We live in an age of ad overload. From our social feeds to billboards on our work commutes, we’re bombarded by brands that are desperate to make an impression. And not many of them do.
It’s a truly thriving – and competitive – marketplace out there. And in the face of increasing competition, we can’t afford to take shortcuts when it comes to naming our enterprises. Your business’s name is your very first opportunity to make a big impression on your target audience, and choosing something that sums up your brand’s ethos while sticking in the memory ensures that when it comes time for customers to choose, they choose you. Naming a business isn’t easy – but there’s a formula you can follow to guide the process. At Squadhelp we’ve aided over 30,000 clients on this journey – and we’re here to let you in on the secret ingredients for an epic name.
3 Steps To Take For A Killer Company Name
Identify Your Brand’s Values
Let’s get this straight: you can’t name your business without understanding your brand’s core values. While naming your business might seem like the first step to take, this is a backward approach. Understanding what our business identity will be will lead you straight to a killer name.
Your brand’s values are what create a more meaningful connection with your customers, ensuring that you’re embedded not only in their consumer choices but also in their lifestyles. Are you aiming to offer high-end, luxury products, or to offer affordable services that balance quality, reliability, and price? Is a sustainable ethos part of your customers’ mindset? Are your customers looking for an innovative disruptor or an established, old-school identity?
Your name should signal to your customers not only who you are but what you’re all about – and so seeking to encompass your brand’s deeper ethic is the only possible starting point.
Get Your Creative Juices Flowing
Once you understand your brand’s core identity, the fun can begin. You can’t choose a name out of thin air, so get brainstorming and then shortlist the best possible options.
Anyone who understands your brand can take part – get the whole team involved and, if you’ve been spitballing ideas about your business venture with partners and friends for months or years, get them involved from an outside perspective. Lastly, reach out to brand naming services who have the experience to guide you to a powerful name
In the brainstorming stage, there are no wrong answers. Building a long list of possible names will allow you to see what sticks in your mind as the days go by – and a memorable name is what you’re aiming for.
Confirm Your Choice By Research
With a shortlist of names, it’s time to cast an objective eye across your potential names. Your preferred choices, after all, might be tainted by emotional investment or a simple case of being too close to see the bigger picture.
At this stage, it’s important to take a few considerations into account: do any names fall foul of registered trademarks, and are the relevant domains available for any given name? Without a perfect match on domain, your ideal business name will fail to make a splash in the digital marketplace.
Undertaking some market research to gauge audience feedback on a selection of names can be revealing. What emotions are invoked amongst your customers and clients by your shortlisted names, and which will be most valuable for your brand? Running a poll on social media gives you instant feedback, and can reveal which names stand out in the relevant crowd.
Key Takeaways
Choosing an epic name for your business takes work – but it’s an effort that reaps rewards. You’ll not only have a memorable name around which your branding can coalesce, but the whole team will have a greater insight into your organisation’s values and identity – something that helps you connect with your customers daily. Through brainstorming, market research, and the aid of expert naming services, you can land a killer name that takes your business from strength to strength.
Grant Polachek is the head of branding for Squadhelp.com, 3X Inc 5000 startup and disruptive naming agency. Squadhelp has reviewed more than 1 million names and curated a collection of the best available names on the web today. We are also the world’s leading crowdsource naming platform, supporting clients from early-stage startups to Fortune 500 companies.