You might think that the name of your business is not particularly important; it is more vital that you are able to offer the best possible products and services to your customers. However, you would be wrong.
Yes in the grand scheme of things, your products and services, and how appealing they are to the target audience is going to be more important than the name of your company, but customers might never get to know how good the things you sell are if they are put off by any aspect of your branding and the name of your business is a big part of that.
With that in mind, let’s take a look at some of the most common mistakes business owners make when naming their companies so that you can avoid the pitfalls and choose a name that appeals to your audience sums your company up well, and ultimately leads to more sales.
Asking too many people for their input
It might seem that asking as many people as possible to weigh in on the potential name of your business would be a really good idea because if more people agree that it is good, it is likely to be more appealing, right? Wrong, when you ask everyone from your friends and family to employees to ransom people in the street what they think of your business name, not only are they not likely to be brutally honest with you, but you are more likely to end up with an ‘OK” name that is not offensive to anyone but which is not exactly inspiring either.
It’s far better to choose the name with just yourself and a couple of the people who are most likely, to be honest, or even better, who also have an interest in your business to pitch ideas and come up with something interesting. Having a mix of creative and practical people pitch ideas is also useful as then you won’t get a name that is either too practical or too whimsical.
Choosing a name that has negative connotations
You might think this is obvious and there is no way that you would ever do this but so many companies end up entering business names that have negative connotations because they simply do not realize that the words they are using mean something else in another territory or have another meaning in slang.
Most people will choose companies that have a name with positive connotations to them, so this can be a huge disaster for your burgeoning business. The good news is, it’s easy to avoid giving your business a negative name by simply checking the dictionary, then Googling it to see if it has any alternative negative meaning or associations with a negative news story or whatever. Be as thorough as you can if you want to avoid embarrassment.
Splicing two words together
There are so many businesses that name themselves by splicing together a noun and adjective that sums up what they do. For example, they might call themselves RelaxiSpa if they offer a relaxing spa experience.
You might think this is a good way to name your business because it sets out exactly what you do. The thing is, not only do the two words not flow together particularly well, but they come across as being a rather boring, uninspiring company when really they might be doing great innovative things.
The last thing you want to do is make your business brand seem a bit dull, so try to avoid cliched word-spliced names like that if you possibly can when registering your business via my company formations. Think outside the box a bit more and you will ultimately come up with a much catchier attractive name that will have people running to buy your products and services.
Being too literal
On a related note, you should also try to avoid calling your business something that is too literal as that can also come off a bit boring. What do I mean?? Imagine if Google had called itself Internet Directory or Coca-Cola has called itself Sweet Liquid. These descriptions might be accurate but they don’t exactly inspire, and they definitely do not give anyone the sense of excitement or intrigue that are necessary for marketing purposes.
Being literal might seem like the right way to go when you run a very practical business, perhaps selling electronic components or basic household goods, but that really is not the case. People prefer brand names that evoke a certain feeling rather than one that just blandly states what the company does.
Using the name of your location
Many will take the route of naming themselves after the location they are based in. So, they’ll call themselves The Seattle T-shirt Store or the London Haircare Company. This might seem like a good idea at the time, but those businesses may suffer as a result of their naming choices due to the nature of online searches. Their company may be more likely to show up for people searching in their location but less likely to do so when people in other locations search for their goods and services, which means they could be missing out on a lot of potential revenue.
Choosing a name that’s too out there
After reading all this, you might think that using a really obscure word to name your company is the way to go, but again, that can backfire, If not enough people know that Putus means clean in Latin, they may again be confused about the exact nature of your business whereas if you were to call it Pure, that would give them a better sense of what your products achieve.
If you can avoid making these mistakes, naming your business should be simple and effective, and your brand should be much stronger as a result. The name of your business sets the tone for your brand as a whole, so do not rush in and take the time to get it right.
(Disclaimer: This content is a partnered post. This material is provided as news and general information. It should not be construed as an endorsement of any investment service. The opinions expressed are the personal views and experience of the author, and no recommendation is made.)
