Two headlines in the “Home” section of my local newspaper caught my eye the other day: “Natural floors can be knotty and nice” and “Serving cheese with ease.” Both headlines involve enjoyable wordplay of the sort that could easily figure in business names or tag lines. I can imagine “KnottyandNice.com” as the domain name for a wooden items crafts shop, and “Cheese with ease” as the tag line for a cheese lovers’ online community.
So I went looking for some tips on writing news headlines, thinking they might offer valuable insights for naming, too. After all, news editors need to come up with informative, catchy headers numerous times every workday.
Even more challenging, their headers need to fit the available space. They need to be able to condense or stretch an idea’s expression, depending on how many columns an article spreads across.
My Google search didn’t quickly turn up any such tips, though. Maybe headline writing is an art passed on in secret by grizzled, ink-stained veterans during the midnight shift.
Nevertheless, by pondering a couple of dozen headlines, I was able to observe several key points.
1. Newspaper headline writers collect short, vivid verbs, such as “mines” (“Obama mines small, red states”), “stirs,” “pushes,” “clings,” “set,” “edges,” “sparks,” “tosses,” “sees,” “OKs” and much more. Not only can headlines with verbs tell a complete story, they convey energy.
Because verbs are frequently overlooked as an element in naming, these punchy little words can help you come up with a trademarkable name or a free domain in a competitive industry.
2. Long, vivid words can also come in handy. In the headline “Super Bowl party can be gastronomical success,” the word “gastronomical” rescues the line from dullness. It’s a wonderful word that could be tweaked in a zillion creative ways for a company name or tag line.
The lesson: long, vivid words can help you convey a complicated idea concisely, as long as your average customer has an inkling of their meaning.
3. Short, vivid words come in useful, too. Take a look at the word “ire” in the headline “Delay in polar bear decision draws ire of Senate.” This is another kind of word that most people understand yet probably wouldn’t think to use.
4. Combined cleverly, ordinary words can please inordinately. Besides the rhyme in “cheese with ease” and the homonym in “knotty and nice,” I also found “Hoops and hollers” atop a photo of kids cheering at a basketball game, which illustrates alliteration – the repetition of initial letters or sounds.
Another headline, “Bush comes clean with former addicts,” used an expression with two meanings that both tie in with the subject matter – George W. Bush talking openly about his former drinking problem.
All in all, your newspaper can serve as a source of instruction and inspiration for naming. Just make sure you screen out bloopers like these, which have actually appeared in newspapers:
Author’s Note: This article published here.
…
Marcia Yudkin is Head Stork of Named At Last, a company that brainstorms creative business names, product names and tag lines for clients. For a systematic process of coming up with an appealing and effective name or tag line, download a free copy of “19 Steps to the Perfect Company Name, Product Name or Tag Line” at http://www.namedatlast.com/19steps.htm
Read more articles written by Marcia Yudkin
Related posts:
- Company or Product Naming: 7 Ways to Add Pizzazz to a Boring Business Name
You’re starting a new company, launching a new product or trying to inject pizzazz into an existing company or product that seems way too boring and ordinary. Try these 7 techniques to shape the basic facts about your business into a name with energy and zing. The examples we’ll use... - 19 Rules For Writing Killer Headlines
Following are 19 rules you can use to write headlines that will reach out and force the prospect to read your website and sales letter. 1. Your headline must offer something that your target market wants very badly. 2. Your headline must include something of self interest to the reader.... - Naming Your Business: Five Hidden Pittfalls of Using Creative Spelling in Your New Company Name
If you’ve ever run across the old joke that “fish” should actually be spelled “ghoti” (“gh” as in “tough,” “o” as in “women” and “ti” as in “nation”), then you won’t be surprised to know that many companies put this quirk of the English language to work by concocting an... - Business Lessons from the Soccer World Cup
Ok, let’s talk about the World Cup. If anyone got up early on Monday morning to watch the match between Australia and Germany, you no doubt walked away disappointed with the end result. But full credit to the German team – they really were brilliant and obviously the deserving winners.... - For Snazzier New Product Names, Use Creative Naming Prompts
Participants in my product development seminar recently asked me for a brainstorming session to help them come up with creative names for information product packages – multi-format products and services that might include a manual, CDs, coaching or consulting and other items. Here are the questions I posed for this... - Write Winning Headlines While You Sleep?
Want to get an extra 6-8 hours of productivity every day? Then try this little trick… Every night before you go to sleep, ask for an idea. For instance, if you are writing an advertisement, say to yourself… I really need an idea for this headline. And then forget about... - The #2 Most Common Mistake In Naming a New Company or New Product
Most of the time, business owners and organizational marketers look for a new company name or new product name that seems to get the job done. That’s unwise because they don’t take the time to think about possible shortcomings of the name they settle on. Instead, those shortcomings emerge over... - Frequent Mistake #3 While Naming a New Company or New Product
“Your business name must be bold.” Look around the Internet, and you’ll often find this advice. Your business name must grab people’s attention. Sometimes this is a valid guideline, especially if you are in the entertainment, gadget or fashion industries. Too often, however, I see this rule lead business owners... - Top Mistake #1 When Naming a New Company or New Product
Bear with me, because when I tell you the number one mistake people make when selecting a name for their new company or new product, you are going to be surprised. Ready? The top mistake in choosing a name is deciding on the name you like best. That very obvious-sounding... - Tips For Naming A Baby, When You Want To Be Surprised By The Baby’s Sex
In recent years, with the availability of inexpensive ultrasound procedures, it seems that all soon-to-be parents are racing to have an ultrasound done to learn the sex of their unborn baby. However, many new parents still prefer finding out the sex of their new baby on his or her birthday.... - Lessons From Sport and Alan Jones
I was flicking through the newspaper on the weekend when I came across an article about Alan Jones. The article covered a number of things, but there were a couple of things which stood out. 1. He always tries to empty his head so he is ready for the next,... - SEO Lessons from Local Businesses
More than once in the six years that I have been providing SEO services for websites, I have had the opportunity to discuss with individual business owners their search engine optimization needs. Now and again, I run across an individual business owner who is quick to say that SEO is... - Lessons from Authentic Marketing
I’ll be honest with you from the get-go: I cancelled the Focus on Marketing class. Although some of you stepped forward to take me up on the haggling, the class wasn’t full, and it didn’t feel right to me. I want to explain my experiences here, because this is of... - Your New Business Name: Three Problems That Could Spell Trouble
When I interviewed a gardening specialist years ago for a story unrelated to gardening, she used a phrase to illustrate one of her points that I just couldn’t understand. It sounded like “squash vine bores,” and I had to ask her to repeat it three times because I couldn’t settle... - Understanding Connotations in Tag Lines, Business Names and Monikers
The following closer on an email was meant to clinch my interest in an information product, but it did the opposite: “I would love for you to experience the same kind of worldwide notoriety my clients have enjoyed for years.” As a professional word person, I knew instantly that this...