How to Unlock Your Creativity and Discover the Most Thrilling Name for Your Company

Let’s take a trip back in time to the 5th of July 1994, the day a company called Cadabra was born. At the start of the company, Jeff Bezos, the founder, had a tough time coming up with the ideal name for his online bookstore.

Eventually, after a couple of trials and errors, Amazon was born. Sitting on top of other possible name candidates, one can’t help but ask, ‘Why Amazon?’

Several entrepreneurs starting up their businesses, like Jeff Bezos, usually have a hard time finding the perfect name for their business because, let’s face it, there are several possible names out there. For instance, Cadabra and even Relentless were all possible names, but yet, not all possible names are ideal names.

In the case of Amazon, four things make it stand out as an ideal name.

• Firstly, the Amazon is the largest river in the world, and it, therefore, reflects the vision of creating the largest online bookstore as it communicates reach and authority.
• It’s a short and straightforward name.
• It’s brandable and doesn’t restrict the company to being just an online bookstore.

So, to help you create the next best name that’d be a perfect fit for your business, we wrote this article to show you the steps you need to take to come up with amazing business name ideas.

But before going into the main details of how to find the best name, let’s start by understanding why every company needs a great brand name.

Why is an Ideal Name Important for Every Business?

The majority of new business owners experience a moment in the dark when it comes to building their brand, and this could have catastrophic outcomes. These outcomes often lead to a quick decline, in which most startups fail. And that’s why about 20% of firms fail within their first year.

Now, you have probably witnessed situations in which a product or business name caused you to change your mind about purchasing that product or service. For a quick laugh, here are a couple of weird brand and product names you wouldn’t like to see while shopping: 

• A soda named Pee Cola 
• A manufacturing company called Analtech 
• A specialist magazine called AssCompact 
• Hooker Furniture

Don’t let your business travel the same path as these businesses. Always note that your company’s name is the most substantial connection to your clients. It’s a quality that every prosperous company possesses, regardless of its industry or the kinds of products it offers. 

Global businesses like Apple, Amazon, Mercedes, Disney, and Microsoft all picked the best name choice that immediately inspired positive feelings in their audience and left a lasting impact.

When finding the perfect brand name for your company, you should handle the process with care since it will benefit your company by:

• Drawing in more customers
• Boosting purchases and investments
• Building a reliable brand-client relationship
• Lowering the expense of advertising
• Bringing in a competent workforce
• Helping create a distinctive brand identity
• Giving your organization a great image

Every founder needs to pay special attention when coming up with their brand’s name because it’s one singular characteristic that can easily make or break a company’s brand, hence the company itself.

That said, here’s how to choose the best name for your business.

How to Choose the Best Name for Your Company

Although there are two main approaches—the easy way and the difficult way—to choosing the ideal name for your company, neither one will work if you don’t have a thorough grasp of your industry and your target market.

Begin By Conducting Research

By conducting research, you not only gain invaluable knowledge about your target market and competitors, but you also gain a deeper understanding of your industry. It’d tell you what works, what doesn’t, and how your company can adapt to provide better services that would ease your target audience’s problems and help push your company to prominence.

Your research should cover these three important aspects of your business:

1. Discover Your Business’s Details

You cannot create a successful business name or even a successful business if you do not understand your business. You need to fully understand your business before you go on to research other aspects of the industry. 

You need to be well-grounded as to why your business, your product, or service was created, as well as its prospects, the possible hindrances you may face, and how to manage them.

An excellent way to research your company is by writing your branding elements. Doing this will help break down and outline the necessary aspects of your business. Like your business’:

• Big Idea: The primary reason you started your business. Remember that your business should be focused on solving a painful problem and not just making money.
• Values: What standards do you and your clientele uphold? It could be superb quality or healthy living.
• Value Proposition: What should make your customers look at you instead of the competition? What differentiates you from your rivals?
• Benefits: What would your customers benefit from patronizing you?

Getting your business details down can help you know the right track to take in identifying your target audience or competitors.

While drawing up your business details, identify if you want your business to take a traditional or modern tone. Also, find the best tone that your brand and your possible brand name should use. It could be a tone that’s communicating:

• Fun and excitement
• Intrigue 
• Prestige
• Emotion 
• Innovation

2. Know Your Target Audience

Regardless of what industry you’re in, your customer’s view is very important because they are the reason for your business, and failure to account for them in branding or creating a business name can be very harmful. You don’t want to be the only one patronizing your brand, do you?

Theodore Levitt, a Harvard business professor, famously observed that the purpose of a business is to create and keep a customer. Therefore, as Richard Toker rightly stated, understanding your audience is the most important job of any business, be it a small enterprise or a major corporation.

