10 Tips for Naming Your Business

Business names are an important part of your business. They can set the tone, project the image and be a key part of branding strategy. With this in mind, it’s essential to get your naming process right from start to finish. Below are 10 tips for naming your business.

10 Suggestions for Naming Your Company

1. Learn about the environment

Learn about your surroundings—in order to determine which way to take your name, you must first study your industry, competitors, and customers. Market research on these three subjects will provide a wealth of information about your company’s strategy. Study the following to help you come up with a company name:

Get to Know the Business

Sector research will disclose a variety of data about your industry, including trends, growth rates, main goods and services, key customer markets, volatility, and current technology influence. This might also give you an idea of what keywords are often used in the sector. This will give a list of words, concepts, and trends to consider while naming the company in the long run.

Study the Competitors

The only thing worse than coming up with a bad company name is coming up with one that’s already been taken. Not only should you check with your Secretary of State to see whether the company names you’re considering are available, but it’s also a good idea to discover what the competition is calling themselves. Is it a trend you want to follow, or a trend you want to reject? Knowledge is power, and understanding the competitive arena into which you’ll be venturing can help you position yourself with a clever company name.

Get to Know Your Customers

Know who your customers are. The client is the lifeblood of every business, and if the owner hasn’t taken the time to understand the customer’s character and viewpoint, the company is operating in a vacuum with little hope of actual success. An entrepreneur may better grasp what makes a client tick after he or she has created a customer profile to live by. Knowing what makes a consumer tick may assist the entrepreneur appeal to the end-user by using phrases, vernacular, alliteration, and imagery.

2. Verify that the URL is available.

Simply looking at what’s available is one reasonably simple method to select—and eliminate—name ideas. Even if your Secretary of State has a name available, it doesn’t imply the proper URL is still accessible at an affordable price. You may register the domain name “TheUnderground” only to discover that www.TheUnderground.com is already taken, but www.Underground.com is available for $1,999.99 for the first year. No cash-strapped company wants to be caught off guard by this unpleasant revelation, so do your homework early to avoid embarrassment later. The good news is that new Top Level Domains (TLDs) or extensions (the.com portion of the URL) are constantly becoming available. We’re no longer restricted to.com and.org domains.

New domain extensions include; .net,.biz,.live,.info,.life, and many more. And, ideally, they’ll soon be as simple to locate as the conventional .coms.

3. Experiment with literary devices

Literary devices are words and phrases that are utilized to make them more dynamic, relevant, memorable, and engaging. These naming tools are often used by businesses. Here are a few examples of typical literary methods that might help you come up with catchy company names. Once you’ve mastered them, you’ll see that literary devices are used in company names all over the place.

• Alliteration is represented in two-word company names that all begin with the same consonant, as described by “conspicuous recurrence of identical initial consonant sounds in consecutive syllables in a set of words (typically at the beginning of the phrase).” Best Buy, Land O’Lakes, Coca-Cola, and Comcast are all instances of this on the Fortune 500 list.
• Assonance is similar to Alliteration, except the repeat occurs in vowels rather than consonants. FedEx, PayPal, and CarMax (say these names slowly out loud and you’ll hear the gadget in action) are examples of this among Fortune 500 corporations.
• Consonance – a similar device to alliteration, except the repetitive consonant is more often at the end of a word or phrase rather than the beginning. You’ll recognize consonance in Fortune 500 companies like AT&T, Principal Financial, and State Street.
• Imagery is a term that refers to the purposeful association of a visual picture with the phrase or words spoken. Imagery aids in the creation of a distinctive logo and visual identity in conjunction with the company name. Apple (not only do we imagine an apple, but Apple made it a part of the brand identity), Target (again, we see the target that was purposefully integrated into the Target name), and Caterpillar are all clear instances in the Fortune 500.
• The practice of associating human attributes and characteristics with inanimate things, animals, and occurrences. Intuitive Surgical and Spirit Airlines are two examples of this in the Fortune 500.
• Combining two or more words to form a whole new term. Netflix (internet + flicks), Pinterest (pin + interest), and Yelp (Yellow Pages + assistance) are all examples of this.
• Rhythm and Rhyme – remember nursery school? Simply put, a rhyme is when multiple words sound alike. Rhythm is either a non-rhyme with a rhyming effect or a rhyme that has exceptional rhythm and pattern. Rhyme and Rhythm devices create a synergy that makes a name pleasant to read, fun to say, and memorable. Examples on the Fortune list include Prudential Financial, Medical Mutual, and Johnson and Johnson (while not technically a rhyme, the rhythm in the repetitive names evokes the same effect. There’s a law firm in Richmond, Virginia, with an unforgettable name of Allen, Allen, Allen & Allen.

