Hey there, fellow founder! You already understand that: Naming matters. Branding matters. And there's a ton of other important things to do as well — product stuff, making the customer experience awesome, setting up all the procedures, hiring a killer team, and yeah, diving into the SEO game. It's all crucial, right?

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Naming is foundational, branding is a big deal, and product is the star player. But seriously, where do you even start?

As young/ first-time entrepreneurs, we end up spending an ungodly high amount of time, energy, focus and money on all those things that we believe are crucial in order to get our brand going. Even then, a lot of really smart people still stumble, fumble and crumble when facing 3 key challenges. These challenges are tough for not just first-time entrepreneurs, but for a lot of seasoned entrepreneurs as well. These are:

1. What’s the priority I really need to focus on, between naming, branding, product, customer, sales, marketing, SEO, hiring, etc.?
2. What’s the goal of my Branding exercise in the early stages?
3. Where should I allocate more money? Branding vs. marketing vs. product vs. team?

Amidst this chaos, we end up choosing half-assessed, misguided priorities 💣 We end up anticipating undue results from inaccurate investments, leading to a lot of frustrations and sunk costs 🤯 But we do all of this to achieve 1 thing — establish a kickass Brand-Customer relationship ❤️

This article exists to help you sail through the fog, empower you with a perspective on priorities, and truly help you make precise, strategic decisions that give you the highest returns on your efforts. This article will help you figure out:

1. What to invest your time, energy & money on
2. What to expect from it
3. What should (and shouldn’t) be your non-negotiables

In the world of branding, distinctions matter. “Setting yourself a league apart” is the name of the game, after all. In today's dynamic and competitive business landscape, brand-distinctions play a pivotal role in capturing the market’s attention and consumer-loyalty.

However, not all brands are created equal. When it comes to brand-building (a highly risky, complicated and multifaceted challenge), it becomes necessary to know your priorities. Especially for young, early-stage, first entrepreneurs attempting to build their Brand, understand what kind of Brand becomes an “anchor” or “compass” when you already have ten-million things everyday.

This anchor or compass is key to knowing what your brand truly is.

And communicating who you truly are is the foundation of building trust with consumers. And this trust will become the lifeblood of the brand-consumer relationship.

By the end of this article, you will have a framework that helps you answer these questions (and re-answer them again the next time you’re overwhelmed by the ten-million things that you need to figure out as an early stage entrepreneur).

The 3 Distinctions

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All brands that exist on this planet can be classified into the following 3 categories:

1. Search Brands
2. Credence Brands
3. Experience Brands

These categories define the functional/material and the experiential/immaterial aspects of this relationship. Brands who fail to understand this relationship risk losing it all and slipping into obscurity.

So, in today’s branding landscape, an understanding of these 3 categories is not just an optional “hack”  – another “cool” tidbit – to know, but rather it’s a foundational necessity.

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Search Brands

Search Brands are those Brands that are primarily discovered, interacted with and understood through online/offline search engines.

For example: OnePlus boAt Lifestyle Xiaomi India Amazon Echo Dot BEWAKOOF® HRX by Hrithik Roshan GoodDot epigamia & so much more.

Key features of Search Brands include:

A. Tangible Attributes: Such brands are often associated with products or services that can be extensively researched and evaluated by consumers before making a purchase decision.

“What are the specifications of this phone?”, “Which fabric is this dress made of?”, “Can I get something with the same features but for cheaper?” are the types of questions that such brands (hope to) answer swiftly, reliably, clearly for the user.

B. Consumer Empowerment: Search Brands empower consumers by enabling them to make informed decisions through research, comparisons, and evaluations. Hence, they invest highly in creating an easy-to-navigate yet comprehensive ecosystem where consumers can access detailed product information, customer reviews, and transparent pricing.

C. Competitive Advantage: Search Brands (hope to) gain customer loyalty by repeatedly emphasising the fact that they provide customers the ability to choose products that outcompete others (in terms of quality, price etc.) Knowing that Search Brands empower them thus, consumers place their trust in such brands.

If you’re a Search Brand, what should be your Goal #1 ?

• High “searchability”, i.e., be prominently featured in search engine results, which can significantly impact brand visibility and user engagement.
• Excel in providing objective information about tangible products to your consumers.

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Credence Brands

Credence Brands operate in markets where consumers find it difficult to fully evaluate the quality & legitimacy of a product/ service. Consumers in such markets may face a lot of confusion and doubt. So, before making the purchase, consumers need reassurance that they are purchasing from a provider who is legitimate and trustworthy.

This is where Credence Brands rise to shine. They (hope to) emerge as reputable, qualified, certified providers of products/services, especially in domains where the consumer needs to know that they’re buying from someone who is reliable.

Examples of credence brands may include:

• Professional Services such as legal advice, medical treatments, or financial consulting. Consumers may not have the expertise to fully evaluate the service received.
• Health Products claiming to have long-term health benefits, especially those that are not immediately noticeable, can be considered Credence Brands.
• Educational Services that promise long-term benefits in terms of knowledge and skills development. Assessing the true value may take time, and consumers often rely on the reputation of the institution.

Mayo Clinic Apollo Hospitals, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company Limited, Tata Consultancy Services , Manipal University Jaipur are some notable examples.

