6 Tips for Naming your Business

Naming your business is one of the most important decisions you will make as a business owner. It’s the label, the brand you will be known by. It’s as important as coming up with a name for your child. It’s the symbol, the language, the message you want to get across to the public about who you are and what you do. And while you can change a business name later down the road, why not put some time and effort into getting it right the first time around?

Here’s my top tips for brainstorming a name for your business:

1. Keep it Short, Simple and Easy to Spell.

This makes it easier for people to remember and find you when they are ready to buy from you.

2. Brainstorm

By now, you probably already have some ideas kicking around in your brain. Put them down on paper. If you have more than 10 ideas, narrow it down to your top 10.

Keeping in mind the message the name will give off to your potential customers. In the beginning, you want it to be clear what it is you are selling or offering.

For example, if you have a super cool last name and you think it would double as a great business name, great! Use it! But don’t rely on the greatness of your last name alone, be sure to include a descriptive word or phrase that describes what you are doing. After all, let’s face it, unless you’re a Kardashian, you are probably not going to sell anything on your last name alone.

3. Consider the Initials or Acronym of the Company Name.

While you may not refer to the business by the initials, don’t discredit that someone else might, and you don’t want to get stuck being known as People In Great Service – P.I.G.S.!

4. Be Descriptive.

Include descriptive words that explains what you do in the name of your business.

Be careful not to be too narrow, don’t name your business Bob’s Suit Jackets, when there may be a potential that you may sell suit pants as well.

But don’t be too broad either! I know I just told you not to be too narrow! But sometimes it’s more than okay to be specific. Specializing in something can really hone-in your market and your advertising message. If you’re certain you will only be selling suit jackets because you’ve been custom making them for many years and have a reputation for this, by all means, name your business Bob’s Suit Jackets!

It’s important to describe what you’ll be doing in the title of your business name as you are establishing yourself. Later on, if you grow to the size of Starbucks, you can drop the descriptiveness and go with Bob’s.

For example, some of the greats didn’t start off of with one word names, for example, Starbucks was Starbucks Coffee, Dunkin was Dunkin Donuts, KFC was Kentucky Fried Chicken, WW was Weight Watchers.

5. Get Feedback

After you have narrowed it down to your top 10, run the ideas past other open-minded people, such as friends, family members, or people that would potentially be a customer.

Be open to critique. Ask questions such as, what feeling do you get when you hear the name? Or what type of products/services do you think I’m trying to sell?

You want to make sure you have a clear message, so for example if you are selling dresser drawers, make sure your name is something like Bob’s Dresser Drawers, not Bob’s Drawers. Catch my drift? Enough said!

6. Check the Originality.

After you have kicked around your ideas and gotten feedback, write down the ones you like the most, narrowing it down to your top 3-5 options, then perform three searches on the internet as follows:

• Go to your secretary of state’s website to check for name availability within your state.
• Go to a domain name registry site such as namecheap or nameboy to see if the domain name of your business is available.
• And finally, a general google search to see if anyone else has already thought of your brilliant idea.

After completing the searches, you will find that you may have narrowed down your results, because either someone has already registered that business name in your state or your google search shows someone doing the same thing with a very similar name. If that happens don’t get discouraged. You can always alter the name to create difference, but in doing so make sure it’s distinctive enough so as not to cause market confusion.

Realizing after all the above, you still don’t have that winning name? Why not head over to Fiverr where you can hire the help of an expert, for well below what you would pay a national advertising firm. Or if you want to take the name game to the next level, visit SquadHelp, where you can create a contest to name your business for you!

Good luck and happy naming!