Names have meaning

The names that we choose for our products, services, websites and anything else in our businesses are very important.  If you have a new product that you intend to bring to the marketplace, you should spend a lot of time considering possible names for the product.  Try to consider every possible negative use of the name that you choose to see if any surprises may appear up the road for you.

While the choice of a good name is very important, it is also a very basic thing as well.  It is not something that can only be handled by marketing geniuses or  Harvard Business School graduates.  Naming a product is something that can be handled by people at any level of your organization, but they just need to consider all the ramifications of the name.

People from my generation will remember an automobile manufactured by General Motors back in the 1970’s.  I am talking about the Chevrolet Nova.  The Nova did very well in North America, and in other regions.  However, when GM started marketing the Nova in South America it did not do well.  They could not figure it out.  A car that had been very successful in the USA fizzled in South America.  Why?  Well, if you asked the man on the street, the reason was the name.  Nova.  No va.  NO VA.  In Spanish, No has the same meaning as in English.  VA, though, means “Go.”  So, Nova means “it won’t go.”  Would you buy a car that won’t go?  This was a classic marketing blunder.

The reason that I thought of this topic comes from a new product on the market here in the Philippines.  Actually, I believe it has been on the market in other countries for some time, but was just recently introduced in the Philippines.  I am talking about Coke Zero.  It is a new flavor of Diet Cola.  I understand that it was put on the market to compete with Pepsi Max.  I like Pepsi Max, and I was keen to give Coke Zero a try.

Last week I tried Coke Zero. I felt that it wasn’t very good, not much flavor.

The first thing that came to my mind - “They chose the right product name for this - Coke Zero - Zero Flavor.”

That, my friends, is a bad choice of product name for Coca Cola.

New Forum for Philippine Entrepreneurs

Just a quick post today here on Virtual Earner!

I wanted to let everybody know of a new forum that a friend of mine set up.  It’s called Angat Pinoy, and it is about being an Entrepreneur in the Philippines.

The forum is brand new, and is being run by my friend Raymond Usbal.   In addition to a great community where you can participate, Raymond is kicking things off right by giving away a prize - a Macbook!  Wow, that’s a great prize that  a lot of people will want to get their hands on!  Head over and join the contest!

Good luck with your new forum, Raymond!

Paypal update

More good news for those who want to use Paypal in the Philippines!  It seems that a lot of people are excited about this, and are figuring out ways to get full (or close to full) support on a Paypal account here in the Philippines.  You don’t need a US Bank account to withdraw cash!  Paypal also supports transferring cash to your Credit or Debit Card, if it supports the Paypal transfer.  Good news is that there are a number of card accounts that indeed support Paypal payments that are fairly easy to get in the Philippines!

For a list of accounts that you can use to access your Paypal funds, check here.

My choice will be the Eon Account from Unionbank.  I had an Eon account with them before, and it worked great.  Basically, the Eon account is a bank account that gives you a Visa Eon Card.  You access your funds by using the card at any merchant that accepts Visa, anywhere in the World, or through a Unionbank ATM machine (I assume other ATMs will work too, although I haven’t tried it).

In addition to being able to withdraw funds with the Eon card (and others listed) I am told that you can also use those cards to become verified with Paypal too!  In my opinion, with these options, it is virtually full Paypal Support now available in the Philippines.  I predict that with this development the e-Commerce economy in the Philippines will grow by leaps and bounds!