Introduction
Congratulations! You’ve got the idea for a business, and you’re ready to make it happen. Your first step is to name your company.
Using your name or a friend or family member’s name to brand yourself may be tempting, but this can lead to legal issues down the road
—not to mention confusion for customers. Choosing a good company name isn’t just about being clever:
It also has legal implications and helps establish your brand identity from day one. So here are ten tips from professional naming experts on how best to name your business:
Brainstorm
First, you need to come up with a list of ideas. There are many ways to do this:
● Use a pen and paper. Try writing down everything that comes to mind, no matter how silly or off-the-wall it might initially seem.
● Use a word association method. Think of words that describe your business (e.g., “fun” or “friendly”), then write down as many other words as you can think of that relate to those concepts (e.g., “game” and “crowd”).
Then, take each one and repeat the process until you have several pages filled with words related to your business idea.
● Use a thesaurus for inspiration when brainstorming names for your new venture—look up synonyms for what you want out of life!
Narrow down the list
Narrowing down a list of business names can be difficult, so we recommend using a spreadsheet to keep track of all your ideas.
Remember: not all of those ideas will make it through this process—there’s no shame in throwing out an idea that doesn’t work for you.
It can be tempting to get attached to a name that doesn’t quite fit, but it’s essential that once you start narrowing down your options, you stay decisive.
If something doesn’t feel right, don’t be afraid to change direction and explore other options.
Do your research
● Do a trademark search. You don’t want to be like the guy who named his business “The Big Apple,” only to find out that it was already taken (by a flower shop).
● Check the availability of your domain name. You can do this by going to the website www.namecheap.com and searching for your business name or using the Google AdWords Keyword Planner tool to see how many people are searching for related keywords.
If there are too many results for this, consider using another word in your domain name that includes one of those words and follows grammatical rules (for example, “Gymnastics” has 1 million monthly searches but could be improved with something like “gymnyc”)
Check all social media handles you might use and any other online presence that will include your company name (like websites, blogs, directories, etc.).
Make it memorable
● Make it memorable. The name of your business should be accessible for people to remember, so choose something that stands out.
For example, the latest trend in naming businesses is to add a few words at the end of a name—like “ster,” “i.e.,” or “zo”—to make it catchier and more memorable.
● Make it easy to pronounce. For example, if you’re looking for customers in another country, consider using an internationally recognized name like Sony or Microsoft instead of something strictly American like Yahoo or Facebook.
If you’re targeting a specific demographic within America rather than an international audience, try making sure your potential customer base can easily say and spell your company’s name with little difficulty before settling on anything too complicated (or silly).
● Make it easy to spell: This may seem obvious, but there are many examples where spelling mistakes have broken this rule on websites and emails sent from companies trying their hardest not to appear as if they could make such mistakes themselves; always better safe than sorry.
Make it easy to say
Now that you’ve settled on a name, it’s time to consider how easy it is to say and remember.
If you’re in a crowded industry, your customers need to be able to tell others about your business without hesitation. So the easier the name is to say, the more likely people will be talking about you.
The next step is ensuring that the spelling of your business name is consistent throughout all of its marketing materials.
This includes logos and website namespaces (that’s a technical term). In other words: Is the URL www.yournamehere-website.com or www.yournameherewebsitecom? Make sure everything matches.
Next up: How do you feel about remembering this new brand? Do these three letters jump out at you when someone says them?
Do they evoke imagery in your brain as easily as if they were spelled out in full? Is there any chance someone might mispronounce them when talking with friends, colleagues, or family members who aren’t careful speakers themselves?
Watch out for potential negatives.
As you’re brainstorming and narrowing down your list of names, watch out for potential negatives:
● Legal issues. It’s essential to ensure the name isn’t already used elsewhere. Is it registered as a trademark or domain name?
If the answer is yes, then think about whether there’s any way you can still use that name and explain how yours is different from theirs.
● Confusion with other companies. Suppose your business is going to be nationwide (or even international). In that case, it may make sense for you to use a slightly modified version of your company’s name when doing business in other regions
—especially if there are related businesses with similar names. For example, if I wanted to start an event planning company called “Caitlin Events,” but there was already another company in Atlanta calling itself “Caitlin Events,”
I might choose “Outsider Event Planners” instead so people wouldn’t get confused between us two!
Make sure the URL is available and other must-dos
● Check the availability of your business name. Before registering the URL, ensure it’s available by searching for it on Verisign’s website.
You can also use a third-party site like GoDaddy or Namecheap.
● Make sure there aren’t any misspellings of your domain name that are available. Identify as many potential variations as possible (e.g., www.yourbusinessnamehere)
and check for them individually before registering the URL to avoid losing out on valuable visitors who might otherwise have gone to your website if they had stumbled upon a typo version in their search engine results pages.
● Check for availability in other languages, countries, and domains by searching Verisign’s Internationalized Domain Names (IDN) page (for example, https://www.idnsearchingtoolkit/).
This is particularly important if you’re planning on marketing abroad or catering to customers from different parts—you don’t want someone else taking over your .com address!
Keep it short and portable.
There are two reasons for keeping your company name short, and the first is that people are less likely to remember longer names.
A study published in the Journal of Consumer Research found that people could recall 68% of a 6-word brand name but only 42% of a 12-word brand name.
The second reason is that shorter names are easier to spell and pronounce. If your business name is hard to spell or pronounce, customers will be less likely to search for it on Google, which reduces the chances they’ll find you.
Given all this, what should you do if you’re considering one of those cool new three-letter acronyms like FUBU? Please don’t do it.
You may think those short acronyms make your company sound hip and trendy, but most people won’t know how to pronounce them.
And even if they do figure out how to say it correctly by reading about it online or asking someone who knows about your company as part of their research process, the chances are good that in five or ten years, there will be another trendy three-letter acronym in town
—and all those customers who were searching for “what does FUBU mean?” in 2015 will probably go looking for “what does XYZ mean?” instead when they start searching again next year.
Don’t get too cute. (Avoid puns)
Avoid puns, anything too clever or too long. Don’t get cute.
Here are some things to avoid:
● Names that are too common
● Names that are too vague or obscure
● Anything too clever (think I Can Haz Marketing)
● Anything overly long (What’s Your Business Doing Today?)
Conclusion
With these tips in mind, you should be well on choosing the perfect name for your business.
Remember that it’s a lot of work, but it will be worth it in the end when you have a memorable and meaningful brand name that sets you apart from all the other businesses.