But how can you draw and keep a customer if not by understanding who they are, including their preferences, their environment, and also their thought patterns? The more you research your client base, the easier your branding decisions become.

A customer survey is an ideal method for learning more about your target audience. This would make it easier for you to comprehend their needs, interests, and best interaction methods. 

While you’re at it, remember that all customers are not equal and should not be treated as such. When researching your target customers, pay attention to where they are, who they are, their characteristics, and their business preferences.

3. Understand Your Competition

Additionally, keep an eye out for your rivals. Spend time learning about their brand, what makes them unique, their weaknesses, and how you can provide superior service. 

Obviously, these other businesses are contending for the interest of your target audience and, if not handled properly, can have their way and leave you with only a little share of your customer base.

You need to have adequate knowledge and understanding of who your competitors are. They aren’t just businesses offering the same services as you. For instance, You could be the only water bottling company in town and still face competition. 

Basically, your competition is any business or product that your target audience can use as a substitute for you. They could also be startups that offer a product or service that makes yours look inferior.

And with how much the world has grown, you can have competitors from other countries and not necessarily your immediate environment. 

Instead of focusing on bringing down your competitors, concentrate on how you can use the information you gathered to strengthen your business. Look out for services or products you should be offering and patents you need to trademark before another business takes it up.

Once you’re done researching your business, target audience, and competitors, you can now boldly choose to use either of the following ways to come up with the perfect name for your business:

1. The Hard Way: Brainstorming

It won’t be simple to come up with the perfect brand name. Many business owners get stuck in brainstorming, and that often causes their entire business operation to slow down.

To avoid this, put together a naming team. Your team could consist of your family members, coworkers, friends, or even your employees. Discuss the research data you’ve gathered with them and have them assist you in selecting the ideal name that aligns with your company’s needs.

Next, unleash your team’s creative potential. Look for words in dictionaries and thesauruses that express the values your company upholds. Do well to come up with as many names as you can think of that best reflect your business and target audience.

2. The Simple Way: Use a Strong Business Name Generator

Most entrepreneurs working under pressure cannot afford to spend weeks brainstorming when other areas of their firm need immediate attention, and some would prefer a different option out of convenience because brainstorming takes a lot of time. In cases like these, a strong business name generator is one handy way to find the best name in the shortest possible time.

But remember only to use company name generators only after you’ve done your research and are aware of what your consumers want and the kind of name that will draw them in.

How to Confirm Your Chosen Name is Truly Perfect

Whether you take the easy or hard route,  make sure you test your perfect name. This would enable you to determine whether or not it appeals to your target audience. 

Here’s a simple checklist that’d help you test your ideal name.

• Is it easy to pronounce and spell?l
• Can it grow with your company?
• Does it have a readily available domain and social media handle?
• Do your customers love it?
• Is it unique? Does it stand out from the competition?
• Does it have a negative interpretation?

Still, don’t stop with answering these questions; ensure clients find your brand name CARE—ing. And by caring, we mean that your chosen name should be:

• Contextual 

Perfect names are appealing to customers as well as relevant to the brand with which they are associated. The ideal name is the foundation of the company, supporting and establishing the tone for several crucial qualities.

If you want customers to perceive your business as a serious and reliable one, it’s not a good idea to have a silly brand name or a name that is far from the concept of the business and not relatable in any way.

• Appealing

Great brand names draw in customers by grabbing their attention and inspiring them to tell their coworkers, relatives, and friends about the product, which is another reason why you should consider your customers while naming.

Don’t be among the businesses that select names that are hard to say and spell since clients frequently find those names unpleasant or even names that have a different meaning when translated.

• Remarkable

Perfect brand names stick in consumers’ minds and are far easier to remember than random ones. Businesses with catchy names are simpler to market and are more likely to get favorable customer reviews.

It is usually safe to assume that a brand with a great business name knows what it’s doing. Therefore, decide on your company’s best brand name accordingly because it will contribute to its expansion and success.

• Evocative

Your target market will always respond positively and enthusiastically to the ideal name for your business. You must take care to choose a name for your brand that will appeal to clients, inspire strong feelings in them, and encourage them to think favorably of it.

What’s the Next Step?

Now that you’ve learned why every company needs the perfect name and how to locate the best one, ensure you trademark your brand name so you can comfortably build your brand around it without fear of legal trouble. Trademarking also helps prevent anyone from using the company name as your business.

By finding the perfect name, you’ve taken a vital step toward positioning your business for success.

Grant Polachek is the head of branding for Squadhelp.com, 3X Inc 5000 startup and disruptive naming agency. Squadhelp has reviewed more than 1 million names and curated a collection of the best available names on the web today. We are also the world’s leading crowdsource naming platform, supporting clients such as Nestle, Dell, Nuskin, and AutoNation.