How To Create A Perfect Brand Name For Your Business

A brand name is an essential part of you business and marketing plan. When your working by yourself it can be essentially a headache. We’ve got five tips to help you hit the ground running.

It’s the first stumble that many of us have when we have a great idea. As soon as we think it through and feeling good, you stop! What are you going to call it? You need a brand name but then another slight panic might ensue. How will the name be perceived? Will people know what it means? Is it taken? I know personally I have this happen to me at least once a month for the last 4 years. Brainstorming  a brand name can be frustrating. You want it to be perfect, roll off the tongue and stick in someone’s head when they walk away.

When approaching the naming process, obviously you name should be original but the term is relative. Originality can be expressed in different including spellings, pronunciations,  or even splicing words. Some may say that you should avoid these in your naming but I believe in coloring outside the lines when you are trying to be creative. Depending on your purpose and target market some things may more acceptable than others like omitting consonants or suggestive language.  In some cases  you may  need to bounce ideas off a friend or worse use a name generator. If you are really struggling consider enlisting professional help. Getting a grip on the direction you should go can be tricky but if you want to do it yourself here are five techniques that will help find the perfect name.

1. Define Your Business and Audience

Whenever you decided that your idea was worth the time for you consider naming it, more than likely you didn’t go straight making the business plan. The part of your plan I get the most inspiration from is the unique selling proposition or competitive advantage. Why? Because your USP will define why your customers will choose you and what people will think of when they hear your name.

On the other side you should also consider what your target market or your audience will be a fan of. Will they think it’s cool or professional? They make the rules in a sense and you shouldn’t always look to make your agenda out inside of the name. Don;t let people vote and go in a different direction. Besides if that’s who you are talking to shouldn’t you be speaking the same language? Define the attributes of your ideal customer or as John Lee Dumas like to refer to it as your avatar. This avatar is the representation of the customer’s problems you are solving. What’s that you say? You don’t solve problems? Then you won’t be in business long. Restaurants solve hunger and clothing helps define individual style. Every business solves a problem. Period.

2. Source The Lingo Of Your Target Market

Make your brand name appropriate for your audience

One of the most important parts of marketing is being relatable. People need a connection that is both emotional and memorable. It will cause them to action in some way.  The language of your target market isn’t just their first language.  It’s the lingo of the industry and the slang they use on social media. When looking for a brand name, I recommend exploring a glossary of terms from your industry. A quick Google search can yield great results. It may take three to four results before you can find enough to work with but it’s a great start.

Slang is much more prevalent than before. Social media has evolved slang into abbreviations and now emoji. Take a look at the most popular social media accounts in your industry and study what people are saying to the account when discussing pressing issue. There is a conversation going on and if you want to insert yourself in it, make sure the audience wants to listen.

3. Use Other Languages

Brand names don’t always come from your native tongue. Many brands choose to enlist words from other languages to describe what they do and find some originality. You will be surprised by the roots of some of your favorite brands. The world’s economy traffics in English  so I like to use Latin based languages like Spanish, French and Italian . Latin based languages work well because they often have similar sounds for the same words. By all means don’t limit yourself to these four. Maybe you have some unique heritage or you are a big anime fan and you just want some Japanese culture imprinted on the name, that’s cool too. You may need to spell things out phonically or combine a word or two for the desired result. There are land minds here.  “American marketers may have thought the Chevy Nova was a great name, but for Spanish and Italian speakers, it was easy to mock the “No-va” in their languages as the “car that doesn’t go,”. So be careful with translations and try to make them universal as possible.

4. Throw Words In The Blender

William Shakespeare would be a branding genius in 2016

We all know William Shakespeare but what some people don’t realize is he is an originator when it comes to language. Basically in many of his plays he was known to world premiere new words and slang. Taking liberty with the English language worked great for him, so why not you? Some experts will have you believe this is not a great a way to go but you can be the judge of that. You will have to live with your brand name not them. Lippincott a creative consulting firm, created the name Verizon in 2000 by combining veritas, Latin for “truth,” with horizon suggested a reliable and forward-thinking company.(INC). So it goes to show that you can go outside of English to take liberties with words.  Whether you choose to take to words and delete the space or combine into one it has to roll of the tongue smoothly. Brands like Skype, Photronics, FastCompany, Zoetis and AutoZone all fall in this category.

5. Check, Check, Check

You got a short list of possible names. If you want to make you decision easier do some quick checks to see if it available. The first priority is a domain check to see if the .com, .net, or desired extension is available. Use a site like GoDaddy, Google Domains, or Host Gator to confirm that it’s up for use. Next check the trademark database in you country. This way you won’t have any legal issues down the line. A cease and desist for your dream would be awful. If you are really paranoid about someone having your name, look it up on Twitter or Facebook. If you got past the first two checks you shouldn’t have muc
h to worry about but who knows. It’s better safe than sorry.

Overview

In the current climate, brand names are more important than ever. With social media being the common battleground sticking out is much more of a challenge than it has ever been. Combine that with the fact that the entry point is lower, you will want to find the right name from day 1 and build it. Take notice of what other brands are doing with their names in and out of your industry. You may find other techniques that work as well such as alliteration or acronyms. Now that you are armed with some ways to help come up with a great brand name, get your scratch paper out, do some research, turn on your focus playlist and let the storming begin.

Still having trouble? No worries professional help can be found for as little as $5. Over 1,000 people worldwide have trusted me to help them come up with brand names for their business. Click here for immediate help.