Trademark Idea
Trademark Idea

Trademark Idea

Quick Summary

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A trademark idea is a word that you coin that becomes a centerpiece of your thought leadership that you become known for, and people start using it in their life.

Below are some famous examples of trademark ideas.

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As for me, so far I’ve coined over 30 different terms and Eben has practically been coining them for the past few decades. You can see some examples of the trademark ideas he created in the Appendix section of the manual.

My main areas have been learning how to learn and thought leadership. Some of these trademark ideas are more complete than others. I organize them in this doc, where I also create visuals, and often there's a quote I like to match to it. Then, each of the visuals becomes a standalone piece of thought leadership, and they become parts of an article.

Technically, a trademark idea is a combination of:

  1. Word or phrase
  2. Visual
  3. Quick Explanation
  4. Quote

It can start with just a word or phrase. That’s how I do it, and then, as I see that this is attractive to people, I start to invest more in the visuals and test them out more. Below are a few examples of visuals of trademark ideas that I co-created with my friend and amazing designer Camille Ulmer.

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What are the kinds of ideas that you can name?

I've spent a huge amount of time collecting all of the pop trademark ideas in different fields, and it comes down to these. You can name:

  • Group of people
  • Stage of life
  • Protocol
  • Type of person
  • New discipline
  • Phenomenon
  • Model
  • Stage of society
  • Type of personality
  • Chasm
  • Stage of business
  • Name of cycle

But why should you be working on developing your trademark idea at all? Benefits are many:

  1. They have long-term virality. Unlike most other forms that have a short virality burst and then get forgotten about, the shelf life of a trademark idea is years, even decades.
  2. They are reusable, which means you can use them in different articles, videos, courses, books, and share them with millions of people in different formats.
  3. They give you leverage. If you develop a really good trademark idea, one that appeals to many people, they will start sharing it for you.
  4. They ensure you get credit. When you name an idea that others start using, you get credit practically whenever someone speaks of it.
  5. They can lead to community creation. When people have a word for a common desire or approach, they can search for it, they can find other people who are interested in learning or practicing it, so communities can be built around an idea. If that idea is yours, then you become the authority for all the people who make up the community.
  6. They help you think better. Coining the trademark terms and developing the ideas makes your thinking more focused and creative.
  7. They make you the celebrity in your niche. If you coin a term that spreads, then everyone will know who you are and you'll be perceived as the world's expert on that topic.
  8. Their existence and use help people notice what was previously invisible. When you give a common but unnamed “thing” a name, you make that thing visible, and you help people who are interested in “the thing” connect, understand it better, and make better use of it.

Now, winning trademark ideas don’t just fall from the sky. The process involves:

  1. Finding your trademark idea. For uncovering which parts of your knowledge in your domain can (and should) be turned into trademark ideas, look into the mental models. Two particularly fruitful models in this sense are The 80/20 Rule and Positive Feedback Loop. In this manual we will also cover finding your trademark idea through leveraging the insights you have related to your field, and going deep into the most fundamental desires, problems, and fears.
  2. Naming your trademark idea. You want your trademark idea to be:
  • Attractive to others,
  • Sticky, so that people remember and use it,
  • Usable. It should be easy to pronounce, with memorable words that mesh with the definition.
  1. Testing your idea before you double down on it. No matter how valuable you think your idea is, you can’t know for sure until you test it and see how other people respond to it. Test every trademark idea first to avoid going all-in on an idea that is less than great.

That’s the process, in short. Now, let’s look at it in more depth.

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