What’s in a Name?

Names!  How important do you consider the name of your business to be?   On a scale of 1-10, would you be hovering around the 5 or 6 mark, or right up there, pushing the barriers to give it an 11?

Well, what you call your business is probably one of the most important decisions you’ll ever make.  After all, look at some of the most successful (and recent) brand names that are out there right now.

• Apple
• Orange
• eBay
• Ugg
• Facebook
• Microsoft

What’s the one thing all of these have got in common?

Short, funky, memorable and have an almost infinite amount of word play that could be used in future advertising.

One mistake that many people make when trying to think of a suitable name is to be over complicated or over logical.  But when it comes down to naming, you really have only two choices to consider.

• You can choose a name that clearly explains what it is that you do – as in Microsoft, Facebook and eBay.
• Go the funky, unique route with a name that you can use to develop the personality of your brand – such as Apple, Orange and Ugg.

Neither is right and neither is wrong.  Just go with the concept that you feel most comfortable with.

But once you’ve decided the kind of name you want to choose, how on earth do you go about selecting it.  One great tip is to use a technique we like to call ‘social media crowd sourcing.’

It’s simple (and best of all, it’s free!)

All you do is create a Google document or spread sheet and put a short brief of the business that you want to find a name for.  Add a question – something along the lines of please help me to find a name for this business – and then email it to everyone you know.  Friends, colleagues, acquaintances.  And don’t forget to add a Twitter feed and ask for contributions.

You might not get the name, but it’ll certainly provide fodder to get your creative juices flowing.

One final, and very important, point to do with names.  And that’s the absolute necessity of managing to get the .com URL that will go with your business name.  If you come up with the perfect name, don’t forget to register the domain.  And if it’s already taken, then find out who owns it and see if you can purchase it.

You need the .com – that’s where the real action is.  Sure – .com.au (or whatever country you’re in) can be good for local trade.  But if you want to go global – and you should – .com is the only URL to have.

Think big – think unique – think names.  On that scale of 1-10, the name of your business should score a 20!