The stress of the name game
I was listening to Adam Levine of Maroon 5 talking, the other day, about how difficult it is to name a new album and how much struggle and time it takes. I totally understood where he was coming from.
There is so much to name when you run a business, firstly what should I call my business, what should I call my packages, what should I call my products, what shall I name my Podcast, what shall I call this blog post.
Every time I sit down to write a new post I agonise over the title. I spent months discussing with lots of different people what I should call my new podcast, I went backwards and forwards, we discussed the length of the name, the impact, whether it should be called show or podcast, round and round and round and round to end up with The Angela Harkness Show.
When it comes to the naming your business there are some that will say it doesn’t matter. But I think it does. There are companies that when I see their name I am immediately put off by them. It is a gut reaction, it can be that the name is too whoo, whoo for me or too parochial, or wishy washy that it gives some a strong perception in the wrong direction that I move on to the thousands of other businesses in that area. I don’t give them a chance and there is no need to these days.. How many of potential clients do you think you could lose just because you don’t take the time to really consider your business name and the impact it has to other people.
What makes a bad name?
It is really strange to think but there are trends that seem to happen when it comes to business and product name. Think back to the early/middle of the 20th Century it was more common to see a business have the family name like Ackwright and Sons or Woolworths, Selfridges or Littlewoods. Then there were this trends probably at its height in the eighties and the nineties which was the decades of the funny name like Wok this way for a Chinese restaurant or Surelock Homes for a locksmith. Then we went through a trend of spelling a name creatively for example Cutz for a hairdressers or Kountry instead of Country. Then there was the one word trend, like Apple, Orange, Nike.
For some companies because of their strong brand, brilliant products and even better marketing they can make a success of the name. However, for most there comes a point when it just becomes dated and makes it look like, you don’t know what you are doing or that you are not going to provide products or services of quality and it makes it look l he the family decided on what to call it.
It doesn’t start at the family table
I am sorry, I know you are excited about starting a business, you may even have a name in mind that you have dreamed of since you dreamed of starting your own business. But, I can not stress this enough, it really is a conversation you should run by experts.
There are people who you can solely pay to come up with a list of names for you. Branding experts, this is what you pay them for, can help you to name your business. But, your family around the dinner table over a bowl of Spaghetti Bolognese may seem a fun thing to do but it could lead you down an expensive path. So I say no, no, no, no to that. Trust me, there will be a lot of people who will have a strong opinion about it but most of them will be people who have no idea what they are talking about. Invest in expert advice, it can save you a lot of pain in the long run.
Especially today there is a lot that you have to think about when it comes to naming your business, it is not just about whether you dreamt about it for a long time, or it means something to you or you think it is cute but real world business decisions come into play.
In this post, I am going to go through a few things in the hope that you take the advice and think about it before you find yourself in a world of problems and have to do a name change and rebrand not long after starting the business.
Who are you selling to?
The number of people when asked, who are your customers, they will say everyone. That is never the case, even for the biggest brands in the world. It is so important that you really nail down the makeup of your customers. You have to create a customer avatar. You have to create a character for them so you truly know how to communicate to them and your business name seems relevant to them.
Let’s say you are florist and your skills are world class, you match rose for rose any of the best florists in the world who are earning millions creating floral designs for the rich but you give your business a chintzy name with a creative spelling like Daizy Chainz and then chances are you cut off the very clients you are trying to sell to.
Let us say you do some kind of healing but the people you are trying to attract those that would not normally choose this kind of treatment. Giving your business a very whoo whoo name that makes the very people you are trying to attract roll their eyes is a dumb mistake. You will have to craft the name of your business, your packages and your branding very carefully. It is not a fools game so treat it with the importance that it deserves.
So know exactly who your customers are and then start from there.
Is it already in use?
The one thing that most people check is whether the URL exists and today because there are so many more options, than .com and .co.uk that used to exist some businesses don’t think beyond this and think they are saved because they can just add a .co instead of co.uk.
However, it doesn’t end there, you also need to check that the social media is available. If you can have the name you want as a URL and on Twitter but Facebook the accounts are free but on Instagram, SnapChat & YouTube they are in use then, I’m sorry but you are going to have to think of something different.
The name needs to be consistent across the platforms
Another factor that you need to think about is the length of the name because of username character restrictions on social media platforms.
This also is a factor if you are going to set up accounts for new products, packages, books or other elements of your business where it might be prudent to treat it like a separate entity for marketing purposes.
A great app to use is Namecheckr type in the name you were thinking of and it will tell you across the internet and social media platforms if the name if available.
You have to think legal
With everything so much more of a global community you can’t assume just because the name is available that you can legally use it. For example, did you know that the phrase Shabby Chic is trademarked and an Etsy trader is currently having to fight for the rights to use it?
You need to consider if the name has a legal license and if so where in the world. If it has do you think it will cause you a problem? Is it a similar product in the same category? There are a lot of questions to ask and you can not answer them on your own. For example, my business High Heelers, which was a coaching business, was sent an attorney’s letter from a company in the US who sold a product called High Heeler. They had trademarked that name in the UK and were writing to tell me I had to make various changes in order to ensure that I didn’t breach However it was in a different category and they had no right to challenge my use of the name. But it was still incredibly worrying, took up my time and luckily I have a friend who is qualified to give them advice otherwise it would have cost me a lot of money.
So do your own research but it is a must to seek advice from someone who has legal qualifications in this area. Don’t just cross your fingers and hope a problem will not arise.
Also once you name your business make sure you take the legal steps to protect it in the right way.
Creative naming
We already touched on this above, with the Cutz and the Daizeys but please be very, very careful with creative naming. Not only can it give such a poor perception of your business, making it look dated before you have even made your first sale but also you have to think very carefully how people find you now.
Think of some of the creatively named companies over recent years like Flickr and I used one above Namecheckr if you said the name you would then have to spell it, which for these larger companies is probably a hump they have gotten over but most companies do not grow to this size.
Also, the new challenge on the block is AI. So how does SIRI fair when someone says your company name or Amazon Echo or Google home? As voice command apps grow you have to think about this when it comes to your business name.
Sometimes it is better if it does what it says on the tin
So you may think, the name game in your business is a drop it in the hat the decision and as you can read it is not. The one big lesson I have learnt from making my own mistakes is that sometimes it is just better if it does what it says on the tin. To keep it simple and classy.
For example, if your name is Karen Smith and you are a florist, to call your business Karen Smith Floral Design is much better and classier than Daizey Chainz.
To win at the name game
With all aspects of starting and running your business, you need to surround yourself with experts, with people who walk the walk, they are always willing to help you based on the mistakes that they have made and the knowledge they have gained, Follow this advice and you will ensure that you win at the business naming game.
