When it comes to starting a successful business, understand that there are several keys that’d help you build a powerful one that’ll not only survive the test of time but also thrive in its industry.
Most entrepreneurs settle with having a great product well aligned to the needs of their customers, getting a solid business model, preparing a detailed business plan, gathering a sizeable amount of funds, and surrounding themselves with lots of advisors and mentors.
But one thing we’ve seen them pay very little attention to is their business name. And a powerful business name is one of the most critical keys to success. Why’s that? Because a company’s name sits at the center of its brand identity.
So every entrepreneur who must build a great business must know how to find the perfect name, and it begins with understanding:
Why Every Business Needs the Perfect Name
In the same way names like Apple, Tesla, and Amazon have become precious assets and fundamental to the brand identities of these companies, your brand name too can also contribute immense value to your business.
And if your company must stand out, reach the same degree of success as these huge corporations by quickly winning the hearts and minds of your target market, you’ll need a strong brand name since it can help you:
- Get Attention: Your company’s name can help it stand out from the crowd, attract attention, and create sales.
- Create a Personal Bond with Your Audience: A great brand name can help your business connect with its target audience deeply.
- Create Buzz: Your brand name can get customers excited about your brand.
- Encourage Customer Referrals: Companies with attractive names get a lot of customer referrals.
- Increase Sales: A memorable name will help your business boost its sales.
- Reduce Marketing Expenses: A memorable name will lower your marketing costs by making your business more remembered.
- Attract the Best People: The perfect name is crucial in creating a company that employees will be excited to work for.
Now that we have a solid idea of what the perfect name can contribute to your business, let’s look at how you can come up with a perfect name for your company.
The 5 Critical Steps to Finding the Perfect Name for Your Business
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1. Knowing what you want Your Business to Be
Starting a business isn’t a simple task; a lot of activities would demand your immediate attention, but every entrepreneur hoping to build a great business understands that they must take out time to ask themselves this question, “Who do I want my business to be when it grows up?”
Answering this question gives them a great understanding of their business’s true essence and takes them a step closer to finding a perfect name that embodies this essence. But the answer to this question lies in having a strong understanding of your business.
2. Know the Best Tone for your Business
Tone refers to the personality and mood given by a location, story, song, or company. If you want your business to have a powerful effect on the market, then your company’s brand tone needs to match your goals and appeal to your target audience.
If your name doesn’t emotionally connect with your target audience, it loses its potency. So choose the right tone because it affects your business and how people perceive your products and services.
But, before you choose a tone, make sure you understand your target audience and why they should be interested in your company. Also, look at your competitors’ branding to see what they have and how your company can either blend in or stand out.
Knowing your tone will assist you in deciding if your name should be:
- Playful
- Innovative
- Practical
- Intriguing
- Emotionally Impactful
3. Know your Branding Elements
Courtesy: Unsplash
Identifying the best tone for your name isn’t enough if you must create a successful business. So, grab your iPad or writing materials and put down ideas for each of these elements since your mastery of them will establish the identity of your business.
- Big Ideas: What are the guiding principles of your company?
- Values: What are your values when it comes to your company and audience?
- Brand Story: What is the story behind your business?
- Industry specifics: What are the ideals that your company promotes in your industry?
- Benefits: Why should customers choose to do business with you?
- Emotions: What powerful emotion do you want your audience to experience?
These elements are the necessary ingredients that’ll have a significant impact on the name you choose.
You’ll use bits and pieces of this information to construct a list of names when you brainstorm name ideas for your business.
It’s fine if every name doesn’t align with every piece of information on this list; the idea is to focus on getting the main components of your brand’s name right.
4. Create a Simple Project Statement
Now that you’ve identified the core elements of your brand, it’s time to write a simple project statement that encapsulates the essence of what your brand name should communicate.
Here’s a great example:
- Our Health and Wellness Company needs an appealing brand name that will stick out among the traditional names in the market and appeal to a younger audience demographic.
5. It’s time to Brainstorm
All the steps you took earlier would lead to this very point where you’d have to put your creativity to work and come up with unique brand names that reflect your company’s personality.
As you engage your imagination, focus on coming up with powerful, short, memorable, engaging, and bold words.
And just in case your brainstorming session stretches for days, maybe weeks, and it starts looking like an impossible task, then a great way you can get a name that fits your brand’s personality is by using a powerful business name generator.
The best name for you might be:
- Real words like Apple
- Misspelled words like Tumblr
- Compound word words like Snapchat
- Transmutated words like Zumba
- Acronyms like HP
Use your creativity, and don’t be afraid to be daring.
Test Your Ideal Names
If you’ve made it this far, you’d have found a few names that meet all your business’s needs. But don’t just randomly select a name for your business; test each of them with an audience and choose the best one.
The perfect name is memorable, sounds nice, and it’s also easy to say and spell. But that’s not all, it must also have an available domain, and social media handles to help your business build its presence online.
Author Bio
Grant Polachek is the Head of Branding at Inc 500 company Squadhelp.com, the world’s #1 naming platform, with 30,000+ customers from early-stage startups across the globe to the largest corporations including Nestle, Philips, Hilton, Pepsi, and AutoNation. Get inspired by exploring these winning business name ideas.
