The first thing about your business that people will meet is its name. Unfortunately many business owners choose sub-standard names for their business. Choosing a name for your business is a very key decision that will affect the growth of the business. You must not do it in haste without putting many things into consideration.
You need to choose a name that will make people want to come closer and see what you have to offer; a name that on its own advertises you and gives you the first credits to beat competition.
In this post, I present to you ten unique qualities that every good business name should have. However, you must give much time to think before deciding on a name for your business.
1. It Is Short
The best business names are short. Business names with two-syllabi are ideal. Names like Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, FedEx, Yahoo, Apple, Sony, Samsung, Nokia, Honda, Shoprite, are all two syllabi names that rock. However it could be three-syllabi like Toyota, Mercedes, Picasa, Toshiba, or a unique one syllabus name like Sharp, Nike, Dell, Sprint or Shell, and it will still do a good job.
2. It Is Not A Phrase
The best business names are usually one-word names like Toshiba, Sony, Mercedes, or two jointed words names like FedEx, Facebook, BlackBerry, or two separate-words names like Coca-Cola, Rolls-Royce, Kia Motors, etc. Anything more than this becomes a long phrase and it is not good for a business name. Exceptions are institutions and corporations.
3. It Reveals Creativity
In choosing a business name, you must avoid names that are too obvious. For example naming a restaurant business, ‘Nice Food Restaurant’ is not cool. But naming it ‘Mouth Power’ brings in something new and wins the attention of your customers. Naming a car ‘Wonderful Cars’ is unappealing but calling it ‘WONDERS’ will certainly appeal more in the minds of your customers. Let your choice be an uncommon one with some creativity in it.
4. It Is Sharp
Some business names are too dull. When they are called, they create no further thought in the mind of the hearer. Such names are not good business names. The sharpness of the name depends on the first letters and the combination of the words that make the business name.
Using words like Success, Good, Nice, Best, Victory, etc. makes your business name dull. Using strange words, wrongly spelled words, words that begging with letters like Z, F, Q, K, X, V, could make a name sound sharp. Think of names like Xerox, Suzuki, Kia, Volvo, etc. are names that will wake up any sleeping mind, any day any time.
5. It Is Easy To Memorize & Pronounce
If you choose a short one-word name and a one, two or three-syllabi name like the ones mentioned above, it is likely not going to be hard to memorize and pronounce, although some two or three-words names could be difficult to memorize and pronounce depending on the language used. That is why very often when the language used is not a one that is common in the environment where the business operates, it is better to use a one-word name. This is seen in the case of most cars.
6. It Creates Curiosity
The best business names are names that cause people to think and talk. When the name of your business has a whole story to tell, it will always make people more curious to know what story you are telling.
Imagine calling a restaurant Hot Vapor Restaurant, Red Pepper Restaurant, Pot Belly Restaurant. All these are names that will make people ask questions; and when they can’t get the answers, they will come to know why your business has the name it has. This will bring them closer and could keep them forever, if you know what to do.
7. It Talks About The Business
As already mentioned above, the first thing people meet when they come across your business is likely the name. A good business name speaks of the business but not in a straight forward way sometimes. For example, what do you think the name Sharp, speaks of the kind of TVs they produce and how do you think the name Caterpillar describes the type of vehicle it stands for, same with Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Hotmail and Facebook. Some names just summarize the business’ operations, others speaks of one quality or the other which the business has and want to communicate.
8. It Is Not The Owner's Name
Many businesses in Nigeria bear the names of the founder/owner and/his family member’s name. This is not the best for a brand name that could someday go international. Although there are businesses named as such which are doing very well like Dangote Group, Ferrari, Philips, I still will not recommend the naming of businesses after the name of the owner.
It is possible to name a business with the owner’s name and it thrives, but it would have done even better if the name was something more uncommon, sharp and with much creativity.
Some business owners have names that can go for a business but for most persons, their names are not good enough for their business. The worst is tribal names. Have you thought that you could someday be selling the business that is bearing your name?
9. It Does Not Carry Punctuations Marks
It is not usually common to see business names with punctuation marks although we have a few like Yahoo! Coca-Cola, Wal-Mart and McDonald’s. Realize that the punctuation did not really change the name very much as it could still be read the same if written without the punctuation sign. Using punctuation marks is not really necessary for your business name.
10. It Is Not Abbreviations
Just as in the case of punctuation marks use for business names, there are few time when you see businesses going for abbreviations for their business name, for example popular AOL, AT&T, BenQ, DHL, MTN, HTC etc. Some of these businesses do this intentionally to raise curiosity in the minds of the people, who will be seeking to know the meaning.
Your business name should not cause people to be curious to know the meaning of the name but to know the business. How many people who own Toyota, Mercedes, Honda, Suzuki, Samsung and Sony products really bother to know what the names stand for? But the names are powerful in themselves and cause people to want to know what they offer.
Like I said, you don’t have to use abbreviations for your business name when there are many idle words you could use, when you put your creative mind to work. Also, if you a name made up of many words it could be reduced to abbreviations and the name will be drowned in a few letters that make no sense.
I am sure you can now sit down and get to work, coming out with a business name that rocks. When you start thinking and you get one or two options, don’t stop at that and get satisfied.
Very often when I think of business names, I get them like some kind of inspiration and I am tempted to always think I have had the best. However, later I get a better one and I feel different about the former. Take some time to think deeply before settling on your business name. Think about all the products and services you will be offering; think about the far future of the business and you will make a better choice.
When you choose a name for your business, choose one that is strong and goes down in history and never easily gets lost in the crowd of names of similar businesses.
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