{"id":2409,"date":"2017-09-28T16:04:46","date_gmt":"2017-09-28T21:04:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.atom.com\/blog\/?p=2409"},"modified":"2022-05-16T12:50:11","modified_gmt":"2022-05-16T17:50:11","slug":"linguistic-analysis-and-why-its-important","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.atom.com\/blog\/linguistic-analysis-and-why-its-important\/","title":{"rendered":"Linguistic Analysis and Why it\u2019s Important"},"content":{"rendered":"

Electrolux once marketed its products with the line \u201cnothing sucks like an Electrolux\u201d. The Coors slogan \u201cTurn it loose\u201d became a colloquial term for diarrhea when translated into Spanish. Clairol launched a curling iron called \u201cMist Stick\u201d in Germany without realising that \u201cmist\u201d is German slang for manure.<\/p>\n

Each of these mistakes<\/a> highlights a different problem that occurred when a company failed to take linguistic analysis into consideration (and here are some more examples of company naming failures that will have you laughing out loud). Language is powerful and it\u2019s what makes us human, but it also has the potential to backfire if we\u2019re not careful when naming our products and services. This is highly important to keeping mind when it comes to how to name a business<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The truth is that taking the time to carry out linguistic analysis is one of those invisible (but important!) jobs that\u2019s designed to protect you. Your customers and other stakeholders won\u2019t even know that you did it, but they will <\/em>know that you didn\u2019t, if you make a blunder.<\/p>\n

Here are just a few of the most important reasons why you\u2019ll want to carry out linguistic analysis on your business, brand, or product name before you launch into the market.<\/p>\n

Avoid embarrassment<\/h2>\n

The naming and tagline faux pas that we included at the start of this article are just the ones that are safe for work, but the business world is rife with examples of companies who\u2019ve accidentally used taboo language and curse words in their core brand elements. People will always be people. So you can be sure that if you do make this mistake, people are going to talk about it \u2013 and they\u2019re going to have a few laughs at your expense. Remember, not all publicity is good publicity.<\/p>\n

Avoid alienation<\/h2>\n

Different demographics use language in different ways. You just have to look at how the word \u2018wicked\u2019 became a slang term for \u2018good\u2019 to see how the way we use words can change over time and how words can mean different things to different people. Some brands even go out of their way to alienate one group of people in order to gain favour with another, such as when Yorkie used the tagline \u201cit\u2019s not for girls\u201d, but this is a risky approach and can backfire. Either way, linguistic analysis will help to reduce the odds of a backlash.<\/p>\n

Avoid lost revenue<\/h2>\n

If you\u2019re unlucky enough to alienate your customers or to send the wrong messages with your brand name, you\u2019re going to pay the price in terms of lost revenue because the demographic that you\u2019ve offended, alienated, or simply embarrassed yourself with is less likely to engage with your company. And this gets worse over time when you start to factor in not just the missing revenue for every individual sale but the overall lifetime value of customers. For service-based businesses with low overall conversion rates but high individual transactions, just one lost opportunity could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.<\/p>\n

Avoid expensive rebrands<\/h2>\n

If everything does go wrong and your new name falls flat on its face, there\u2019s only one thing you can do. You\u2019re going to have to rebrand, which is an expensive and time-consuming process. Even then, there\u2019s no guarantee that the rebrand will work and that people will forget about your first attempt, which is why it\u2019s better to get it right the first time.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

(Infographic Design by Easelly)<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/h2>\n

It\u2019s pretty clear that linguistic analysis plays a vital role in the success (or failure) of any new product or initiative, and it can be useful for companies of all sizes. You don\u2019t have to be a massive multinational to make a big linguistics blunder and alienate potential customers.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, you carry out research<\/a> for every other aspect of your business, so why wouldn\u2019t you spend some time looking into language? The name that you pick has more of an impact than almost any other factor when it comes to making a first impression, so you need to get it right.<\/p>\n

Linguistic analysis will help you to do just that, and better still it has a low barrier to entry. You can conduct your own analysis easily enough by reaching out to people in your network from a diverse set of backgrounds and asking them for their feedback. If you can find people who fit your target demographic, better still!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Electrolux once marketed its products with the line \u201cnothing sucks like an Electrolux\u201d. The Coors slogan \u201cTurn it loose\u201d became a colloquial term for diarrhea when translated into Spanish. Clairol launched a curling iron called \u201cMist Stick\u201d in Germany without realising that \u201cmist\u201d is German slang for manure. Each of these mistakes highlights a different […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":2410,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[833],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nLinguistic Analysis and Why it\u2019s Important - Atom<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.atom.com\/blog\/linguistic-analysis-and-why-its-important\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Linguistic Analysis and Why it\u2019s Important - Atom\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Electrolux once marketed its products with the line \u201cnothing sucks like an Electrolux\u201d. The Coors slogan \u201cTurn it loose\u201d became a colloquial term for diarrhea when translated into Spanish. Clairol launched a curling iron called \u201cMist Stick\u201d in Germany without realising that \u201cmist\u201d is German slang for manure. 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