We are living at the best time to start a startup. If you are reading this then probably you have plans to begin a startup sooner or later. But do you know what is the most crucial factor for the success of your business? It is branding or marketing. It’s also naming a business properly. here in this article, you will learn all the steps to follow to name a business that can enhance the brand growth of your company.
If you had thought marketing or product or your top-notch services is the one factor that can decide your success or failure, you are not wrong. But you have to understand that all your branding, marketing, or promotions for your products or services will be built on the name of your business. So, you need to be extra careful while selecting a name for your startup or business.
Why are Business Names important?
You may not consider this, but remember, your business name is the most valuable asset of your business. No matter what you offer, the name associated with your business creates the identity of your business.
Your business name not only separates your business from your competitors but also establishes the first impression for your potential customers. But there is a lot of significance in your business name you can imagine.
a) Your Business Name Creates the First Impression of Your Business
For most businesses, their name makes the first impression and decides the fate of the business. It is the first thing your customers notice, long before your products and services.
In this start-up era business names are becoming a great asset to gather more funding. Catchy and interesting business names hold better chances of getting better funding.
Remember, every name tells a story. If your business name can be used as a story or part of a story, it will write the success stories for you.
b) Business Names are the Anchors to Consolidate your Business
In this competitive era, your business name can work as a great anchor to consolidate your business and keep it ahead of your competitors.
If your business name can project higher trust, greater authority, and better expertise within your industry, it will boost your growth seamlessly.
c) Your Business Name Project your Expertise
If your business name can project your products and services it will give another great boost to success. Companies like Burger King, Coca-Cola, Hotels.com, and Jeep are some of the businesses where the name dictates what they offer and do. It only gives your business a general perspective and perception for easier brand recognition. Later, it can become a synonym for the product or services you offer.
Types of Business Names
According to our research, we have found seven types of naming conventions. We will discuss all of them one by one to give you a proper insight.
a. Descriptive Business Names
If you use descriptive brand names like The Weather Channel, State Bank of India, General Motors, and General Electric; it will be easier for you to target your core customers easily. Your brand name will easily explain what you are offering.
But you need to keep in mind that you are using very common words so it can create some difficulties to get a trademark for your business.
b. Evocative Business Names
You can use a metaphor or special words as your brand name. It will be easier for your customers to associate with your business, the services, and the products you offer.
Businesses like Amazon, Nike, and Apple are mostly associated with their user experience and services. These types of names are also very easy to get trademarked.
c. Invented Business Names
If you do not like any existing name or group of words, then you can consider developing one. Popular companies like Exxon, Xerox, Kodak, and Adidas are some of the invented brand names.
Invented brand names have almost zero chance of getting copied so you will get the trademark for it easily. Then the invented names also push your brand value with the coming years and often make their way into the dictionary.
d. Lexical Business Names
Lexical Brand Names are like little descriptive wordplay with embedded and intended puns, phrases, compound words, intentional misspellings, intentional misspellings, alliteration, onomatopoeia, and foreign words.
Companies like Dunkin’ Donuts and Krazy Glue are two examples of Lexical Brand Names.
e. Acronymic Business Names
Think about KFC, BMW, IBM, UPS, and BP are some of the largest companies in the world. But their names are acronyms of their descriptive counterparts. Although these types of names are effective, it can become very hard to get them trademarked.
But once your brand gets the recognition it will become unforgettable to your customers. Besides, every acronym holds a certain mystery inside it.
f. Geographical Business Names
Geographical Names often become limited to their region and most businesses name their business over any geographic location they want to target for customer acquisition. But this is not true for every company. Companies like Texas Instruments, Florida’s Natural, and Arizona Tile are some examples.
g. Founder Business Names
If you can associate the founder’s name with the brand name Ford, Kellogg’s, Levi’s, and Calvin Klien are some of the top examples. The businesses where names are associated with their founder’s name often project heritage and become very easy to get trademarked.
So, how can you properly give your business an effective and unique name? Don’t worry, we got you covered. Just read along and you will find a step-by-step handout for you.
Here are the 12 Steps to Create a Catchy Business Name
1. Make it Easy to Pronounce and Write:
Names can be often confusing but when it comes to a business, a confusing name can do the biggest damage to it. If your business name is hard to pronounce or hard to write people will tend to avoid it.
