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Follow on Twitter11% of consumers will not use a company if they don’t like the name? Yet 26% of businesses select the first name they think of – don’t make that mistake! So how do you choose a name for your business? There are four simple rules that your name should obey:
- Identifies what you do.
- Distinguishes you from competitors.
- Is memorable.
- Simple to pronounce making it:
a. simple to spell,
b. simple to look-up,
c. simple to find in the phone book or online.
You should take care to avoid these common mistakes when picking a name for your business:
- vague names,
- similar names to other businesses,
- hard to spell or oddly spelt names such as Xpertees or Bluprint,
- misleading like ABC Investments when you offer business consultancy,
- forgettable names such as AB Consultants,
- hard on the ear like Kaplunk Kars.
Some Strategies For Naming Your Business
Use your own name – if you have a reputation in your industry then it often makes sense to use your own name and to build on your existing reputation. However this breaks rule one above, so it’s often worth combining your name with a tagline that explains what you do.
Use your main benefit/unique selling proposition as your name, your name then effectively works as and advert for what you do. The downside however is that the name could make it more difficult to expand into new products or services in future.
A description of your niche – describe the niche your business addresses and your name then becomes a short advert for the business, again this could potentially limit future expansion or become a liability should your niche become passé.
A made up name – simply make up a name that you like. This can work well if you think up a simple catchy name, for example Kodak, Google, and Yahoo. It also allows for expansion of the product or service lines without confusing your customers. On the flipside however it will take more time and money to build the brand.
So what’s your business name and how did you choose it?
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This blog is about business opportunities and ideas that I spot, think of or hear about and think are useful and interesting. It is intended to provide ideas and inspriation for you to help you find the right business idea for you to then grow it into a successful business.
Good thoughts. Coming up with a good name that suits those criteria is no easy task! I love some of the catchy internet names, (yahoo, google, dogpile, youtube).
True, but the investment is worth it. Something I learned the hard way!
Hi John – good advice. I was too hasty when I named Kwik Fix. We’re always getting cheques with the wrong spelling.
And people are always asking us if we’re part of Kwik Fit, which is not good when you read some of the bad reviews they get.
The trouble is – rebranding is expensive, and I like everything else we have aside from the name – the logo, uniforms, vehicles etc all stand out.
Oh well, next time I’ll try to be more creative!
Catherine,
I made these same mistake with my first two businesses, but unfortunately sometimes you just have to live with it…
How so wonderful for you to put such good advice for us who are thinking of starting businesses we plan expand. Thanx coz i won’t have to go through the agony of rebranding once i get the company name. I have learnt from your infomation that it’s no easy task creating one.
Ruth
We’re currently embarking on a renaming/rebranding process and it’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done!
Just thought I’d point out that Yahoo! is an acronym for “Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle” – http://docs.yahoo.com/info/misc/history.html
And Google is from the mathematic term Googol which is a 1 followed by a hundred zeros. (Gooooooooooogle)
I’m not being picky, it’s just I’ve been doing a lot of research and some of the seemingly ‘meaningless’ names turn out to have logical origins.
Thanks for the article – some good advice there!
Marc,
Yes you’re correct both Google and Yahoo! have a history – both are based on the geeky background of their founders – but they are made up names none the less.
I’m a bit surprised that the Yahoo! page you mentioned doesn’t reference YACC though… I’m sure years ago Yang used to mention it in interviews. Maybe it’s too geeky for Yahoo’s image these days