Does your brand’s blog need a name? The case for and against branding your blog

What’s in a name, anyway? Shakespeare would have us believe that “a rose by any other name would smell as sweet,” but that was before brands and brand preferences divided the world. Coca-Cola vs. Pepsi. Home Depot vs. Lowe’s. Target vs. Walmart. You know the big rivalries. In fact, a brand is not just a name, though that name elicits plenty of word associations. Brands conjure instant associations with values, images, products—but most importantly, emotions and content.

This isn’t an article advising you to relaunch what your brand name is. We’re not going to tell you to change your brand name from Time.ly to T.i.me.ly or some other URL spelling. No, what we—and plenty of other brands—want to know is this: does your blog need a name? We present the cases for and against naming your brand’s blog. (Don’t know what we mean? Keep reading.)

The case against naming your brand’s blog

Why wouldn’t you brand your blog with a name? There are plenty of reasons, but the first may sound counterintuitive: there may be no reasoning to name your blog. Or perhaps there is no strategy or purpose to naming your blog.

Part of creating effective content marketing and branding is being strategic. Just like with content, there needs to be a purpose and reasoning behind all of your actions. Slapping a name onto your brand’s blog just to have a name may seem more trouble than it’s worth if:

• A brand’s content efforts are nascent and/or modest
• A brand wants a stronger association between blog content and their brand

Let’s tackle this logically. The “point” of content marketing is to create content to attract people to your brand. Many brands name their blogs once they have a clear identity, voice, content production, audience, and readership in mind. When a brand names a blog, it effectively becomes a branded publication, which is a daunting task for brands just starting to make a name for themselves. And if they’re trying to make a name for themselves, what’s the strategy behind using another name? If a brand can answer that question, great. Pass Go and collect $200. But if not, don’t name your brand’s blog.

Brands with more established content marketing efforts may read the paragraph above and feel like they have the green light. We have all of those things! Let’s name our blog! But that brings us to the next point: once you’ve made a name for your content, you might want to keep that name. This usually depends on whether the brand is B2B or B2C. For example, B2B brands who create more thought leadership pieces often do not brand their blogs because they want to be known as thought leaders. Additional branding may confuse readers.

Overall, if a brand does not have a clear reasoning for why they should name their blog something else, then they should hold off on it. But if there is a reason…

The case for naming your brand’s blog

If a brand wants to name their blog, they better have a strategic reason behind it. Whether that’s to create multiple branded publications or to distinguish branded content from competitive verticals, that reason must be clear and well understood.

Generally, brands like to name their blogs if they seek to create:

• A branded publication
• Multiple branded publications and content properties

A branded publication is simply a cohesive collection of editorial content from a brand. It doesn’t have to be packaged for an exclusive print magazine like Airbnb’s Pineapple and United Airline’s Rhapsody; it can exist solely online like Reddit’s Upvoted, and Birchbox’s The Magazine; or it can be a blend of the two, like Red Bull’s The Red Bulletin. These publications represent a subsidiary of a larger brand, but stand on their own editorial merit and integrity.

Some brands even have multiple branded publications. Adobe owns Behance, which is responsible for the creative professional blog 99u; Adobe also has blogs across verticals. Contently has The Content Strategist and The Freelancer. Naming and branding these publications can help a brand create tons of content with different editorial, voices, and identities, all while being under the umbrella of a different brand.

If your brand is looking to create a hub of content, branding your blog(s) can go a long way—as long as you know why your brand’s blog is expanding.

If branding your blog aligns with your content marketing goals, go for it. If you are to name your blog, you’ll often have to brand your blog as well for consistency. You may need to redesign your blog’s site, your editorial voice, and even your blog’s identity. But remember that choosing a name for your blog is like choosing a name for your child; it needs to represent who you are and who your child will be. Substitute “you” for “brand” and “child” for “blog” and you get the idea.

A good branded name for your blog is:

• Readable
• Pronounceable
• Memorable
• Concise
• Unique
• Descriptive
• Consistent
• Direct
• Metaphorical
• Representative

Need a few examples? Red Bull’s The Red Bulletin does a great job of checking off these boxes while also using some fun word play. Reddit’s Upvoted is a direct line between Reddit’s product and community. Frank & Oak’s magazine Oak Street is representative of their brand (located on Oak Street) and is memorable. Meanwhile, Birchbox’s The Magazine sounds vague, like it can’t stand on its own without Birchbox in the title.

So does your brand’s blog need a name? Answer: that depends on whether you can justify why it does.