How To Come Up With A Business Name

How To Come Up With A Business Name

Having one’s own business has my advantages, but trying to figure out how to come up with a business name for your business can be tricky, right?

When starting a business, you have to be passionate, driven, and confident if you wish to succeed.

You have to figure out what industry you’d like to participate in, what product or service to offer, form a team, draft a business plan, source enough funds, and so on.

Expect a number of challenges to come your way.

Yes, you’ll have plenty of things to concern yourself with when you become an entrepreneur.

In addition to this, you will need to deal with naming your business.

Now, generating a business name may not be rocket science but the process does have some science applied to it.

There are some guidelines and a general process that you should follow to ensure that you achieve proper branding.

Ideas to create business names

The thing about business names is that they give your brand its identity.

A good one can help clients remember you with ease.

As such, it’ll be easier for them to consider you when the time comes for them to avail of your offerings.

In this case, it won’t be a good idea to go the easy route; neither is adopting even a variation of the most common business name available.

Focus your attention on unique business names but be sure that they have meaning and allow for top-of-mind recall.

Apart from having clients remember you easily, a good name can also bring in some much-needed and highly beneficial publicity your way.

Aside from these, it’ll be easier for future employees to recognize you and all the efforts you’ve made.

Coming Up With A Business Name

Coming up with a business nameThere are numerous companies that specialize in branding services.

The problem is that these services can amount to thousands of dollars.

If you’re not a big corporation then spending on such a service may not be the wisest thing to do at the moment.

As an SME (Small Medium-sized Enterprise), chances are there’s a better use for your money.

Just the same, you don’t want to simply rely on a free business name generator online.

Keep in mind that this is a legal entity you’re branding.

To some degree, there has to be enough thought put into the process and relevance to whatever business name you decide on.

Remember that your business name will have a tremendous impact on how your brand is viewed by potential clients, suppliers, and investors.

This is why you should try your best to abide by these simple guidelines so that you won’t end up with a name that’ll be detrimental to your success.

Unique Business Names Take The Cake

How to come up with a brand name

In naming your business, make sure that you focus on business name ideas that satisfy the stickiness requirement.

When something is sticky, it clings onto most of the things that it comes into contact with.

In this case, you want to have the kind of name that sticks to other people’s minds like glue.

The stickier your name is, the better recalling it will be.

Better recall means people can easily talk about it as well.

This will give you a lot of publicity moving forward, provided that you offer top-notch services that will indeed be shared.

Of course, you want your business name to stick, yet be unique enough to be distinct.

If you do such a great job running your business, you wouldn’t want another business reaping the rewards now, would you?

Keep It Original, Yet Steer Clear Of Unusual Spellings

How to come up with a company name

Going for the most common business name will be a mistake.

But making it too unusual will not do you any justice either.

You want a name that your clients can remember.

You also want the kind of name that they can easily jot down.

In this case, it’ll be in your best interest to avoid intentional misspellings.

Plenty of entrepreneurs make the mistake of purposely using the wrong spellings in an effort to stand out.

What happens is that the effort backfires and their business names can’t easily be found online by customers who’re trying to look for them.

As a result, business is lost.

Also, at times, clients lose patience and just go with competitors.

In some cases, it also proves to be quite difficult explaining the concept during conversations and business meetings.

Furthermore, there are some clients and suppliers who think that it’s childish and unprofessional to have such names.

Consequentially, your business dealings may suffer.

So try not to expose yourself to such problems when you play around with business name ideas.

Make Sure It Is Relevant To Your Business

Coming up with a brand name

If you want to learn how to come up with a business name, don’t forget relevance.

You want something that’s easy to remember yet unique.

Something that stands out yet doesn’t come with nonsense phrases.

Most of all, you want a business name that’s relevant to the line of work you’re engaged in.

For example, a business name with the word “pizza” in it used by a company offering financial services just won’t cut it.

Surely your clients will be confused as to what it is you’re trying to sell.

You can also do your research on the keywords used by people when searching for relevant products and services online.

Start with these, so that when a client sees your business name, they can associate it with something that they want or need.

Plus, you can be sure that your name will be SEO-friendly and therefore easier to find on the Web.

Keep Things Simple

How to name a company

Let’s go back to the recall part of the equation.

When generating a business name, make sure it’s not too wordy.

The shorter it is, the easier it will be to remember.

If you can limit it to two or three syllables then that’d be great.

As much as possible, don’t use any special characters, not even hyphens.

When it comes to listings, special characters can negatively affect your searchability both on printed or digital directories.

Think Outside The Box

Creating a business name

A business name shouldn’t just be a business name.

If you want to resonate with your clients, you have to think outside of the box.

For example, if there’s a way where you can find a name that can be turned into a verb, consider it.

A good example of this is Google.

These days, Google isn’t only used to identify the search engine per se.

It’s a word that people commonly use to refer to running a search.

“Google this and that,” “Google me”.

These are popular phrases that further add value to the business in terms of being the top-of-mind brand for running searches.

Need information? Google it.

When it comes to thinking outside the box, this also involves having to come up with a business name that will allow you to expand your existing line of products and services without any hassle whatsoever.

Coming up with a company name

If you plan on diversifying and entering new markets in the future, make sure that your business name can accommodate such a change without suddenly becoming irrelevant.

Thus, you may want to avoid using specific product categories or even set geographical locations in your business name.

Make Sure It Is Adaptable To Future Applications

How to name a business

When you’re in the process of coming up with a business name, always see to it that it’s adaptable to future applications.

This means that it won’t suffer from any changes in trends, market situations, and potential overseas dealings.

The more timeless your business name is, the less susceptible it will be to changes in trends.

