In this post I am going to share with you the best tips to choose the commercial name for your company. [post actualizado]
What Name to Give My Business?
Every entrepreneur sooner or later reaches the crucial point at which he has to baptize his business, give it identity.
This is not an easy thing since choosing a good name is vitally important, especially because that name will be a long-term choice and is largely a marketing element that can make the difference between many or few clients.
In addition, your business is your most precious treasure, it is there where you have invested all your savings and surely all your dreams and therefore it must be called in an incredible way, don’t you think?
Indeed, choosing the perfect name that conveys everything you want is a process that can take many hours and hundreds of sheets of paper to find it.
But taking the time to brainstorm and analyze ideas is definitely worth it.
Reasons to Choose a Good Name Carefully
First, because the name of your business will be the business card that will make the first impression on your clients, a factor that makes it extremely important for its success.
Second, because the name of the company will transcend over time as it builds and grows into a large corporation.
Tips for Choosing a Trade Name
Here are the best tips for choosing the ideal name that makes you feel comfortable with it and some practical ways to find it:
1. Decide the Type of Name You Want
Descriptive or abstract?
One of the first things is to define if we want the name to be fully descriptive, that is, to transmit in it the essence of the business role of the company, or if we want to go on the creative side and create a very novel name for the business and abstract.
In some cases it is even a good idea to carry out a search on Google to inquire about the existence of that name or its variants even in other countries in order to find the best matches for it.
Examples of descriptive names:
- The toy house
- Latin American Importer of Spare Parts
Examples of abstract names:
- Toyland
- Unireupestos
2. Characteristics of a good name
For a corporate name to be successful, whether for a company or for a leading product, there are some high-value features that apply. First of all, that name should be easy to remember and easy to write.
This is essential especially in the information age because you will have to accompany your strategy with a website, your own domain on the web and your social networks.
Making it simple and easy to remember will allow a better positioning both on the Internet and in the mind of the consumer. If possible, keep a short name that does not lead to confusion.
Oh and it’s also important that it’s easy to write!
Don’t make things complicated with weird names, gimmicky letters, or confusing terms. Follow the example of: Pepsi, Toyota, LG or Disneyland.
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3. Choose a name for your business that has your last name
Another common and powerful way that many companies have adopted when choose the name for your business is to use their personal names or surnames or use combinations that include it.
Examples:
- Copher Brothers
- Mc donalds
- Mercedes Benz
- Ford
- Wendy’s
- Ferrari, etc.
This can give you a lot of prestige especially if your last name already has a recognition probably derived from the achievements of famous or prominent relatives.
4. Choose names that refer directly to your product
If your specialty is a product and you want everyone to know it at first glance, this is a great strategy that works and also positions you as a leader in your industry and an expert in your business segment.
Examples:
- BurgerKing (hamburgers),
- PizzaHut Pizza)
- Multi-spare parts
- Plastic World
- The House of Candles, etc.
5. Consider a concept as a business name
When we talk about a concept, we talk about considering a name that means much more than a product, something that can refer to quality, price or benefits.
Examples:
- Payless
- Shousource (cheap shoes)
- Maxibodegas (everything)
- I prefer (convenience)
- Lee Shoes (shoes)
- Yellow pages (directory)
This allows us to convey to the client an even broader idea of what your company can offer them.
6. Choose a new and very creative name
This is probably the least simple suggestion. In this case, you can choose as a name for your business a word or term without a special meaning or an illogical word to which you will give the concept over time and the conformation of your own brand.
It requires a lot of creativity and ingenuity to find it and above all some intuition because you will not know if it will be something that really hits until time passes.
Examples:
- Yahoo!
- Michellin
- Starbucks
- Cetron, etc.
7. Include your region in the name
This strategy will allow you to focus on a special sector or region for your business or to make your business more global.
Examples:
- American Airlines
- Europe Motors
- Central de RepuestosMexicanos
- Telmex, etc.
Start with a Brainstorming
Finally, the best tactic to find a good business name is to brainstorm among your collaborators, friends, family, and even (and very importantly) some potential clients.
From this brainstorming, we should extract a list of at least 10 most attractive names for the business that are candidates to baptize our company.
Having that list of 10 names in hand, the next step would be to conduct a survey so that some people can tell us which are the 3 they like the most and thus obtain the 3 best proposals.
Finally, among them, you should choose the one that inspires you the most confidence and makes you feel more comfortable and secure as it will finally be the name that will accompany your company for many years.
And of course remember the great principle in business: follow what your intuition says.
“It is not the name that makes your company but your company that gives its name prestige.”
In the comments below you will find dozens of ideas that we have published of names that our followers have requested. If you are looking for one for your business, you will surely find one here to help you find it.
