Your business name is a window into your business. This is because it’s the first thing a customer knows about your brand. It also plays a huge role in whether they end up patronizing you or not.
With a unique business name, you stand out from your competitors, increase your brand’s visibility, connect with more customers, and boost your store sales. 88% of customers also say authenticity is very important when they choose what brands to do business with.
Although it’s just a name, there are certain things to consider. You can’t just put the fate of your brand on any name that comes to mind. That’s why in this article, we’ll walk you through what to consider before choosing a business name and how to create one for your brand.
How to Choose a Business Name for Your Brand
Choosing the right business name for your online store can be just as mentally exhausting as coming up with a business idea. You need to think creatively by putting some key factors into consideration.
Without this, you might end up picking the wrong name which will affect the authenticity of your brand. So, here’s a brief guide on how to choose the right name for your business;
1. Understand your brand identity
Your brand identity is everything that constitutes your brand. This includes the logo, colours, brand tone, voice and how you communicate with your audience. Think about Coca-Cola. Its brand identity is the black and white coloured bottles and the colour of the drink itself which depicts cola.
So, you need to choose a name that clearly expresses what your business centres on. Your brand values must be clear. What service do you render? What product do you sell? What benefit is it to the buyers? When this is properly answered, it will give you a clue to the keywords that should reflect on your business name.
Your brand’s personality and unique selling point must also be well-defined. Is your brand a fun type or it’s a serious one? If it’s a fun kind, then your name should practically give potential customers a peek into how fun this brand is.
2. Brainstorm for business name ideas
As we mentioned earlier, creating a name for your business requires creativity. After knowing your brand identity, take time to think and write down name ideas that look relevant to your business.
You may not be able to do this alone and asking others for ideas will be worthwhile. Do this by:
- Hosting brainstorming sessions: brainstorm with some of your trusted friends, colleagues, or potential customers on a name that would suit your business perfectly.
- Use a business name generator: you can try several online tools and name generators specifically designed to assist in generating business names. Simply put keywords around your business and get hundreds of unique ideas that are available.
- Create a word bank: Write down words that describe your business or products or terms associated with your business. Then, you can form a name by picking the ones that best explain the sole aim of your business. For example, Facebook was an app for pictures and they literally pieced two words together – Face and Book – a book for faces.
- Experimenting with word combinations: If the words in your brand name sound too primary or too complex, you can search for synonyms, acronyms, or a better way to make them suitable.
- Exploring different languages: you can consider translating relevant words or phrases into other languages to see how it looks and sounds. If what you get is not satisfactory, you might have to keep trying different options until you get a perfect one. A popular example is Volkswagen which means “the people’s car” in German.
3. Test the name
After verifying the availability of the proposed business name, you need to test the name in different contexts. A name might look great when written but may look off when placed in a logo.
For each of the name options you have, try visualizing each one in various brand elements like logo, signage, or packaging. Does it bring out your brand’s quality in each context? Or is it a wrong fit for one of them?
Finalize your decision, by gathering feedback from friends, family, and potential customers. Remember they are important to your brand’s growth. You can also conduct surveys or focus groups to validate the efficacy of your brand name.
4. Check if the name is available
After you have gotten the name you love, it doesn’t end there. Many business owners make the very expensive mistake of using the name as soon as they get it.
But then what happens if there’s another business registered with that name? It can cost you millions of dollars to buy it back. In fact, they can even sue you for using their trademark.
So to avoid legal issues and domain issues, it’s important to check just how available that brand name is online. Do this by searching for;
- Trademark registration: check the trademark to know if there’s a brand that’s already registered the name as their business trademark. If there’s none, you are good to go. Many websites offer this service. If you’ll be an international brand, search for the trademark in the countries you want to expand to.
- Domain name availability: Your domain name is a very important aspect of your business because it’s how you get sales. You need to check if there’s someone else using the name for their website. If it’s available, we recommend immediately purchasing it – even if you’re building a website anytime soon.
- Social media handles: you also need to verify on social media sites like Instagram, Tiktok, Facebook and more to know if anyone is using the name you want. You don’t want to fight with other brands to get your user’s attention – especially if they are already established.
Tips for Choosing the Right Business Name
You may have several business name ideas that look satisfactory. However, after a deeper analysis, you may detect that it doesn’t meet your standard.
To avoid picking the wrong name even after multiple reviews, here are some tips to help to bear in mind;
- Keep it short and simple
- Be sure it doesn’t have another meaning different from what you intend it to be
- Make sure you’re not using an offensive term
- Your business should be easy to spell and pronounce – this is so it can be very memorable
- Choose a name that’ll be versatile when you need to branch out to other business models
- Be creative – don’t settle for less
Bottom Line
Establishing a successful business begins with setting up a brand name. If your name is not short and unique, your target audience will have difficulty remembering and accessing your brand online.
Think about your niche, the products you sell, the services you render, and how your business name can help explain your mission. Once you find one, register it legally to help secure your brand name! After this, set up your online store on Creathor for free to start selling your products.
