Would you like the name of your event make readers press the “Participate” button in their brain? We'll help you make the right choice!
To start, let's recall a few sayings from some of the greats in the world of advertising:
“Choosing a name is the most important decision in a business.” (Kotler).
“Getting attention from the first frame with visual surprise increases your chances of retaining the viewer.” (David Ogilvy)
All of these quotes say one thing: Any name should immediately attract attention and “stick”.
Steps in choosing a name for an online event
Schematically, the development of a successful name for an online event would look like this:
PREPARATION → TITLE SELECTION → TITLE CHECK
It's worth emphasizing that when you come up with a name for an online event, you are working on both the visual perception of the name and how it will be pronounced and heard. These two points, visual and verbal, should always be paid attention to.
Remember that the name of an online event also includes a subtitle and promotional text for it.
Preliminary work on choosing a name for an online event
Let's start with a few important pre-preparation steps:
- Analysis of the potential audience of the event, studying its characteristics and needs. Answer the question “What is your audience?”, Explore its demographic and psychological parameters. Answer the question “What is the benefit and benefit for your audience of an online event?”
- An analysis of the future online event, highlighting the main topics and characteristics, key partners and sponsors. What innovations and exclusives are you going to offer? Which partners and sponsors should notice and hear you?
- Determine the format of your online event. A major online trade show is significantly different from a one-day workshop. Such a seminar can be called simply, informative and accessible. A major online event, some kind of annual online exhibition should be named brightly and spectacularly.
- The time frame for holding an online event. Will it be an annual event? Such an important parameter as the time interval and its frequency directly affect the choice of name.
- Studying competitors and their similar online activities. An excellent selection of clues will give you a look at the names of events similar to yours that exist in your niche. Which of them are the most popular? What titles are attractive? Why do you like these titles? Why did they interest you? Answering these questions will help you move in the right direction when writing your own unique name.
- Title pre-check. From an SEO point of view, you need to check the availability of the URL using Google Domains or Name.com. Usually, if a name is already taken, the search engine will offer you similar options, and this can also be a great help for new ideas.
Basic rules for choosing a name for an online event
- Determine the style of the message. Everything here will directly depend on the theme of the event and the audience that you are going to attract. The three-day online comedy events are very different from the one-day technical copywriting workshop, so the styles in the titles of the two events will be completely different.
- Select the language of the title. The language used in the title of the online event should be related to the main idea being broadcast. For example, using a foreign language to host an exhibition dedicated to national unity or national products is not a good idea.
- Pay attention to the number of words in the title. The title should not be long and cumbersome, even if you are going to organize a scientific conference for nuclear physicists. The rule “No more than ten words in the title” always works. Stick to it.
- Generate options. Brainstorm, connect your audience with contests for the best name, hand out questionnaires to your employees to identify the best name that professionals like the most.
- Choose one primary criterion, the accent used in your title. It can be a title with an emphasis on the target audience. If an online event is created for the needs of a narrowly focused audience, note this in the title. Use a name that focuses on getting results, a name that focuses on participating in an exciting (unique, relevant) event, and so on. Find your unique criteria.
Choosing a name for an online event from a marketing point of view
- Originality of the title. Your title should stand out, even if you're hosting a one-day online seminar for librarians.
- Simplicity and conciseness. The title should not use complex terms, very long and difficult to pronounce words, cliché words and scientific terms should be avoided. And remember: “An overabundance of information creates an attention deficit” (Herbert Simon).
- Descriptiveness of the name. The name of the online event should not raise additional questions, puzzle or make you look for additional information on the topic.
- Using numbers in the title. The value of the purchased product must be easily and convincingly proved. It is possible to use short reviews of consumers, especially public figures, use quantitative evidence, examples with percentages, use the experience of a company with a long history to convince. Also, replacing a word with a number improves the "comprehensibility" of the name.
- A promise to solve a customer's problem. First, you use some kind of exciting signal - this is an instant attention to the problem of the buyer. And then an inspiring description of how to solve the problem. You can use rhetorical questions, create a short mini-drama, during which your client goes from an anxious state due to the lack of something important to him to a state of joy, because you give him what he needs. Short stories and puns will all work.
- Virality. Using words that always get attention: children, family, children, scandal, self-esteem, sex, food, death, danger, and so on. Weaving these words into the name of an online event will automatically attract attention.
- The human condition. The use of basic human states also reinforces the impact of your online product name on human attention. To do, to become, to have, or to be are a few basic states that can be combined with the theme of the event in a variety of ways. Examples: “Become an online business guru in 7 days” or “Secrets of successful online exhibitions. Become a professional by taking our course."
- The promise of gain and relief from pain. Consider whether your online event title refers to the customer's pain. Is the name unique in terms of proof of benefit, does the name of the online event make a strong case for purchasing the product as a solution to the problem.
