Ideas for a Company Name
Getting a company off the ground can be an arduous and exciting journey, but there are many decisions to be made, not the least of which is giving a name to your business. This may seem like a minor part of the process, but it shouldn't be. Naming a company is like naming your child, you wouldn't pick any random name for your offspring, so why would do it for your business?
Think about some of the major companies that exist in the world today: Google, Apple, Starbucks, and Nike, just to name a few. Of course, these brands are easily identifiable with their products, but that is due mainly to advertising. But what do these words mean, and what do they represent? Does it matter? Well, for large companies with almost unlimited cash to spend on advertising, it really doesn't matter too much. Do you care that Google was named after the mathematical name for 10 to the 100th power, a googol? Sure it's interesting that Nike is named after a Greek goddess who personifies victory, and Google's name is catchy (so much so that it's now an official verb listed in the Oxford English Dictionary) and does symbolize in some way what the company does (ordering and storing information), but these are pioneering companies that would have been equally successful with almost any name because their products were so revolutionary. If your product is as revolutionary as any of these, then feel free to give your company a clever name, but for every cleverly-named company that is added to the Fortune 500, there are untold failures where clever or cute, backfired.
In all likelihood, you don't have the time, money, and resources to conduct focus groups, hire advertising consultants, and all the other perks that major companies have at their disposal, so being smart, simple, and savvy will have to suffice for the rest of us. The following are a few general guidelines to keep in mind when trying to put a name to your service.
Avoid initials. AT&T can get by with letters, but most small businesses cannot. As with Google and the other cleverly-named companies, AT&T, IBM, AOL, and CNN have worked long and hard to be able to abbreviate themselves, but they didn't start out going by these letters. It took years of advertising and building market share and brand identity for this to work. Start ups and small businesses don't have the time and resources to let people know what they offer if they try to come on the scene with a name like NBL Inc., for example. National Bowling Lanes? New Bright Lamps? Natural Bread Leavening? Who knows? Who cares? By the time your customers figure out it stands for Nicely Built Luggage, the people at Sturdy Bags will have packed up your customers.
Don't copy. If you are starting a soft drink company, don't plan on calling your product, Dr. Peppa, or Mr. Pepper unless you.d like to learn first hand how the legal system works. You will, no doubt, be getting calls from numerous attorneys soon after choosing a name that is similar to an established company.
Do your own focus-testing. Fine, so you can't afford to hire armies of statisticians and a few hundred test subjects.you can ask your friends and family their opinions. Especially if you choose a made-up word, one that is a combination of words, or one that is commonly misspelled. Experience, existence, jewelry are all commonly misspelled words, but are also quite common. A few questions to ask should be: can the average person spell the name, can they remember it the next day, and can they tell you, more or less, what your business does based solely on the name?
Be web savvy. Many of today's small businesses are only designed to be Internet companies, so choosing a name could be as simple as spending some time checking which names are available. (Actually, this applies the same for brick and mortar businesses, as well). If you do find a great domain that is available, buy it, but also go ahead and buy others that are similar. For example, if your company is called wonderfulgizmos.com, go ahead and buy wonderfulgizmos.biz, wonderfulgizmos.org, and so on. It's also worth thinking about buying domains that are germane to your site as well, in order to redirect traffic to your main site. Example: greatgizmos.com, gizmosinfo.com, and so on. Be careful, though. When choosing a name, it's best to pick one that doesn't need a hyphen or a dot in it, but also that looks legible when the words are run together. Mr. Jack Associates won't look so good when it's written as a domain name...mrjackassociates.com.
Once you have decided on a name, whether it's for an online business, or a brick and mortar operation, properly securing the name is highly important. If it is a domain name that you are after, the cost is negligible, and shouldn't cost much more than $10 a year to buy it. Taking this one step further, a U.S. trademark, or service mark, only costs around $325, and.if you are planning on your company becoming a national or global brand.will prove very beneficial when you run into someone trying to use the same name in the future.
Choosing a name for your company provides you with a great opportunity to come up with a creative and professional description that is able to laser focus on what products or services you offer your clients and customers. By putting as much thought and study into naming your creation, you should find success and be able to develop a great business! Good luck!