Remember the dot.com era?

These days, companies that decided to include the phrase dot.com in their names are almost obsolete, if not already.

For most clients, either they don’t recognize these businesses or they consider them outdated.

If you just so happen to decide to go with a name that’s easier to trademark, do consider overseas terminologies.

Sometimes, a unique phrase may sound cool in your country but it may be an offensive term abroad.

Also, if you plan on doing business with foreign clients and suppliers, you should be mindful when it comes to little things like these.

See That It Is Available

Business name help

Won’t it be just sad when you think that you’re nearing the end of your journey in finding a business name only to find out that it’s no longer available?

This is why you should do your groundwork and check with the local offices in your area.

See if there are any existing trademarks on your chosen name.

It would be ideal if you drafted variations that you can choose from.

At least 3 options should suffice.

Also, even if you haven’t gotten around to considering advertising your offerings online, don’t limit yourself to physical transactions.

It’s good to prepare should you decide to join the World Wide Web at some point in time.

Make sure that your business name hasn’t been trademarked yet and that the exact same name is available online as a domain.

Creative ideas for company names

As much as possible, you want your business name to be the same across the board.

The same goes for social media assets should you decide to create accounts on these platforms.

You can’t have one name on the paper, another for a site, and a different one on Instagram.

Additionally, if you’re planning on going online, invest in common site extensions.

In this case, dot.com will be the best option.

But depending on availability and the extent of your services, you can also localize the URL by adding your country code extension.

Make Sure That You Like It

How to come up with a good business name

When it comes to how to name a business, it should resonate with other people but it’s important that you love it as well.

This is the name of your company and you’ll be using it for a long time.

If you don’t like it all that much, it can put a strain on your business dealings.

You want something that you can be proud of, and be confident of at all times.

This is precisely why you should learn how to find a business name properly as it entails taking multiple elements into consideration.

It also gives much importance to research and brainstorming.

As mentioned, you shouldn’t take shortcuts and simply go with a business name generator.

Finding a business name requires time, patience, investment, and groundwork.

The more data you have, the better.

The more ideas you have, the better the outcome you can expect.

Don’t expect this to be a one-day thing as it rarely is.

Test It

How to create a business name

If you have multiple options available and you can’t figure out which one to go with, then test them out.

One of the best ways to learn how to choose a business name is to understand the value and significance of crowd sampling.

Considering that you already have a chosen niche for what you plan on offering, sample your chosen business names off of these people.

Get their feedback and use it to your advantage.

Employ the help of your family, friends, potential clients, investors, and even your colleagues.

The more input you receive, the easier it’ll be to decide later on.

Don’t forget to take the time to ask questions about why they liked or disliked a certain name.

Check if they understood the relevance as well.

Remember that asking questions is free so don’t hesitate to do so.

How To Find A Business Name: Other Things You Can Do

Naming your business

If you followed the steps mentioned earlier and are still having difficulties coming up with a name for your business, don’t fret.

There are other things that you can try to figure out what’s best to call your company.

Tell A Story Or Discuss Something That You Advocate

Creating a company name

If you have an advocacy or if you can tell a story about your brand, you can use that as the name, too.

For example, there’s a clothing company called ‘Life is Great’ and their name came from the owners’ mission to tell people how amazing life can be because there are plenty of things to experience.

Their clothes, by the way, cater to sports enthusiasts.

Get Inspiration From Literature

How to come up with a name for your businessYou probably haven’t noticed but there are notable business names that originated from literary references.

You have the goddess of victory in Nike and a character from Moby Dick in Starbucks.

If you’re a fan of literature, you can also use it to your advantage.

When it comes to how to choose a business name, all sources of inspiration are considerable.

All you really have to do is make sure that whatever reference you choose will be applicable to your brand.

Consider Using Acronyms

How to come up with a name for a business

An acronym is formed by combining the first letters or first few letters of the words within a sentence.

It’s commonly used in business names.

Some examples are the BBC which means British Broadcasting Corporation or BENQ which stands for Bringing Enjoyment and Quality to Life.

If you feel that a word or two won’t be enough to thoroughly describe your company, then you might want to consider using an acronym.

It gets the point across while still staying true to the simplicity and recall guidelines.

Consider Using Your Name

Ways to come up with a business name

Depending on the type of business that you’re starting, it may be possible that your name is the most fitting branding.

If you’re an expert or specialist in your field, having your company identified via your name will be a good move.

Over time, and given that you’ve performed well in providing your clients with top-notch services, you can be a household name in your field.

Also, you most likely won’t have trademark issues.

How To Come Up With A Business Name Infographic

How to come up with a business name infographic

Start With A Dictionary Word Or Play Around With Foreign Terms

Ideas for business names

How to name a business when you don’t know where to start? Use existing terms.

You can use foreign words like Daewoo.

In Korean, it means great house and is used by the company to refer to their products as superior to others.

You can also choose words from the dictionary.

Words relevant to your business can be considered here.

Just add ‘Inc.’ to the end and you’re all set.

Naming a business can be challenging but fortunately, it’s possible to do it without spending thousands of bucks on professional services.

How to come up with a catchy business name

As earlier mentioned, it will take some creativity, time, passion, and dedication.

Just remember to do your groundwork, keep things simple, stay relevant, and test out options.

Most importantly, don’t forget that a business name is usually a one-time thing.

It’s best not to keep changing it, especially when your clients already know who you are and what you do.

This is why you should see to it that you choose a name that you like and describes your company well.

Click on Buy Now For a PDF Version of This Blog Post

 
PayPal Acceptance Mark

Buy Now
how to come up with a