Enjoy this week’s guest post by Julie Basello!
Coming up with a name for a business seems like a simple thing. But the name of your business is a decision you’ll have to live with for a long time. Let’s talk about some of the things you should consider as you choose a business name.
Avoiding Confusion and Do-Overs
It’s okay to take your time through this process. After all, once you name your business and set up all your marketing and branding, changing your name is detrimental. Once you are established, a name change can actually get very confusing for current and potential customers. Customer confusion is never good for business. I always say to think of naming your business like naming a child. Yes, I went there. But it’s actually a good way to emphasize the commitment you should put into thinking up your business name.
Know Your Audience and Your Business
Before considering anything name-wise, as with anything else in business, you have to know who your audience is. Whoever your target audience is, that is who you are speaking to with your business name, branding and marketing materials. You may hear these audience members, who are potential customers, referred to as Buyer Personas. Basically, you are envisioning the detailed profile of your ideal customer. That is how you determine who your audience is. It seems pretty random but once you dig in and do some research, it actually makes a lot of sense.
In addition to knowing your audience, when you start a business, naming it means you need to understand your business: what it does, what the brand is about, what products or services the business provides, etc. All of these factors will help you decide on a fitting name for your business.
Clear, Creative and Sticky
After knowing your target audience and knowing your business, think about being clear. Your name choices can be creative but it’s best to choose a name that is clear, easy to pronounce and easy to spell. Once again, this helps avoid customer confusion.
There are times that people use clever names and then use a tagline to illustrate what their business actually does. That’s okay. But a clever or obscure name with no tagline can be confusing. Names using foreign words or uncommon words that are hard to remember or spell aren’t the best choice either. I always recommend keeping things as simple as possible. I remember trying out a potential tagline for one of my businesses and customers were completely confused by it. It was clever and interesting and yet, it was way over the heads of the average customer. It’s okay if you want to be creative and cerebral but if your customers won’t get it, there is no point in doing it. When it comes to coming up with a name, think back to your target audience. If you think the least creative, least clever person in your target audience will understand it and not find it confusing, then you’ve probably chosen your name well.
Having a business name that begins with the earlier letters in the alphabet used to be a thing because alphabetized lists, such as phone books, would put names beginning with A ahead of names beginning with Z. But that really doesn’t matter much anymore. One thing I would recommend is naming your business something that is easy to remember and sticks with people. When someone can easily remember the name, they can easily pass on the name. They can also easily look up the name on social media once someone recommends your business to them. That doesn’t mean your name can’t be fun or clever or interesting. It just means that, as always, you will want to think about your audience and what they will find accessible.
Keyword Friendly
Another great thing to do is check some of your name options in google and Moz.com. Google is obviously the largest search engine out there. Moz is a great tool for choosing keywords that will help your google ranking. Any potential names and phrases can be run through search engines and Moz to see how they measure up. Doing these searches will help you choose a name that will rank well with search engines and it will also give you an idea of how many others out there may be using those keywords for their businesses and websites.
Check Those Connotations
Sometimes people forget to check if a word or phrase has negative connotations. They also forget to both speak the name aloud and write the name. Saying something verbally is different than writing something down. Does your name pass the test? How does your name look when it is written out all as one word? As an example, a company named IT Scrap that handles Waste Management for IT Assets sounds like a clever name. However, when you put it together as a URL: itscrap.com. That isn’t the best choice for a name, now, is it?
Make sure that the name you choose doesn’t have any weird negative connotations that you didn’t think about and that it sounds okay when it is spoken, when it is read in print and when it is typed all as one word.
Availability
Another thing to consider when choosing a business name is availability. Is there someone else in your state, city or town who has the name registered already? Is your name available as a domain name or is it already taken? Often more common names may be taken. It helps to do a domain name check and a social media check before you make the final choice for your name. The easiest domain name check is to go to the website WHOIS.com and type in potential names. For social media, just search each individual app. Your business may not need every app so be sure to target which ones will be most fitting and search those first. When it comes to social media, place your business where your potential customers are. If you are running a flooring business, you may not find your potential customers on Snapchat but they may be on Facebook. Choose the platforms that best suit what you are doing and where your customers are.