- Positive meaning and reference to eternal values. “In fact, due to changes in the internal and external environment, online consumers buy Internet products not only to meet functional needs, but also tend to seek cultural, emotional and symbolic meanings contained in the products themselves, which determines that the semantics of the product helps to improve the cultural food consumption” (Li et al., 2018). Eternal values of culture and beauty, comfort and hedonism, leadership and primacy, health and longevity. Broadcasting such meanings about culture or beauty affects a person unconsciously, and he becomes more favorable to acquiring your service.
Online event titles as a good title
In advertising, there are a whole set of rules for creating a competitive name. These rules came from the field of journalism, where it is very important to come up with a bright and catchy headline for an article. These literary and stylistic devices for creating names are a powerful practical base to help anyone who is working on finding a good name.
Below is a list of the most popular techniques for creating online product names for you:
- Question as a heading form. Such a name always attracts attention, as it makes the human brain automatically think, stop attention on the question, try to generate an answer.
- Using a list in the header. Clearly structures and distributes meanings, gives the most detailed information in a concise version.
- A pun is a play on words and meanings to create a humorous effect. With this technique, you can beat the name of the product or its properties.
- The device of the absurd is the contrast between two situations: the inappropriateness between the subject under consideration and the context in which it looks ridiculous and, for comparison, the reduction of another context, where the subject under consideration is the leader, number one in its field. This technique of absurdity well emphasizes the importance of the advertised subject in its field.
- A quotation is a well-known, well-known quotation from popular songs, movies, television programs, or works of art. It carries a very powerful cultural message, unity with a certain culture. If you use elements of pop culture, then this option can be very successful. Elements of mass culture can always be played with interest or humor, this option will be understandable and accessible to the majority.
- Allusion is one of the valuable advertising techniques, which consists in the use of cultural fragments that evoke a certain emotion. These are, as a rule, the titles of movies, works of art, lines from popular songs. The main feature and difference from the technique described above is the emphasis on the emotion caused by the element of mass culture.
- Epiphora is the repetition of words and expressions, the last parts of a sentence, to enhance the effect of the conveyed meaning or the emotional color of the message being conveyed. “Not just state-of-the-art, state-of-the-art online conferencing technology.”
- Metaphor is the use of words and expressions in a figurative sense. It increases the expressiveness of any name, compactly packs several meanings into a concise phrase and is very well remembered.
- Gradation is a sequence, gradualness in the transition from one to another, usually on the rise. For example, age gradation, color gradation. Synonyms - gradual increase, strengthening.
- A paraphrase is an allegory. For example, the Moon is a night light. Or “Our online platform is a set of useful tools for creating your ideal online exhibition.”
- Rhyme is easy to understand and remember. Rhyming makes it easier to understand the meaning.
- Alliteration is the repetition of identical or homogeneous consonant sounds in a segment of text.
- Antithesis is a technique based on the opposition of comparable concepts implemented at the level of a phrase, sentence, phrase.
- Winged sayings are stable, aphoristic, as a rule, figurative expressions that have come into speech from literary, artistic, journalistic and philosophical, folklore and other sources.
- Composition is a way of word formation when two or more complete words (or stems) are combined into a single complex, the so-called compound word.
Testing and reviewing your title for an online event
When checking your online event name, consider the following points:
- Adaptability to other languages, ease of translation. The name should have a positive visual and auditory effect both in the main language of the online event and in the foreign languages planned for use. Translation into another language should not cause difficulties in finding a foreign equivalent. You also need to make sure that the translation word in another language does not contain additional unpleasant meanings.
- Checking for abbreviations and abbreviations. This is what every event organizer does when they come up with a name. Check for any potential abbreviation of your name, look for initials, and check for any slang, abbreviation or shorthand. Your name should not sound ridiculous in any of the options.
- Checking for possible negative associations and double meanings for a certain group of people. Will your title be translated into other languages? What languages do you plan to translate into? You need to make sure that the meaning of the name in your language remains the same for an audience speaking another language. Is there any offensive or derisive connotation in the words you have chosen for people who grew up in a different socio-cultural environment?
- Checking for euphoniousness of the name, spectacular visual impression and pleasant, light sounding of the name of the online event. There are certain combinations of sounds and words that have a beneficial effect on a person's hearing.
- Check for uniqueness. After you have decided on the name, you need to double-check on the Internet that your name is not being used. That your name and your event will not be confused with a similar or similar one. You need to make sure again that you are not violating anyone's copyright.
Intuitively choose the best name for your online event. But remember that at the right time, it is imperative to involve specialists in choosing a creative and unique name. For help and more detailed advice, you can always contact us! On the Onlineexpo platform, you can organize and conduct online and hybrid events of any complexity!
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