What to Consider When Naming a Business

What’s in a name? Everything, that’s what. Investing in business naming has the power to influence how potential investors, employees, clients, and customers view your business. There are a myriad of best practices and principles that have to be considered to choose a strong name for your business. Business naming has to be approached from a business perspective, a legal perspective, a branding perspective, and more. Working with a business naming agency can ensure that proper research and strategy is in place to support a bold business name. Keep in mind that without careful forethought, a business name can cause legal issues or completely miss the mark when it comes to connecting with consumers. Curious about what goes into a business naming project when you get the naming experts at Nice Branding Agency involved? Keep reading to find out tips for naming a business from our team.

Business Naming: Start with Branding

Obviously, we stand behind the power of intentional branding. And as branding experts, we know that there are some important Foundational Branding elements that need to be in place from the get-go. These include your positioning, brand attributes, and visual direction. Before we start throwing names up against the wall, we first consider positioning. Your positioning is the way you set your business apart from your competitors; it’s your place in your market. It’s one of the most important factors in naming. Once you have your positioning in place, a branding agency can help you craft a compelling statement that's impactful and aligned with the direction of your overall brand. Then, you can set attributes to further define who you are. The attributes impact your business name, too.  Next, consider your visual direction. The visuals set for your brand will also need to pair well with your name. Don’t pair a quirky name with stuffy graphics, for example. Both your company name and your visual direction are part of your brand, so they need to align. Taken together, your attributes, positioning statement, and visual direction will provide you with a firm foundation for moving forward in naming your business.

Consider Your Competition

After you’ve carefully created a foundation for your brand, you can move into considering your competition. It's obvious that you wouldn't want to give your business a name that could be confused for that of one of your competitors. Thorough research needs to be done in your specific market to see what trends exist for your competitors’ business names so that you don’t name your business something that conflicts. Additionally, your research should also help you ensure that your business name makes sense in your market-based in part on current and predicted trends.

Research Domain Names

Another thing to consider in the business naming process is the available domain names that would pair with your business name. You can perform all the domain searches your heart desires on GoDaddy.  There is a lot that goes into choosing a domain name in itself, and much of that strategy is determined by your branding. Many people will encounter your brand by typing your www into the search bar, so the domain name has to be something that fits. However, our branding company always says,  'don't throw out a good business name over an unavailable domain'.  Additionally, some domains are best to attract attention or best for SEO purposes, and that should all be taken into account during the naming process. While you're engaging in your business naming process, research to find a domain that aligns with your business name and best represents your brand.

When Naming a Business, Make it Memorable

This seems basic, but many businesses get it wrong. Your business name has to be memorable and easy to understand. To create a business name that will stay top of mind, it needs to be easily understood. It can’t be confusing or misleading.  It has to be easy to find on the search engines, too. So, having a business name that's easy to spell is a plus, for sure. Funky spellings usually aren’t right for your name; it’s asking a lot from your customers to not only remember your name but also to be able to recall how you decided to spell it. Also, consider the length of your business name. When your company name gets designed into a logo, or implemented in an exterior sign, how will it look? If it’s too long, it might make the design more difficult than it needs to be. This doesn’t have to be the end-all-be-all, but it is something to keep in mind.

Plan for Growth

Finally, keep your future plans in mind. A company’s growth plans also have to be factored into naming a business. If you started a plumbing company in Franklin, Tennessee, for example, and you named it “Franklin Plumbing,” the name wouldn’t be as impactful as you grow into national markets. Don’t hinder the growth of your business by pigeonholing yourself in your company name. We have experienced this with several of our clients. Check out our showcase on a project we did for an industrial contractor. They started with a name that pigeonholed them into one service line, when in fact, they had three divisions. Similarly, don’t name your business based on growth that is not likely to happen. You can always create a new brand or new segment to handle a new section of the market you expand into.

Need to Name a Business?

A lot of strategy goes into naming the business, and it takes a wise and creative branding team to consider every angle and conduct proper research. If you’re rebranding, renaming, or starting from scratch with a business that needs a name, contact the pros at Nice Branding Agency today.