Alisha Shibli is a Senior Content Marketing & Communication Specialist at Radix, the world's largest new domains registry that owns and operates new domain extensions such as .TECH, .STORE, .ONLINE, .FUN, and more.
As an industry racing to define the future, the short-term success of product marketing often steals the broader focus from the slower wheel of brand development. It’s easy to see why.
Developing a deeper story, overarching relationship with the audience, and the overall big picture seems less important, especially considering the rising competition. But it’s important.
According to statistics, worldwide spending on technology reached $3,360 billion in 2019. 50% of tech growth worldwide is because of emerging technology such as IoT software and hardware, AR/VR, SaaS+PaaS, robotics, AI, big data, and next-gen security.
In fact, not too long ago, in 2016 Interbrand survey showed that tech companies occupy half of the top 24 brands. Apple and Google were at the 1st and 2nd place with Facebook and Amazon not too far behind in their report of top growing brands.
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Why innovation is needed in tech branding techniques
Your tech startup branding strategy, at the least, deserves as much prominence as the development of your tech. These are three reasons it is important to focus on building a tech brand:
Competitive advantage
Strong brands build a protective fortress around your product. They allow you to achieve differentiation from your competitors in a way that goes beyond just copying your product features.
High-quality traffic and improved conversion
A brand that is in touch with its customers renders a concrete benefit of direct and referral traffic famously known as word-of-mouth. This is traffic you don’t have to pay to acquire. The source and authenticity of such referrals also help brands see higher conversion rates. A good example of this would be soda brands. Coke and Pepsi are one of the first to come to mind followed by a handful of other brands.
Loyalty and repurchase
Have you ever deliberated buying something and thought, well my friend bought is and they were satisfied, so even though it’s a bit costly I’ll go with it? Users with an implicit trust in your brand will convert readily. Your brand promise alleviates this ease in decision making.
The benefits of building a brand are wholesome, but the hurdle is making peace with the long-term process which isn’t as quick as a feature launch or an AB test. Therefore, tech entrepreneurs with a short-term focus tussle to rationalize long-term investments.
But the brands who made that investment ended up with a brand promise that was unmistakably clear. Here are some examples:
- Microsoft Business empowers businesses to take advantage of a rapidly developing world of digital technology.
- Google promises to organize the world’s information to make it accessible to all.
- AT&T promises to perfect customer experience and satisfaction.
Strategically, your branding strategy will form the nucleus that supports everything you do with your brand in the future. So, how to make it a good one?
Domain names as a branding tool
As someone in the tech business, you understand the importance of getting the details right. Your domain name is one such important detail. They are much more than a mere web address. A well-thought-out domain name can be the differentiating factor between creating a successful brand or getting lost in the vast cyberspace.
A great domain name for your tech business will have these two key aspects:
Searchable
This refers to the SEO principles that you must address. A domain name with the right keywords allows you to maximize your search engine performance. With voice search gradually taking the lead, your domain name must be something that can be easily understood by Alexa or Siri or Cortona.
Marketable
Your domain name must connect with your prospective audience and aptly reflect what your brand stands for.
What makes for a brandable domain name?
A domain name that can be used for branding is:
- Short, pronounceable, and easy to remember
- Devoid of any hyphens, numbers, or misspellings (unless you have a brand name that’s often misspelled, then you could consider registering multiple options and redirecting them all to the primary address)
- Free of any legal hassles (trademark/copyright)
- Descriptive of your business and industry
- Innovative
5 ways tech brand can stand out in their branding
Tech startups are known for their pioneering solutions and innovative products. And if you’re a tech startup, you’re probably wondering what domain name would be worthy of the innovation you proffer.
With hundreds of new domain extensions now at your disposal, you can get creative with your name choices. However, this creativity goes beyond opting for goofy names. Tech startup founders are shifting from choosing outlandish names to names that clearly explain what they do.
Example of such simple and evocative domain names are:
- www.shadow.tech
- www.brilliant.tech
- www.decision.tech
- www.pragmatic.tech
Towards this, listed below are five reasons to help you understand why you should also opt for a short and memorable name on relevant new domain extensions to better brand your tech startup.
Exact match names
How many tech startups do you know that can say that their brand name is exactly the same as their domain name? With new domain extensions such as .tech, there is a high probability of securing a brand/domain name that aligns with your business and its ideologies. For example, a brand name could be Drive On Tech and its subsequent domain name could be www.driveon.tech.
A better reflection of your technology background
Using a short, sharp, and substantive name on a related domain extension is a clever way of demonstrating who you are and what you do. Furthermore, an astute online identity can help you build a viable brand. For example, if your tech startup is fronted with a .tech domain extension, any user who comes across it will know what your business is about.
Slick brand positioning
Effective positioning is half the battle triumphed when it comes to branding. And a relevant domain name does exactly that for your brand. A web address such as www.thewomen.store suggests that it’s an eCommerce business dedicated to women or www.newoffice.tech establishes that you provide tech for offices.
This is positioning done right.
Strong tech brand
Access to names on new domain extensions implies that you can obtain a short, noteworthy, and pertinent name on a relevant domain extension – qualities that make a nifty brand. One-word domain names that are simple and lacking any grammatical flaws, special characters or numbers make for a spectacular online identity.
For instance, www.insight.tech, and www.mondial.tech, www.brilliant.tech are a few great examples of brandable online identities.
Competitive advantage
The chief purpose for any business is to vanquish the competition and strike as an authority in a niche. While delivering an unequaled care competency and contributing innovative products in the tech space is important, picking a smart domain name that demolishes clichés and appropriately markets those products is equally important.
Because a domain name is the first touchpoint between your startup and anyone your user who comes across it.
The importance of branding
There’s a silver lining to the fact that tech startups tend to underestimate branding. It means that by shaping yours, you can acquire an edge on your competitors.
As a tech startup founder, step back from the lemming rush on the short term and reflect on what you do and why (your vision). Ensure that every detail about you is unique, something that most others in your space are missing out on.
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