When you first start your business there is a lot of D-I-Y work to be done. One of the first orders of business is to choose a name to represent your brand. The name of your business is an important step. Your name will be a reason people decide to hire you or not, and the first impression you give potential customers.
For most entrepreneurs coming up with a name for their business is foreign territory. In the fever to start your own business you may blow right through this all important step and mess things up from the beginning. Coming up with the right name is a lot like laying tile. You have to get that first piece set just right. If it’s off, even just a bit, the rest of the floor will be off too, and the misalignment transfers out across the entire floor.
Now that I’ve scared the bejesus out of you about messing up this all important step let’s look at all the right ways to go about crafting the perfect name for your business.
First things first, whatever name you come up with has to have the domain name available. You can’t have your company name be something that already has a website for someone else. Because of this you can’t choose names that are too plain, literal, or obvious.
When choosing a name it’s often helpful to write out your company’s mission statement. This will help you whittle down what the aim of your company’s work will be. Re-read your statement and pull out the key attributes you want to emulate. Is it price? Quality? Security? Timeliness? Use those key attributes in your name. You can see this strategy employed successfully with companies like EconoLodge, JiffyLube, and Priceline.
A very common naming strategy is to use metaphors that immediately convey a powerful image upon hearing it. Like the saying goes, a picture paints a thousand words. Come up with a metaphor that conveys your company’s attributes with a single image. Upon hearing your company’s name you want potential customers to have a visceral, positive reaction to you company’s name. Does this naming strategy work? Just ask Jaguar, Monster, Caterpillar or Pinnacle.
Perhaps the easiest way to name your company is to come up with a short phrase that informs customers exactly what you do. The more your name communicates to consumers what your business is about, the less you’ll have to explain it to people. A name like Suzie’s Consulting Group is pretty self-explanatory.
If none of those strategies yields you a name you like make one up. Coining your own name can be quite fun. Come up with a name that still conveys key attributes and immediately evokes an image. Try taking the root word of a key attribute and spell it phonetically. Naming firm NameLab did just that for car company Acura. That company name is totally made up. NameLab took the root word “Acu” which means precise in many languages to create Acura. The name suggests precision car making and engineering, exactly what the car company wanted.
While coming up with a name there are a few common pitfalls to avoid. These are common issues that could trip you up in finding that all important perfect name.
Rule 1: Don’t include your geographic location in the name. It may seem like a good idea to use your city, state, or region in your name when you are first starting out, but if you ever hope to expand your business this could hinder you. A plumber might start a business named Miami Plumbing Co. As his reputation and practice grows though he might start servicing clients in a wider geographic location like Ft. Lauderdale or Homestead. But customers looking online or in the Yellow Pages might assume Miami is the only city he services simply because of his name thus stunting his growth. Don’t make the same mistake Southwest Airlines or Kentucky Fried Chicken did and limit your customer base right from the start.
Rule 2: Unless you are the first company in your field, avoid overly plain names. General Motors and General Electric can get away with this because they were pioneers. Once there is competition though, you want your name to differentiate you from the pack. Google was not the first search engine. Imagine if they entered the search engine market with a plain, generic name like GeneralInternetDirectory.com? The result would have been descriptive, but terrible.
Rule 3: Leave out obscure references. You want your company’s name to have meaning; you just don’t want you to be the only one who gets the hidden meaning. References to not well known movies, mythical Greek gods, and obscure languages like Gaelic or Latin may sound cool to you but they will confuse customers. You never want to create a reason for customers to pass your company by so stick to names that are simpler and have mass appeal.
Rule 4: Names that are too long or hard to pronounce will hinder you. As time goes on, it gets harder and harder to come up with names that you can get the matching domain name for. This has driven some companies to draw out or purposely misspell names. The names end up confusing customers and hindering their ability to find you on the internet. Avoid creative name tinkering like using a “K” in place of a “Q” or a “Ph” in place of an “F”. All this does is alienate the customer and drive business away rather than toward you.
Rule 5: Stay away from puns. You may think using names like Camel Towing or Lettuce Eat Café is fun and memorable to customers, but really the joke is on you. While you may get an initial laugh out of customers, rarely will they take you seriously. They’ll pass you over a company that seems more adult and trustworthy.
Once you come up with a half dozen potential names for your new company you need to do a trademark search to narrow the field. You don’t necessarily need to trademark your name but you do need to make sure you aren’t infringing upon anyone else’s trade name. Hire a trademark attorney or search firm before you settle on a name to make sure the name hasn’t already been taken. If you remain a small company with few sales, trademark infringement will never be a problem for you. It’s only when you are successful and profitable that this could be a legal nightmare for you. You can go from making money to bankruptcy overnight if the courts find you have infringed on another company’s name. It’s best to do the search upfront to avoid problems down the road.
A final way to narrow down your list of business names is to come up with a tagline or logo for each one. Doodle a graphic or how you want your sign to look. Pick the one that comes out the best!
Good luck!
Ethan Warrick
