Naming Your New Business

Five Strategies to Successfully Branding your Startup

You’re ready to launch your new company and you’ve got pretty much everything you can think of planned out and strategized, from a business plan to location and services provided. There’s just one thing you’ve yet to come up with; a name for your company. Figuring out what to call your new startup seems like it would be quite a simple task; in reality, it may be anything but easy. There are so many things to consider when choosing a name. If you go with a bland name or one that’s too descriptive, your company might go unnoticed, but if you go with a bold and edgy name, the brand might come across as risky or unreliable. So how in the world do you find a name that best represents you and your brand? Let’s look at five important strategies to consider help you chose a name that will fit your company’s goals and objectives.

1. Know What Your Objectives Are

   It’s important to remember to take the time to really put some thought into naming your company. With so much to do and organize, a name might seem like it’s low on the list of priorities. Instead it should be one of your top priorities after all, this is what’s going to sell your company’s brand. So, you need to approach naming your company like you would with all other crucial business decisions and to start out, ask yourself what your objectives are concerning your business. What do you want the name to accomplish for your business? Do you want to go with a name that stands out in a crowd of other businesses, or do you want it to sound familiar and like it belongs? Will the name still fit with the growth of your company in the coming years? Will the name allow for accommodation when it comes to new products and services?

2. Decide on Who Should Name your Company

   The question you have to answer here is whether or not you want to name the company yourself or if you wish to use an outside branding agency to help with the naming process; you’ll need to weigh the pros and cons of each option. For example, naming the company yourself will save you money, but if you’re short on time and preparations, hiring a branding company would help free up some time and relive the bit of stress you might be feeling regarding getting your startup up and running. If you do decide to name the business yourself, be sure to have your list of objectives handy during the decision-making process and if you decide to go with an outside agency, don’t be afraid to get quotes from several different companies to see who is offering the best value as well as the best fit for your business.

3. Get a List of Potential Names Together

   Whether you’ve decided to come up with a name yourself or go with a branding agency, come up with a list of top potential names to work with. Once you’ve got your list, it’s time to narrow them down. Ask yourself a few questions of each potential name. Is the name easy to read, say, and spell? Is the name engaging? Does the name pique interest? Does the name establish a platform with which to build your company on?

   Once you’ve narrowed down the list to between three to five names you’ll want to run them through a trademark search. After the names have cleared a trademark search, try using the names in a role-playing scenario, this will help you find out which names work well in everyday business conversation and which ones fall short.

4. Time to Pick Your Winning Name

   Now that you’ve put your top list of names to the test, it’s time to pick a winner. At this point you may have already picked the name, or perhaps you still have more than one potential that could work. So how do you choose? Well that’s essentially up to you, you’ve got to ultimately decide if the name fits the bill when it comes to representing your company, your products, and services. Just be sure that your winning name will create interest in your startup as well as invoke excitement and intrigue in your brand.

5. Develop Your Company’s Identity

   Coming up with a great name is an important piece of the startup puzzle, but it’s not the only one. Now you’ve got to complete that puzzle and that means coming up with a branding identity for your startup. This can include anything from developing a logo to thinking up promotional materials to advertise your company. You can even think of ways to use your new company name on promotional items like pens and t-shirts. The bottom line here is that it’s important to build your company’s identity around its name. That way you’ll build upon the excitement and intrigue of being a new startup and in turn drum up plenty of new business.

When it comes to choosing a name for your new company, just remember to have fun! This is your startup and your way to get your products and services out there to customers, so make the most of it and have fun along the way as you find the perfect name for that new business.