Naming a business is a vital part of any startup. This is because a company name has a lot to do with branding. As far as branding is concerned, a company name is permanent and it is something that you will carry throughout the lifespan of your business. Just look at the key players in the business such as Apple and Macy’s. They all have short but effective company names. Brainstorming your company name idea and your logo design are things that you should not take lightly especially in the stage of establishing your business. Yes, there are other elements that are involved in making a success but ultimately, you need to have a powerful company name.
Why is a Company Name Important?
It is the primary mean that your customer will refer to your business to and it will be used for promotional purposes. Therefore, when people are talking about your business, ensure that it is for the right reasons and the company name will evoke positive responses among customers and future prospects. A company name is highly emotional because it needs to evolve emotional responses among the people that talk about it. Everyone has a different association and interpretation of a company name.
Therefore, when brainstorming a company name, quantity is important for you in order to have a solid foundation for quality ideas. If you have a limited pool of company name ideas, you may find yourself feeling overwhelmed trying to find the right company name that portrays your business. Here are a few guidelines on how you can generate good company name ideas and hopefully, find it the right one for your business.
- Don’t do it alone
Two heads are always better than one. In this case, you can get five or eight people to help you brainstorm for your company name ideas. It is always a good idea to have other people in the room with you when you are trying to brainstorm for company name ideas. Of course, make sure that you invite friends or colleagues that can provide constructive ideas and are very good at brainstorming names. A good method to brainstorm company name ideas better is writing down the ideas on a large piece of paper and stick it on the wall. You can also make use of the whiteboard to list down all the ideas that you are generating with your friends in real time.
You can further assist this process by preparing the right material so that your counterparts can generate good company name ideas for you. It is always advisable for you to begin the brainstorming session by telling your friends what your business is about and what you want your company name to reflect. Having a clear understanding of what you want from the company name will enable your friends to generate company name ideas more effectively rather than producing results which are not aligned with the values of your company.
- Say it out loud
Believe it or not, having people in the room with you when you are brainstorming for company name ideas allows you to test out the practicality of your company name. You can test out a few aspects of your company name ideas which may include how easy it is to pronounce the name, whether other people can easily spell it or it the company name has already been taken up by another brand.
Having more people in the room can provide more insight about how good your company name is. This is why it is important that you select the people who can brainstorm the ideas with you. It would be to your advantage to have people who have industry experience to assist you in generating company name ideas.
- Make sure that it is available as a domain name
Assuming that you are opening an e-commerce business, it is important that the company name ideas you generate is available as a domain name. Therefore, during the brainstorming session, you can immediately check for the availability of your company name and domain name. Although there are differing opinions on whether a business should have a domain name that matches up with their business name, your best shot at increasing your customer recall on your brand is by matching up both of these names. Make sure that the company name you choose is available as a .com domain extension. If it is not available in that extension, you should reconsider the company name because having a domain name which matches up with your company name is important.
Conclusion
With all this in mind, you can now go ahead and find a few friends to set up a place and time to help you brainstorm good company name ideas using websites like Shopify. Having more people to assist you in this process will significantly improve the quality of your brainstorming session. However, keep in mind, that you need to invite people with insight about business and people who can provide value to the brainstorming session.