Key features of Credence brands include:

1. Expertise and Authority: Credence Brands establish themselves as experts in their respective fields, showcasing specialised knowledge, certifications, and endorsements. They build trust by demonstrating competence and credibility.
2. “These people know what they’re doing, bro”, “There’s a reason they’re called the industry experts, here”, “You can trust this company”, are the kind of compliments that (good) Credence Brands earn.
3. Reliance on Trust: Credence Brands heavily depend on consumer trust and loyalty. Consumers need to believe in the brand's claims, often supported by customer testimonials, industry recognition, or long-standing reputation.
4. Risk and Uncertainty: Credence Brands operate in domains where consumers face higher risks and uncertainties. These brands alleviate concerns by emphasising their expertise and track record.

If you’re a Credence Brand, your Goal #1 should be? “Trustability” and Positive User-Experience.

• Attract & retain customers by establishing your expertise. Credence Brands should prioritise building bulletproof credibility & trustworthiness. Providing a seamless, positive user experience plays a significant role in achieving this goal.

• We live in a world where a lot of the “trustability” of a brand comes from their online presence. Hence,  quality UI-UX becomes non-negotiably important for Credence Brands.

So important is user experience that even when the service provider may be trustworthy and  “official”, a bad UX can really dampen customer trust. For example: a lot of Indian government ministries have websites that are infamous for bad UI-UX. This often makes people ask themselves “is this really the official website for [XYZ] government ministry?” More often than not, people-in-need leave the website without getting what they wanted/ needed, because they can’t simply trust that it was “an actual government website.”

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Experience Brands

Experience Brands operate in markets where consumers can easily assess the product or service quality through firsthand experience. These brands focus on delivering positive and memorable experiences to their customers, and their reputation is built on the tangible & observable aspects of the interactions that consumers have with the brand.

Example: IndiGo (InterGlobe Aviation Ltd) Cafe Coffee Day FABINDIA LIMITED (erstwhile Fabindia Overseas Pvt. Ltd.) CaratLane - A Tanishq Partnership PVR Cinemas Taj Hotels & much more.

Experience Brands aim to create emotional connections, demanding a unique brand narrative and immersive experiences.

Experience brands are characterised by:

1. Sensory & Emotional Connection: Experience brands evoke positive sense-experiences and emotions to forge strong connections with consumers. “That rooftop cafe is SO NICE! You should definitely go there for a date!”, “Their lighting and ambience is top notch!”, “Their vibe is just perfect”, are the kind of compliments that (good) Experience Brands earn. They prioritise creating immersive experiences that tap into the customers' desires, aspirations, and values.
2. Storytelling and Brand Narrative: Experience Brands leverage storytelling techniques to convey their brand essence, values, and unique selling proposition. They focus on creating compelling narratives that engage and captivate audiences.
3. Customer Engagement: Experience Brands prioritise customer engagement throughout the consumer journey, creating touchpoints that leave a lasting impression. They invest in design, aesthetics, ambiance, and customer service to elevate the overall experience.

If you’re an Experience Brand, your Goal No:1? Focus on delivering a kick-ass CX through/on your product or service.

You should invest in scalable experiences and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) before emphasising the brand and marketing efforts. This is important because Experience Brands often attract more customers via word-of-mouth. A scalable model, then, ensures a wider reach and, in turn, a larger customer-base vouching for the brand via word-of-mouth.

Mastering these distinctions for distinguished Brand Naming

In this section, we will explore how the Search/ Credence/ Experience framework can help you pick the right name for your brand. Getting your Brand Name right can give you a huge frog leap, as we have seen for brands like The Whole Truth Foods, Blinkit, Zepto, Protivore, Nuvr & more.

The Brand Type profoundly influences the Brand Name. Hence, the Brand Name should meaningfully align with the brand’s core attributes and appeal to the target audience’s preferences. If your Brand Name clashes with the type of brand you are (and the type of trust you seek to earn), then that name ends up becoming a liability rather than an asset to your brand.

Entrepreneurs who are looking for that perfect Brand Name, take note:

1. Search Brands should have a name that conveys clarity, efficiency, and relevance. Search Brand names should ideally be:- “Highly search-able”- Easy to recall, spell and pronounce- Optimised for SEO strength- Clear and relevant

What happens when you don’t keep this in mind? A funny example of this error is the YouTube channel ‘Kurzgesagt’. Since it is a Youtube channel, it relies on how “search-able” it is. And even though this channel’s content is largely appreciated by its audience,  its name is so complicated that more often than not, audiences refer to it as “that cool animation channel on YouTube … you know the one that makes really cool videos, but I can’t remember their name!”

1. Credence Brands benefit from names that evoke:- Trust- Credibility- Authority- “Official-ness”

1. Experience Brands seek names that elicit emotions, sensory appeal, and memorable interactions. Hence, an Experience Brand’s name should be saturated with:- Positive sensory and/or emotional associations- Feelings, flavour, “vibes”- A sense of enjoyment, safety, happiness, positive memories etc.

ON A FINAL NOTE

The Search/ Credence/ Experience distinctions are not watertight. Of course, UI-UX is important for Search Brands too, and SEO is important for Experience Brands as well. It’s not an “either-or” game. However, knowing which of these should be your primary focus in early stages is key to making the most effective decisions regarding Brand Name and positioning.

Which brand-type describes your brand most accurately? Let me know in the comments 👇

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If you've reached till here, all credits to Rahul C for editing this piece and making it readable 🌟