Post 4 | What's In A Name?
I’ve dedicated an entire post to naming your business because it is EVRYTHING. The name you choose for your business will have a huge impact on your success. The wrong name can do worse than fail to connect with customers; it can also result in some unfortunate business and legal issues too. So with that in mind, let talk about how you might brain storm ideas plus a few major Do’s and Don’ts.
The best way to get ‘name- storming’ going is to go back to the basics. Take a look back at your WHY, WHO and HOW. What does your business stand for, what are your values, what do you hope to accomplish? Make a list of all the describing words that come to mind when you think of your business and your products. What do you want your brand to covey, anything and everything is fair game for this list. Think about how you want your customer to FEEL when they hear your business name. Your business name is more then a name, you want it to be a feeling.
DO -
You want you business name to be catchy and memorable, easy to pronounce, easy to spell, sounds good when said out loud and can grow with your business.
Make sure the name makes sense with your company and products, that you can build a website and social media presence around it. (Though your name doesn’t need to describe your products, but isn’t coming from left field and will be totally confusing)
Short is better than long (you can add a tag line to your business later).
Get feedback from friends and family; ask them what the name brings to mind, does it convey what you want it to, does it evoke a feeling?
Think about your customer, what are the words or search terms they might use to find your products online?
DON’T -
Rush the process. This is one of those things in business that should be rushed into. You want to love your name, feel your name. This may not happen over night and that’s OK. Give this process time.
Don’t choose a name that is hard to spell, pronounce or contains a bunch of numbers that no one can remember - I mean we can barely remember our own phone number now days!
Don’t use a generic name that doesn’t mean anything just to pick a name (plus generic name domains cost more, yea its true).
Avoid using the words like : design(s), creations, handmade, made by, custom, crafted, unique, global, worldwide, avoid using your state or city in your name.
Don’t pigeon hole your business into one thing by adding that product or word at the end of your name. Example : “Mary’s Hats” or “Lucy’s Needle Point” .
Don’t use a name or naming style that is too trendy (we want your business to be around a long time and your name should be able to transcend time).
Avoid using Puns (unless your products are a play on that?!) avoid too-cutesy or names that might make one think of another company or brand.
Now that you have some ideas for your name, so now you need to make sure no one else has it. Google is your best friend. More often than not, you will find that someone else is already using that business name, or some form of. This might not be a total deal breaker (especially if you are thinking of using your legal name as the name of your business), but it might make you think about your name a little more. Make sure that the name you want has an available domain with .COM.
You can use GoDaddy.com or NetworkSolutions.com to see if your domain is available.
Naming Resources
VisualThesaurus.com (gives you a visual around a keyword)
Shopify Business Name Generator (generates business name ideas and checks domain availability simultaneously)
NameMesh.com (provides a startup company name generator)
Naminum.com (allows you to generate names based on a theme)
Helpful Articles
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