How To Come Up With a Perfect Name For Your Company
Company names are something that we see and think of consistently from driving down the highway to scrolling through the web. These names have a reputation and meaning behind them that show what the company does and values. To keep everything simple, if a name fits a company, it will help, and if it doesn’t, it will hurt. It is essential to find a name that fits your company in the best way possible. Now how do you come up with a reliable company name?
Five Steps to A Reliable Company Name
- Brainstorm! As you start brainstorming, it is essential to keep in mind what you want the name to convey. To accomplish this, you are going to want to look at what your company does and begin building the name off of the company’s core values and the value it provides to potential customers. It is crucial to write down everything that may relate to a name or industry. Some ways to get ideas flowing are to think of words that describe your competitors and your differences. You can also garner additional ideas by looking at Greek and Latin translations to your terms. Remember to try and keep the name catchy and straightforward to be easily remembered. Brainstorming for potential names is fun but can be extremely difficult as well, so it is important not to become discouraged if nothing comes right away.
- Begin Trimming Down Your List. By now, you have an extensive list with lots of words that fit your company and its values. Now it may seem daunting to go through your list and cutting down each potential name. There are a few tricks that can help. For most businesses, it is best to keep the names direct and straightforward as having longer multiple names can lead to customers either forgetting your name or struggling to pronounce to others. Having a recognizable name is enormous for businesses, as word of mouth can be an effective way of getting customers. Getting complicated names out to the public will require an unnecessary large marketing budget. Remove names off your list that could prevent expansion in the future. You never want to limit yourself for potential future opportunities. An example behind this could be if a company named itself Hockey Sticks Co., and then, later on, wanted to expand to other hockey equipment. The name would either hurt the company significantly or have to be changed, resulting are branding of the company. The same can happen with geographic names, and if an opportunity comes to expand, it could hurt you. Next, you will want to avoid trends as they will pass.
- Search Engines Are Important! First, search the remaining names in a search engine to see if you can find any that are not being used by another competing company. Review the remaining names and think of how your brand name is going to show on engines such as Google. For example, if you are running a sports training facility and put elite athletic training as your name, you will have to compete with many others for ranking results. Plus, some of these names can be legally trademarked or service marked. You want your name to be unique to a point where it can stand out. Additionally, having a reliable domain name can help even more with search engine optimization. Considering this will help narrow your list furthermore.
- Double-check ideas. Although a particular company name sounds perfect to you, it is essential to remember that it may not come across the same to others. There have been instances where seemingly harmless names are associated with contrary backgrounds leading to the destruction of a company or a costly rebranding. It will save your business from potential trouble in the long term.
- Protect Your Name. Now that you have come up with the perfect name, the last thing that you want is for your competition to copy it (see point three above). This act can occur with devastating consequences, as imagine another company with your same name giving you a poor search engine performance. They could mistake your website for a competitor and leave you with nasty reviews and a weak company brand. Fortunately, this is relatively easy to fix as you can trademark your name, leaving your reputation entirely up to you. We can consult with you to help take the steps and get started!
Need help creating your perfect company name?
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