4. Take into account the interpretation

Sometimes entrepreneurs use names that are derived from another language or a made-up term that is spelled incorrectly. Certain made-up terms (such as Uber) may work as company names, but others ignore the target demographic, our connections, recollections, and spelling skills.

Another name error occurs on a global scale. Even juggernauts with internationally renowned names, such as Coca-Cola, are often subjected to the wrath of name interpretation (or misinterpretation). Coca-name Cola’s was immediately translated to “Ke-Kou-Ke-La,” or Mandarin for “bite the wax tadpole,” when they took their beverage to China in 2013. Coca-Cola changed its Mandarin name to “Ko-Kou-Ko-Le,” which means “happiness in the mouth,” with only minimal changes to character spelling and phonetics. It’s all about interpretation.

5. Create a visual representation of your brand.

Your company’s brand identity is made up of a few crucial components, and the name is one of them. Consider what makes sense with the rest of your brand jigsaw while brainstorming name ideas:

• Anything visible, including your graphic selections, colors, formatting, style, and fonts, is included in the visual aspects of your brand identity.
• The company name, product names, slogan, tagline, and numerous communication methods such as the language and vernacular on your marketing materials, website, and social media all contribute to the voice of your brand.
• Packaging, workplace furniture, and product design are all examples of tangible aspects of your brand experience that can be felt or engaged with.
• Values – the corporate purpose, vision, culture, and other values that define the company’s personality and character are all examples of brand values.

The company’s name is a valuable asset, and all of the elements must fit together to create a coherent, genuine, and representative brand identity.

6. Make a cloud of words

You’ve probably seen a word cloud. They’re literally a cloud of words that are connected in some way, and creating one for yourself might be a useful tool for coming up with a company name. You may link together every potential phrase connected with your company concept, services, goods, customer, and brand using free and easy word cloud sites like WordClouds.com. Make sure to include both descriptive and creative language (what you do, what you offer, and who you are) (keywords, buzzwords, jargon).

While it may be tempting to simply scribble all of these words on a piece of paper, our brains force organization in a way that word clouds do not; seeing the words in a new light and in an unexpected order can help one come up with a unique word combination that can help one crack the code of a name that is both creative and descriptive. Hang the word cloud in your office and watch what words come to mind on a daily basis. Keep a scrap piece of paper handy so you may jot down ideas as they occur to you.

7. Workshop It & Shop It

By “Workshop It & Shop It,” we’re really just getting at all the benefits of sharing your name idea before carving it in stone.

Have a brainstorming session with your board, some friends, some professional contacts, or even your social media followers and friends to come up with a name. At least a dozen decent, serious name possibilities will emerge from the finest workshopping sessions.

