are usually lumped together into one job called “building a brand.” As a result, many businesses spend money on a creative name and an impressive identity. Then they go to market expecting customers to work out for themselves who they are.

They don’t understand. Not because they haven’t seen your name, but because your name hasn’t given them a reason to choose.

Naming is the act of creating a linguistic sign: concise, pronounceable, and trademarkable. Positioning is the act of occupying a specific place in the minds of target customers. These two tasks use different tools, occur at different times, and if one is wrong, the other cannot save it.

Positioning is what you do in the minds of potential customers, not with the product.

Positioning is what you do to the mind of the prospect, not what you do to a product.

Al Ries and Jack Trout, Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind (1981)

A good name addresses the wrong problem

When a name is praised as “good,” it usually means it is memorable, sounds premium, or evokes something positive. These qualities are genuinely valuable, but they serve recognition, not positioning.

Recognition and positioning are two different questions. Recognition asks: “Who is this?” Positioning asks: “Why should I choose them?” A good name can answer the first very well. The second needs a longer story. That story must stay consistent at every customer touchpoint, from how you sell and how you pack an order to how your staff answer the phone.

The figure above shows something important: “difference” in the customer's eyes does not come from the name. It comes from the overall sense that this brand serves them in a way others cannot. That is the result of positioning, not of naming.

How positioning works in practice

Positioning is the answer to a very specific question. In the minds of target customers, what does this brand represent? And how does that differ from the nearest alternative?

This answer should not be stated once and then framed on the wall. It must be continuously expressed through the behavior of the business. Wally Olins, one of the most influential brand consultants of the 20th century, argued that a brand is essentially behavior. It is revealed through products, environments, communications, and how people are treated.

Positioning forms from the experience customers accumulate over many encounters with you. The name is just an anchor they attach that experience to.

Three symptoms of empty positioning

You may have a beloved internal name, a brand new identity system, and still lack positioning. Here are three common signs.

• Customers describe you in generic words: “reputable,” “quality,” “enthusiastic.” No one can say how you differ from your competitors beyond a vague feeling that you are “a little better.”
• The sales, marketing, and service teams each explain the product in different ways. There is no common story, only fragmented pieces.
• Conversations with potential customers often end with price comparisons. Without clear positioning, price becomes the only remaining differentiator.

None of these three symptoms can be resolved by simply giving a new name or redesigning a logo.

The correct order: strategy first, name later

The professional process does not start with brainstorming a list of names. It begins with three questions: Who does this brand serve, what pain does it solve, and why should that person trust you to do it better than existing alternatives?

Only when those three questions have clear answers can naming have criteria for evaluation. A good name in this context is one that aligns with the established positioning, not the best name in a vacuum.

Marty Neumeier, author of The Brand Gap, describes a brand as a customer's perception. That perception is created by the sum of every interaction, not by a name chosen in a single meeting. Naming is important work, but it comes last in the strategy chain, not first.

When to revisit true positioning

Not every business struggling with branding needs to rename itself. In most cases that Sinh Vũ encounters, the current name can be retained. What needs to be redone is the story behind that name.

That story includes: who this brand is specifically for, what values it represents in that person's life or work. And it must express that consistently at which touchpoints. This is the work of positioning and building a brand system, not naming.

If, after spending a budget on branding, customers still can't explain why they chose you over someone else, the question to ask is not “Is the name good enough?” The right question is “Have we truly established our positioning?”