Once you’ve done your searches, you can see what is available and choose from there. One thing that is important about this is to have your domain name and social media names match once you choose them. Let’s go back to that flooring business as an example:
Your business is ABC Flooring. When you search WhoIs.com, ABCflooring.com is not available. ABCflooring.net IS available. If you are okay with that, you can secure ABCflooring.net. Next you check Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. ABC Flooring is available on all three so now you can be consistent. If ABC Flooring was not available on one of them, it might be best to adjust your name so it is the same on all the platforms. Many times I have looked up a business only to find their website and each social media platform were completely different. In addition to making it difficult to find them where I was looking, it’s just plain annoying to have to guess what their name is. Don’t be annoying to potential customers.
Search Engine Optimization
Once you know that your name is available and you can register your name and move forward legally, there is something else to consider. How common of a name or phrase is your business name? If it is fairly common, it may be difficult to achieve a good search engine ranking no matter how hard you try. You may be perceived as copying an existing business if your name is too close to another business’s name. When people speak about your business, it may get confused with another existing business that has a similar name and is already established. Word of mouth is valuable as is search engine ranking. Adding confusion is not good. And making it seem like you are trying to copy an existing business isn’t good either. These are all important things to consider when you are coming up with a name.
Future Proof
The next thing to think about is the future. I know, you haven’t even named your business and I’m already talking about the future. The reason for that is you want your name to be future proof as much as possible. When you start out as ABC Flooring but then decide to become a Home Decor center, will your name and brand translate? I know we can’t predict the future but it helps to give it a bit of thought before jumping in with a name. Leaving a name more general can allow you to adjust your business as you grow without the need for expensive rebranding or changing all your legal documents down the road.
Timeless Not Trendy
It’s sometimes tempting to jump on the latest trendy catch phrase when choosing a name. In reality, that is the opposite of what you want to choose for a business name. Trendy catch phrases will become dated quickly. Instead try to choose something that will be timeless, even into the future. Choose from words that are timeless instead of trendy.
Brainstorming
Some people immediately think of a business name and they get lucky and everything lines up for them. But most people need to do some brainstorming before they can choose. This can be time consuming but it really is worth it. It helps to make a list starting out of words and phrases that have meaning to you or that you are considering. Ask a trusted friend for help. Try using a name generator. There are name generators that you can use for free online that can help. If you are open-minded, brainstorming can be fun as long as you keep the emotions out of it and try to come up with the most fitting name you can for your business. Naming sessions are some of my favorite sessions with clients. I love brainstorming about business names and tagline ideas.
Family and Friend Focus Groups
Once you have narrowed down your name options, it’s a good idea to run it by people to see what they think. You can run it by people you know, kind of like a friends and family focus group. You can also run tests with strangers. There are apps for running surveys in order to get feedback. Find one that works for you and start testing. And don’t be discouraged if the feedback isn’t good. Changes can be made at this stage of your business and it will work out better in the long run.
You are now armed with some good tips for going about the process of naming your business. My hope for you is that you choose a business name that is meaningful, reflects your brand personality and showcases your business positively and memorably to the world. I know you can do it.
Julie Basello has been managing corporate digital communications for the past 15 years. Originally from New York, she is currently based out of the Philadelphia area. However, she will be the first to say that once a New Yorker, always a New Yorker.
She is the owner and operator of J Basello Media, a boutique firm helping entrepreneurs with their reinvention journeys through marketing, content creation and business coaching. She uses content creation and coaching to help small business owners learn the best ways to showcase their business.
In addition to being a professional photographer, Julie is also a corporate videographer, a writer/blogger, a social media manager and the producer and host of two podcasts: Radwell Automation Nation, a podcast for business and manufacturing and Hey It’s Julie, a podcast of reinvention tips and stories. Her podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms.
Her goal in every endeavor is to use her talents to help small business owners grow in a way that is positive and memorable. You can find Julie on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram.
The post What’s in A Name: Tips for Naming Your Small Business appeared first on Melissa Forziat Events and Marketing.