Test the name on impartial, unbiased, and unfamiliar audiences. Your company name, like your business concept and product, should be evaluated and proven. Here are a few options for getting candid, open-ended input on your company name suggestions from strangers and prospective consumers that are either free or inexpensive:

• PickFu – PickFu is a powerhouse of a primary market research resource and a fantastic backup plan for when your concept meets a wall and requires objective validation for $50 per poll.
• Starting at $25 a month, SurveyMonkey has evolved into an all-in-one measurement and feedback resource for users.
• If your company already has a social media presence, or if you know someone who does, a Facebook or Instagram page provides a free venue for gathering input through a fast and basic Facebook Poll or a more thorough, multi-question Facebook Survey. Consider including a poll in your Instagram story as well.
• Focus Organization — Focus groups are generally conducted in person, but they may also be done electronically if you have a captive email list, a book club, or a networking group. The goal is to receive fair, honest input on potential company names. This is also a wonderful location to hear how people speak the company name when they see it written, how the name makes them feel, how they spell the name when it’s spoken to them, and how well various names are remembered at the conclusion of the session or chat.
• Interviews — a one-on-one strategy for gathering focus group input. Many of the same problems, as well as the physical/virtual concepts, apply. Some entrepreneurs go so far as to ask strangers what they think of their company names, goods, and concepts.

8. Use Your Senses

Even while other input and opinions are crucial for perspective, the company owner may already have a good notion of which names are practical and which aren’t. This all boils down to looking at name ideas objectively and examining whether names work from a common-sense standpoint, which includes analyzing the name in regard to the following factors:

• Is the name resonant with you? The core of modern-day naming is a memorable corporate name, which goes hand-in-hand with clarity.
• Not Too Lengthy – A name doesn’t have to be short to be effective, but it shouldn’t be too long either. It’s probably time to go back to the drawing board if your company name is more than a few syllables lengthy.
• Language — using a foreign language for a company name may work, but it might be difficult to remember; individuals will have a lot harder difficulty remembering a business name in a different language than their own. Consider this, regardless of where you choose to settle.
• Spelling – some firms spell their company names differently, either to be cute or distinctive or simply because they don’t utilize Spell Check. This strategy worked for Chick-fil-A in the end, but it isn’t always a good one for companies.
• Searchable – a possible consumer may only see your storefront or get a peek at your service car while driving by. You’re counting on people to Google the company at that time, so it should be memorable and searchable. In the long run, a name that is either too particular (Flavia’s Fantastic Forever Flowers) or too wide (Paul the Plumber) may lose your company money.

9. Make Use of the Correct Tools

There are fantastic free web-based tools for assisting with company name, and then there are awesome premium web-based products for helping with business naming, just like there are awesome free web-based resources for helping with business naming. It’s completely free to use our name generator. SquadHelp, on the other hand, is a one-stop naming tool for individuals who choose to outsource. It’s the most popular naming platform in the world for a reason: it’s all-in-one. Its video does a good job of presenting the essentials, but businesses may pursue the golden brick road via SquadHelp’s service suite for just $299 and acquire access to:

• 300+ creatives from across the globe contributed name suggestions.
• Logos, stationery, taglines, and business cards that match
• For the name you’ve chosen, there’s a URL that matches it.
• Check for Trademarks

10. K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple, Stupid)

This crude aphorism, which is an abbreviation for “Keep It Simple, Stupid,” has lasted the test of time simply because it works. K.I.S.S., which originated in the engineering area, has become a well-known piece of advice for business trainers all around the world. It works well for business planning, strategy, and execution, as well as for naming a company. It’s easier said than done, but one of the most important lessons learned from this article—hopefully—is to keep things simple and not overthink things.

Conclusion

The name is within reach for any entrepreneur who follows all of these suggestions. You should be able to run a fast self-check on your list of finalists by the time you complete this checklist. One or more of the following should be your company name:

• Memorable – crisp, sharp, quick, and simple to recall
• Descriptive – convey information about what you do, what you offer, or who you are.
• Interesting, evocative, and maybe employ one of the literary strategies covered before.
• Pertinent – the name is appropriate for the sort of company, the brand, and the target market.
• Web-friendly — the URL is accessible, it can be searched, it’s simple to spell, and it’s not too lengthy.