Surveys conducted on successful companies in the market have revealed that a properly created business name, will always help to solidify the business. Among the most crucial, yet highly overlooked aspect of any new business endeavor is coining an excellent business name. Although a brand name can be created with a proper marketing campaign over time, it is important to get this step correct as your business name will be the first thing people remember when they think of your company. A business name serves as the foundation of any brand and company image. The advantages of having a good business name are many, foremost among them being that a properly created business name can bring immediate value to your brand and recognition.
A research of over 100 companies has revealed that having a good business name definitely influences the company’s success. Creating a business name with recall value is no rocket science. However, before embarking on that, it is important to keep in mind some of the things which you can avoid, while coining your company’s name.
To come up with great business names, there are basically three things that you should keep in mind: Alliteration, activation, and neologism. Do the words sound a tad complex to you? They might, but I’ve elaborated them below. Read on to discover, how creating an attractive business name is really not difficult and can work wonders for your company:
Strength Of Alliteration
Some of the most successful company names are alliterations, like, Coca-Cola, PayPal, or Gorilla Glue. Don’t these names simply roll out of your tongue very easily? Alliteration is essentially the repetition of the same sounds or of the same kinds of sounds at the beginning of words. Using alliterations makes names easier to memorize and even fun to say. If its not easy to memorize, then it will be hard for any customer to recommend you or even find you.
Power Of Activation
Every word brings with it certain associations. For instance, work might connote labour, hard work, long hours, money, for most people. Words are particularly powerful, when they bring back old memories. The word “happy” might bring to you thoughts of traveling, relaxing, and family. So, a daycare company with the name “Happy Daycare” will give you a general sense of ease. “Wild Daycare Center” on the other hand seems a rather odd name for a day care and doesn’t provide the same sense of comfort as ‘Happy Daycare’ does. You might really like a word, say ‘petrichor’. But a business name, ‘Petrichor Software’ doesn’t really fits the bill. For a pool company, Perfect Pools is easier to remember as compared to Alligator Pools. Similarly, BestBuy implies that the company is the best at what it does. Thus, clearly, activation is a very powerful way to create innovative company names, by bringing up feelings of the customer.
Creativity Of Neologism
Neologism is the creation of new words or combining existing words to create a new word. It is another interesting way to come up with excellent brand names. Many popular companies such as Wikipedia, Twitter, and Flickr have created their names using neologism. In fact, a tool called Wordoid can assist you in this. After you suggest a specific word, it creates hundreds of new made up words from which you can choose your pick. I will share an interesting trivia with you here. The word ‘Google’ is a term, whose origins can be traced to the word ‘googol’, which is a number equal to 10 to the 100th power. The company creatively modified the name and its popularity today is such that “googling” as the action of searching the web, has become a layman’s term.
While coming up with business names, there are certain things which you should completely avoid. I’ve listed them below for your perusal:
Avoid Complicated Names
Computing Tabulating Recording Corporation. Do you think it is possible to remember and recall such a long and convoluted name? For the record, that was one of the early names of technology company IBM, short for International Business Machines. IBM would definitely have had a difficult time establishing brand recognition, had they stuck to the old name. Thus, the moral of the story is, keep your brand name short and simple. This will help others recognize and remember it the next time they think of you.
Don’t Change The Spelling Or Use Numbers
Imagine a hypothetical company named ‘FishingBokz’. A lot of time and energy would be wasted trying to explain and clarify to your customer, how exactly the name is pronounced. Masses tend to remember words they are familiar with and know how to spell. Do not change spellings of the familiar words. Also, try and avoid using numbers. For instance, if you name your company ‘Pictures 4 Ever’, it is bound to create confusion among customers. This is because such a name can be spelt in a variety of ways. It could be pictures4ever.com, picturesforever.com or picturesfourever.com. Thus, stay away from using numbers and make sure the name spells exactly as it sounds.
Conclusion
Our memory is very limited and filled with millions of other thoughts, so it is important for you to create a name which leaves an impact. Take your time in zeroing down on one name. Get a piece of paper and fill it up with hundreds of possibilities. Ask for suggestions from family and friends and then choose your favourites. Ensure that you check for legal trademarks beforehand. Also keep available domain names in mind. To ensure that the .com domain names are available, go to sites like register.com and type your decided name. Fancy names will attract you, but remember the three main objectives: choose a name that speaks about your business, is easy to remember, and stands out the most.
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