The AI-Powered Guide to Crafting the Perfect Offer Name
So you’ve got an idea for a new offer…but what should you name it? Finding the right name can feel like a huge hurdle. (I've been there.)
Not having a name means that you can't easily talk and write about your offer. It doesn't seem completely "real" yet. Worst case, it prevents you from making meaningful progress.
So, what do you do? Wait for the Eureka moment when the perfect name suddenly reveals itself?
There's a better way…that also leverages the power of AI.
Here’s the five-step process I recently followed when we were looking for a name for our new course that will launch Black Friday.
Step #1: Prepare the context
Before you can head over to ChatGPT and let it do its magic, you’ll need to write down the basic information about your offer to give the AI sufficient context.
Here’s what I recommend capturing at the minimum (with concrete examples from our new course).
What is your offer?
a self-paced online course on the key concepts, tools, and strategies to build a strong foundation for personal productivity
the course will cover email, task management, calendar, note-taking, read-later app, and the weekly review
Who is your ideal target audience?
A student who for the first time is organizing their lives themselves away from their parents
An entry-level employee who is starting their career and needs to adapt and keep up with a demanding workplace
A parent, teacher, or educator who wishes to equip children with critical life skills as well as effectively manage their own lives
An entrepreneur, freelancer, or small business owner who is juggling multiple roles and responsibilities with limited resources
Anyone who regularly feels overwhelmed by their ever-growing to-do list and always short on time
Step #2: Brainstorm with AI
Now, let’s prompt ChatGPT (or another AI tool) to brainstorm names for your offer.
Here’s a prompt you can use:
“I’m looking to launch [offer details] for [ideal audience]. Please provide me with 10 suggestions for how to name this [type of offer].”
This is what ChatGPT came up with for our course. Not a bad start.
To refine the suggestions further, add some constraints for ChatGPT. For example:
number of words in the title
must have certain words in it (I wanted to have the word “productivity” in the name.)
should be an alliteration
should be easy to abbreviate
After a few iterations, you’ll have a shortlist of names to consider. Here was ours:
Peak Productivity Principles
Productivity Unleashed
Productivity Blueprint
Productivity Pillars
Productivity 101
Productivity Playbook
Productivity Pro
Productivity Power-Up
Productivity Powerhouse
Productivity Essentials
Step #3: Google your shortlist
Next, I googled every name on our shortlist to check what exists. If you find that a similar product has already been established under the same name, you will want to cross that name off your list (especially if said name has been trademarked). That let me instantly remove four names from the list above.
You will probably find that blog posts, books, or other types of products exist with names you’ve selected. That isn’t a bad thing because you do want to pick words that people already look for online. It shows that there’s demand! If your Google search doesn’t return anything relevant, that’s a red flag.
Pro Tip: Check a domain registry such as namecheap or GoDaddy to find out if the domain name is available too. If you want to build a website for your offer, securing the matching domain name is key.
Step #4: Refine and get feedback
By now, you should have a few solid options and it’s time to test them with your audience. For example, you could launch a poll on Twitter/YouTube Community/WhatsApp and have people vote.
Also, consider asking people 1:1 what they think of certain names, watching their first reaction and facial expressions. Friends and fellow creators can help you workshop and refine your offer name further.
Step #5: Pick a winner and move on
Eventually, you have to make a decision! Keep in mind that the name ultimately matters less than you think. And it’s not impossible to change it later. What's important now is that you pick one and move forward.
We ultimately landed on the name Pillars of Productivity for our new course because of the following reasons:
No existing course uses this name
Contains the word "productivity" for SEO purposes
Domain is available (already bought it)
Easy to abbreviate as PoP
Doesn't include the term "Second Brain," but alludes to it ("building" the "pillars")
Signals that it's the "fundamentals" for beginners
Timeless meaning, giving us the option to make it more specific/concrete in the subtitle
Further reading: Check out this article by Nate Kadlac.
