5 Tips For Naming Your Small Business

While some entrepreneurs have a name that comes to them immediately, most struggle to come up with the right name for their small business. Whether you invent the company’s name yourself or hire a small business consulting firm to help, the following tips will ensure your name represents your brand well and sets you up for years of success.

1. Easy To Spell

Consulting ServiceAccording to a survey conducted in 2009, “well over 50 percent of Americans and Brits earn low marks on a spelling test made up of everyday words such as ‘accidentally’ and ‘friend’.” Unless your company is targeting subject matter experts, make sure when naming your small business, the name is as easy to spell as possible.

2. Domain Availability

A domain is your website’s address or URL. Making sure you get the .com version of your company’s name is important. The more succinct the URL, the better. Visiting a site like GoDaddy, who sells domains, will let you know if a site is taken. If the website is taken, sometimes you can arrange to buy the site by contacting the owner directly or by using a broker. When you are buying the .com name, it might be worth buying the .net, .org, and .biz names at checkout. This can offer cheap insurance by protecting against any copycats or potential misunderstandings down the road. Make sure you redirect all extra domain names to point at your main .com URL.

naming your business

3. Make Sure It Is Not Trademarked Or Incorporated

A Google search, combined with a more detailed search on USPTO.gov will help you figure out if the name you want is protected intellectual property.  Staying away from anything similar to currently protected words is a best practice. Checking with a lawyer can ensure you that you’re not infringing upon someone’s intellectual property rights. The department of financial institutions in your state can verify there are no companies with a similar name operating in your state.

naming your small business
A screen grab of the USPTO website

4. Your Name Should Have Meaning

Companies like Google and Kodak picked names that started out as meaningless words, but they have spent millions of dollars to establish their brand identity and ensure their name is synonymous with their industry. While inventing a word can be incredibly powerful, if pulled off, most small business coaches agree that you will sink in marketing expenses before the name establishes any traction. 

At North Consulting Services, we suggest conveying meaning with your name. Companies like Ticket Master named their company effectively by describing what their business does and evoking a feeling in their clients. This naming strategy can help attract clients by defining your business’s services without further need to investigate and can even help with search engine optimization (SEO).

5. Test Your Name

Unless you hire a small business consulting firm or an advertising agency, it is best to test your name with family, friends, or even a focus group if finances allow. Testers should be asked to spell the name, what thoughts the name evokes, and if they would consider doing business with that company solely based on the name. A quick Google search will also warn you if the name is negatively associated with an event, a prior company, or means something undesirable in slang or another language.

In Conclusion

naming your small businessMaking sure you are happy with the name of your small business is important. Hopefully, your idea will blossom into a business that lasts generations. If you are having trouble thinking of a name for your company, try using a thesaurus or a word generator for inspiration. If you are still having trouble or are interested in naming your small business as a client of our small business consulting firm, please contact us.