No matter how cool the name looks, if it is hard to read, spell or pronounce then you may get some attention at first but in the long term, it is not a good idea.
For example, look at ‘Apple’. It’s elementary to pronounce, read and write. Now, look at how Apple has become from its humble starting in a garage.
2. Try to Convey the Facilities or Benefits
It will be amazing for your business if your business name can convey the products or services it offers. But you need to be very careful and creative, it should not be a big word, and try to keep it within three words.
For example, you can consider ‘Burger King’ or ‘Wow Momo’. They are food brands but easily convey what kind of food they specialize in.
You can also name your company like KFC or Kentucky Fried Chicken. A three-letter abbreviation consisting of your best products or services.
3. Brainstorm for names
But you need to go through a serious brainstorming session for naming your business. Sometimes, it takes a long, really long time and sometimes if you are lucky or highly creative then it may take less time to set a name.
But if you need to reduce your brainstorming session, then you can go through the following steps.
4. Choose a Naming Convention
You can choose a naming convention for your business. For example, you can take ‘Kodak’. The owner and inventor of ‘Kodak cameras loved the letter ‘K’ so much that he came up with a new word. So, you can also think creatively or emphasize your business over the letters that mean the most to you.
You can also use abbreviations and creative words for your business name. You can also use synonyms.
5. Choose a Scalable name
Don’t pick a name that can limit your business. For example, before thinking of the name ‘Amazon’ for his online business, Jeff Bezos thought of ‘Cadaver’ and then ‘Online Books. But both these names could easily make his company limited and sound really gross.
On the other hand, ‘Amazon’ is sweet, simple, easy to pronounce, and highly scalable.
6. Try to Make it Catchy
You can really do some quirky wordplay to make your business name sound catchy and interesting. If your business name can create a lingering effect then it can reduce your marketing cost by many folds.
7. Use a Dictionary
Often we forget about easy-to-use words. You can find all the words in a dictionary. So, you can give the old book a shake or just go online to find some cool names for your business.
A dictionary can solve your naming conventions, scalability, and unique name-searching problems. In the dictionary, you will also find numerous catchy names for your business. The online dictionaries now come with special search tools to find the specific words you are looking for to name your business.
8. Use Name Generators
If you don’t like the brainstorming sessions, there are several state-of-the-art AI-powered business name generators available for you to use. These generators are available in both free and paid forms.
These generators also ensure that your business name also blocks used or unavailable names to ensure you get the best business name every time.
9. Conduct A Domain Name Search
Before finalizing a business name, you should also check for its domain name availability. These days, a business can enjoy limitless success by making it available online. Large global businesses like Amazon, Alibaba, FaceBook, and Google are all successful online businesses.
So, if the domain is not available you may need to go for another name or you can buy a domain name matching your business name.
Read: How to Make a Small Business Website
10. Conduct A Trademark Search
Often many low-key businesses have them registered in their respective nations. So, if you have found a very interesting name, search its availability at your country’s or state’s trade office. Once you verify your business name is unique, apply for trademark registration. This way, no one will be able to take away your business name in the future.
It will also be very helpful for future business expansion and offline marketing plans.
11. Run through Google AdWords and SEMRush for SEO Compatibilities
If you want quick success and immediate brand recognition then you need to go for digital marketing and SEO. But for that, you need to make sure that your business name is SEO friendly.
To test if your business name and websites are SEO friendly, you can use Google AdWords and other SEO service providers like SEMRush. You can check the advertisement and potential customer response. You can check the Keyword Compatibilities, Advertisement results, and a lot of very useful metrics to track your customer preferences.
12. Take External Feedback:
Sometimes, taking external feedback like asking strangers for suggestions or creating an online poll or online competition to choose your business name. This way, you can get amazing and unique entries from creative people around the world.
You can also reach out to friends and family members for some ‘out-of-the-box’ business name ideas.
Final Note:
Whatever you do to decide your business name, do not use all of your energy on it. Sometimes, an oversimplified name or made-up quirky name is hard to find to show its relatability or association with the products or services which you are planning to offer. So, you can always use online services and digital marketing tools to improve your business and brand name.
In the end, if you are not satisfied with your business name you can always change it. If you are not happy with the business name it can damage your mindset to run it, so always give yourself some good time to think before you finalize your business name.
