If you are an aspiring entrepreneur and thinking about how to start a business, then you must be thinking of a business plan, budget, process, and all those things. This is normal for anyone trying to do a startup or venture into a new business. These things will increase your chance of being successful in the market you chose to participate in. But most of the time, they forget about this one detail that may seem small but actually have the most significant impact. We are talking about the business name.
A business will have a hard time going forward without a name. The wrong choice for a business name can hurt its chance for success. On the other hand, a perfect business name will surely help you skyrocket to success. A business name is a brand you will be creating. This is what people will be calling it and connect it with your product and services.
An excellent example of a connection on a business name is when a brand is actually called for a product. A good example is a Name for a vacuum cleaner in American English, which is called a Hoover in British English. A Hoover is a brand which became famous and eventually replaced the term vacuum cleaner. Another example is the replacement of the term plaster to Band-Aid, which present in most parts of the world. A product name that replaces the original name of the product because of the product success.
The question now is, how can we get this kind of names for our business. This is what this article is all about, and we will soon be talking about it.
How to choose the Perfect Name for your Business?
1. Choose a Name that is Easily Remembered
If your target market won’t be able to remember your brand, then it has already defeated its purpose. Although there are times when that would work, it would be under a specific set of conditions. This is most likely not the case for most of the businesses trying to establish their brand names.
Choose a name that is not generic as it appears to be boring and would not catch much attention. Be descriptive in giving your brand a name for the customer to have a general idea of what your business is about. Also, avoid hard to spell names for your business since most people are not really a fan of things they can’t pronounce correctly.
Most businesses will tend to choose a catchy name that can stick to a customer’s mind. This will help a lot when you are marketing your business to the public. Keep your branding name simple for other people to understand and have a higher chance of it being remembered.
2. Make sure the name is available
You can’t choose a name that is already taken and registered. First, there are legal issues that you will encounter if you use a registered name. The one who will always win is the one who was able to register the name first. Second, if you happen to get past the legal considerations, the one who will benefit is the original business who first got the name from whatever good marketing or business strategies you employ. Seeing that it does not bring you any good, it would be much better to pick a name that is available to use.
Since we are now living in an age where technology is quickly evolving, consider a name that is available for domain registration as well. Also, check if the brand name you are using is available for your social media business profile. This can be a crucial part of your business as marketing is now done through the internet. Compared to before, where you hand out flyers or leaflets, today’s method is more efficient. This will play a big role in your success. There are a lot of resources you can search to know if a name is available or not. This is primarily because of technological advancement.
Lastly, register first before you publicly use a business brand name. This is a common practice, but there are still people who disregard it. Remember that the one who will have the authority to use a brand name is the one who was able to register it first.
3. Conduct a thorough research
As we have said, there are available resources you can use to come up with a name for your business. If you are having a hard time choosing the right words, then this definitely helps you. You can search for words that rhyme on sites like RhymeZone or look for a synonym to use in Thesaurus. You can even search on how to combine words to create a catchy name for your business. The limit would be your imagination.
Doing research will definitely help you with setting up a proper business name. Another tip that we will share is to study other successful businesses and how they came up with their Names. Take note that this does not mean you are to copy their names but use it as a reference. You can search for all the businesses that succeeded, and you will see that the name they choose had an impact on it.
Research this as this will also be a good time to study other aspects of the business. This will be helpful going on specially if you are in the same type of market structure.
4. Choose a Name that has a Meaning
More often than not, business names do have their meaning behind them. For example, the brand Nike came from the name of the goddess of victory in Greek mythology. Another example is the toy Lego which came from the contraction of Danish phrase leg godt which means ‘play well’. They all have meaning behind their names, and it would actually make sense. Nike is apparel that is used by athletes, and Lego is a brand for a toy. The names that were chosen for the business is connected to what the business does.
Search for a name that gives your business its own identity. Model it with what the business does and what it offers to the public. It will display more connection with the brand and the product or services that the business has. This will help people in remembering what the business does, depending on the name they have.
Having a name with meaning will also show that the business owner took the time and effort to come up with a name. This way, customers would think that a business will also make an effort to deliver its products and services. Besides, it would be the right treatment for people who like both the brand and trivia.
5. Don’t Use a Name that can be Limited
Most business owners take advantage of the current trends and apply them to their business names. In this way, the business name would easily stick to customers since it is within the current trend. This is all good until the trend stops or changes. If this happens and you are just starting up a business, then it will bring a more negative impact on your business. This commonly happens if the business name relies on the trend rather than what the business offers.
However, there is a business that still managed to stay in the market even though they used this method. But this is because they have managed to gain their own identity aside from the trend factor.
Another thing is to have a flexible business name. A good example is if you are in the digital designing business. Instead of using ‘logo business,’ use the term ‘digital design business.’ The part of it having a service of designing a logo is still there. Besides, you can scale your business to other designing services like doing designs for posters, tarpaulins, invitation, and more. It gives your business the ability to expand and adjust because of the given business name.
6. Make Sure You are Happy with the name
With every step and tips that you have done, and you finally arrived at a business name, make sure that you like it. Since this will be the name of the business you are going to start, you should be the first one to be a fan of it. If you are not happy with the business name, then search and create another one. It is much better that you like the business name rather than settling for what is there just because it is available.
Conclusion
Remember that a business name will hold it’s identity. This will be your brand, so give it time and effort. There is no need to rush for this. Just like how a person’s name is essential, it is the same as having a business name. In fact, it is almost the same since you will be known for that name in the times to come. Do you have other tips on how to choose a business name? Share it with us in the comment section below.