What's in a name? Success or failure.
Public figures and organizations spend a lot of time and money building up a name, and protecting that name. When you're starting from zero, it's hard to build up name recognition.
Here are four ways to boost name recognition:
1) Identify your audience
Who are you really trying to reach, and what do you want them to do?
A public official or politician is trying to reach a much different audience than an actor.
A novelist trying to sell books has a completely different audience than an actor looking for bigger movie roles or a backup NFL quarterback trying to get traded to a team that would give him a shot at starting.
It's not bad for these types of public figures to get coverage in mainstream newspapers, radio and TV -- it's just probably not the smartest thing place to get ink.
For the backup quarterback, he's not really trying to reach average people who buy newspapers and listen to the radio. He's trying to reach scouts, general managers and coaches in the NFL, so it'd be much better for him to get a short profile in ESPN: The Magazine than a big write-up in his local paper.
2) Don't bank on one-shots
Name recognition isn't like winning the lottery. You can't bank on one thing catapulting a client or organization into a household name.
You build up name recognition one brick at a time. It takes a steady, sustained effort. New consumers are being born. People who make hiring and budget decisions are switching jobs, retiring or moving to different cities. You've got to keep working to keep up with the natural churn in today's society.
3) Spread it out
If you are trying to reach everyday people, remember that today's audience is scattered. The days where everybody came home and watched the nightly news on one of three networks is over.
If you're not on the radio, you don't exist to a huge chunk of the population. Other people only read the newspaper, another slice of humanity relies on TV and a growing proportion of people get their news and information only from the web. You've got to get the name out to all of those different sectors of the media.
4) Shorten -- or spike -- a bad name
There's nothing wrong with shortening or changing an organization's clunky name. Citizens United to Rebuild America's Housing (CURAH) is horrible; Habitat for Humanity is simple and effective.
The same is true for public figures with names that twist the tongue.
There a reason why actors and rock stars use stage names and countless authors pick pen names.
Thomas Mapother IV is not a movie star; Tom Cruise is.
Gary Hartpence doesn't fit well on a bumper sticker or yard sign. Gary Hart does.
You see nicknames used as first names with a lot of athletes, actors and politicians. There's nothing wrong with that. I wouldn't remember David Abbott, the professional fighter. I do remember Tank Abbott, and the nickname fits the man.