Even though naming your new business can feel like a challenge, it should not have to feel like you’re stepping off the edge of a cliff while wearing a blindfold.
Naming your business is a very important piece of creating your business and kick starting your brand. It is frequently the primary part of your business that potential customers will find out about your business. It should attract potential customers to your business while also summarizing your brand. If you read and follow the three stages described in the article below,
you can organize your ideas and get the most out of your business name.
Outline your vision
Create a list of seven to twelve of the best names in your industry. After you’ve gathered them you can begin to dissect them. Read through this catchy business name list to give yourself a head start. Jot down a couple of notes about what you like about each of these names and why it is effective for that specific company. Analyzing the top names in your industry can be very helpful in providing direction to your brand naming process.
Find your target audience
Finding an audience is crucial because they are the people who will be buying your product or services. You need to make sure that your name and voice of your company is appealing to your chosen target demographic. For example, shoe line with a target audience of successful middle-aged professional women will have a very different name than a shoe line for young students, and there’s a good reason for it. Your brand name needs to be about more than just you, it should be really focused on the audience that you’re selling to.
Think Long-Term
It’s important to think about where you see your brand going in five years? What about ten years down the line? If you’re creating a company that might grow into new areas in the future, be careful not to select a name that limits your brand in the future.
Try to summarize your brand’s mission and vision in a couple of short project statements like these examples:
- We need a name that let’s our audience know we have a creative, unique approach to selling sneakers.
- We need a name that sets us apart as a clever, young brand.
- We need a name that alludes to our animal-friendly business practices.
Get started by coming up with some project statements for your own business.
Collect some names
Start thinking broad when you’re coming up with names. Some names are expressive, abstract, emotional, or traditional. You can combine words to form a new brand name, or use two separate words to summarize your brand. Brainstorm business names by coming up with some possible name example from every type of name on this list.
Cut down your list
Now that you have come up with a wide range of potential names, you can stop getting rid of the ones that won’t work for your brand until you have only a few top names left. This is a perfect opportunity to start getting second opinions from your friends and family members.
Stage Three: Double Check Everything
Lock down your name and assess your risk
A strong domain goes perfectly with an effective brand name. After all, your new business’s website is where new customers will find out about your products or services, so it is best to have the domain match your name closely.
Trademark validation for your business name is great way to make sure that your chosen brand name is secure. Running a quick and easy trademark test to double check that your name isn’t already being used by a similar business is a wise move. If your name is too similar to another name for a brand that offers similar services, you may find yourself in legal trouble in terms of trademark law.
Conclusion
Brainstorming a strong and effective brand name is a daunting task. A lot of your brand’s success depends upon the name. A good name will summarize your brand’s identity. You may feel like all the best names are already in use, or that you don’t have any good ideas, but the perfect name for your new brand is definitely out there. All it takes a bit of searching and brainstorming to find it.
Grant Polachek is the Director of Marketing at Inc 500 company Squadhelp.com, the worlds #1 naming platform, with 20,000+ customers from the smallest startups across the globe to the largest corporations including Nestle, Philips, Hilton, Pepsi, and AutoNation. To our business name generator.
