Don’t overuse your company’s brand names

A common error in web content is to overuse your company’s ‘brand names’ instead of a clear description of what’s on offer.

When I say brand names, I’m talking about all those names of schemes, services and products someone in your organisation has come up with.

Examples of meaningless brand names

Here are some great examples from the world of local government:

• Local Offer
• Friendly Village scheme
• MiWifi
• KickStart scheme
• Access to Sport

For most companies, it’s better to tell the user, in clear language, what you’re talking about.

Users are far less likely to understand what your brand names are about than they are to understand a plain English description of what’s on offer.

When I used to work in local government, these brand names were all over the place. One organisation had two different schemes called Get Active, and for a while nobody noticed.

The problem with brand names

The problem is, if you create a web page called ‘Get Active scheme’ or something similar, nobody’s really going to know what the page is about.

OK, they’ll know it’s something to do with getting active. But who’s it for? What type of activity is it about? Is it about discounted exercise, or group classes, or coaching over an app? The name simply doesn’t tell you.

Brand names in page titles

This is particularly true in web page titles, because these need to answer two main questions: what’s it about, and who is it for? I write more about this in Web page titles: 5 simple rules.

Brand names can be clever. They sometimes involve a pun or play on words. They might sound quite snazzy. But usually, they don’t convey clearly what it is and who it’s for.

Brand names don’t help the user

When I’m working on web content, I like to think that I’m solving a problem for the user.

They’ve come here looking for something, and the language I use needs to show the user quickly if they’re in the right place. If they are, they can carry on reading. If they’re not, they can leave and get on with their task elsewhere.

If you want to create content that helps users get their job done, be wary of using your company’s brand names.