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How do you state your unique firm name in initial and subsequent references? Do you have guidelines that you’ve shared among your team? If not, establish and implement some today. Having firm-wide consistency on how you refer to your company is a small but potent way to add punch to your most memorable communications.
What are initial and subsequent references?
First, let’s define the jargon I just used. In any document, web page or PowerPoint presentation, you’ll refer to your firm name at least once, often repeatedly. The first time is the initial reference , when you’ll typically use your complete, formal name.
When you refer to your firm name again in the same piece, then what will you call yourself? These are your subsequent references. We’ll explore the possibilities below but, whatever you decide, the most important thing is to be consistent about it.
What’s it to you?
If you’re not careful about formalizing your references to your firm’s name, your staff may develop different preferences. Individual employees may be inconsistent within a single project as well as over time, from one communication to the next. The results could be a mishmash of variations on the theme, until you become the anti-Cheers, where nobody knows your name.
Bringing order to your naming style is a small-enough accomplishment, but it will help you and your firm in a number of important ways:
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Stronger brand recognition: Imagine if Coca-Cola® sometimes called itself Coke, sometimes Coca and sometimes C.C. You wouldn’t know what to reach for, so you might go with Pepsi® instead. (Or my favorite, Royal Crown Cola®.)
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Improved clarity: If most of the time you’re used to seeing “Coke Is It!” and suddenly a renegade soft drink employee decides that “Coca Is It!” the reader might not even realize these were meant to be one and the same. Inconsistency slows down reading and muddles comprehension.
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Polished professionalism: Most clients and prospects don’t notice inconsistent references, but I’ll bet you a free pop that it subtly affects their overall impression about your firm. Since it’s so easy to do it right, why dull your finish by doing it wrong?
Instead, establish a style guide. Style guides are to successful corporate communications what an investment policy statement is to a successful advisor-investor relationship. It minimizes the need to constantly revisit sound decisions already made. You make a few key decisions up front, document them, ensure everyone knows what they are and stick to them. Once you’ve got a firm-wide style guide in place, your professional communications can come together faster, easier and with improved quality, even when multiple team members are involved.
Guiding with style
Let’s take a closer look at the up-front decisions that will form your style-guide references to your firm name. For your initial reference, you’ll typically use your full, formal name. The only exception is if you’ve become so familiar to your audience that you’re a household name. Coke or IBM, for example, can get away with their shortened names from the get-go. Chances are, you cannot.
Thus the only decision on the initial reference guide is whether and when to include the suffix “LLC” or “Inc.” as applicable. Some firms always include it in initial reference in all appearances. Others may opt to include it in legal or formal documents but may omit it from materials meant to be more user-friendly. If the full, legal firm name appears in your logo along with the content, that may suffice. Or you may want to establish a “DBA” (Doing Business As) for the slightly shortened version. Your legal counsel can help you find the right balance between protecting and using your name. Defer to your counsel’s expert recommendations.
For subsequent references to your firm name, common choices include the following:
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Using a shortened version of your full name : Shortening the full name is often a great solution. For example, if your firm name were “Awesome Wealth Management Advisors, LLC,” subsequent references could be “Awesome Wealth.” By using the most important words, you retain a meaningful connection and constant reminder of your brand, without the stilted feel of an overly repeated full name.
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Using an acronym : Acronyms render your name meaningless, so I usually avoid them. Say you spend months and money establishing the perfect firm name, “Awesome Wealth Management Advisors.” In your internal communications, everyone starts using “AWMA” because it’s much faster to type. That’s fine internally, but then that same acronym begins to sneak into your public communications. To the outside world, AWMA is just four letters devoid of significance. It negates all the hard work you’ve invested in creating your true, awesome identity.
That said, acronyms have their uses. Sometimes there are too many words of equal importance in your firm name, making it impossible to shorten it in subsequent reference. For example, consider “Johnson, Smith, Monroe & Washington Wealth Advisors, Inc.” What are you going to do with that? “Johnson, Smith, Monroe & Washington Wealth” is no improvement, but neither can you start dropping out names. In this case, you and your readers may find “JSMW Wealth” more palatable.
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Repeating your full firm name every time : I don’t recommend this tactic unless your firm name is so short that there’s no need to shorten it further. An example here may be “Awesome Wealth, Inc.,” with a subsequent reference of “Awesome Wealth.”
Illuminating Your Image
It’s hard to believe I could write a thousand words about the importance of the handful that comprise your firm name. But I am reminded of one of my favorite Mark Twain quotes: “The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter – it’s the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning.”
Establishing and adhering to a few basic style guides energizes your communications and makes your firm name shine.
Wendy J. Cook is owner of Wendy J. Cook Communications, LLC, offering writing, editing, presentation and related services expressly for the fee-only, passive/DFA, Registered Investment Advisor community. Wendy helps such firms communicate their distinct messaging to clients, prospects, media and the general public using traditional and leading edge communication resources ranging from print to social media/Web and e-newsletter forums. Visit www.wendyjcook.com or www.linkedin.com/in/wendyjcook.
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