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| Naming Your Business |
Another critical component, and probably the most obvious, is selecting a name for your business. The name of your business plays a role in conveying the brand, the values and the overall character of your company. Choosing a name can be as complicated or as simple of a process as you would like to make it. The simplest way to choose a name is for you to think of one yourself. An alternative is to utilize an expert to help you name your company.
An expert provides you with added benefits besides just the development of a name. They are able to utilize their processes to ensure that your name does not infringe on the rights of any other company. Also they help you to understand the impact your name may or may not have in the eyes of potential customers. Lastly, using an expert removes the burden of developing a name from your hands.
A big disadvantage in using an expert is paying for their services. You can expect to probably pay thousands of dollars for them to come up with a name for your company. The services they offer usually do not come cheap but may save you money in the long run. If you are able to pay for an expert to help you, then your problem is solved. However, if you are like most entrepreneurs you do not have thousands of dollars to hire an expert to help you. So you are on your own. That being said, this article is designed to provide you support in choosing the right name for your company.
What’s in a name?
The first step in deciding what name to choose is to understand the message you want to convey about your business. A strong name usually expresses the key information about your business. It is better if your name has some significance to it. The more significant and meaningful it is, the less work you will have to do to help potential customers understand it. As you think of names, it is typically better to start with real words as opposed to made up words. The reason for this is that, people will be able to connect with real words than with ones you make up.
Be careful of creating a name that is too narrow in meaning. If a name is too narrow in meaning then it might limit the perception a customer might have of your business thereby limiting your ability to expand your business fully should you choose to. You should choose a name that’s broad enough to allow your business room to expand.
Again, start your naming process by outlining the key characteristics that you want potential customers to know about your business. After that, simply start brainstorming names and don’t be shy about soliciting the help of others to come up with names. Let them know what characteristics you are trying to capture in the name and let them help you. Try to come up with as many different names as possible. At this point, no name is a bad name. You simply want a long list of names that you will later work to whittle down. It would be ideal to have a list of at least a hundred names at the end of this exercise but if that is a stretch then try to come up with at least 25. A few key things to consider as you brainstorm names is:
| Avoid negative associations or feelings the name may have or create |
| Distinguish your company’s name from your competition |
You will find in your name development that almost any real word you can come up with during your brainstorming has already been trademarked by someone else. As a result the practice of coining names has become a more common. If you take a meaningful fragment of a word and work with different derivations of it, you can often create a strong name that has both meaning and attraction for potential customers. Another approach is to find a name you like and simply change the spelling of the original term. You still receive the original feeling generated by the real word even with the actual true spelling of it.
Once you have completed your brainstorming you should work to narrow your list to roughly ten names that are your favorite. Your next step is conduct a trademark search to determine if the name you have chosen is already trademarked. Small businesses are not required to register their business names. Generally, as long as you have obtained the proper licensing to operate your business, you are free to do so without trade marking the name. You just have to be sure that your business’s name does not infringe on the rights of any other business. Conducting a trademark search simply means that you are making sure that the name of your business can be registered federally. You can solicit the aid of a trademark attorney or search firm if you need help finding the answer about your business name.
If you decide to conduct your own trademark search you should begin with the Patent and Trademark Depository Libraries. They provide an online database of registered trademarks that is searchable. You will be able to search those databases for current and pending trademark statuses. You should also conduct a basic name search on the Internet using multiple search engines. Be sure to check the domain name of the search results.
After conducting all of your searches you will hopefully have a few of the names on your list available to choose from. The next step is to choose the right one. As mentioned before, you want to choose the name that best conveys the meaning and key characteristics of your business. There are a number of ways you can come to the final choice of name:
| Instinct |
| Consumer research/feedback |
| Look and feel |
Ultimately you have to make the call and once you make it you should begin marketing the name right away. Remember, your name is a critical component of your marketing toolkit so utilize it for its full value.
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