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chapter 8
 
THE NAM E GAME
 
Naming Your Business
 
 
 
 
 
W
hat’s in a name? A lot, when it comes to smallbusiness success. The right name can make your company the talk of the town; the wrong one can doom it to obscurity and failure. If you’re smart, you’ll put just as much effort into naming your business as you did into coming up with your idea, writing your business plan and selecting a market and location. Ideally, your name should convey the expertise, value and uniqueness of the product or service you have developed.
Finding a good business name is more difficult than ever. Many of the best names have already been trademarked. But with advertising costs and competition on the rise, a good name is crucial to creating a memorable business image. In short, the name you choose can make or break your business.
There’s a lot of controversy over what makes a good business name. Some experts believe that the best names are abstract, a blank slate upon which to create an image. Others think that names should be informative so customers know immediately what your business is. Some believe that
coined
names (names that come from made-up words) are more memorable than names that use real words. Others think most coined names are forgettable. In reality, any name can be effective if it’s backed by the appropriate marketing strategy.
“I have learned that
success is to be measured
not so much by
the position that one
has reached in life as
by the obstacles overcome
while trying to
succeed.”
—BOOKER T. WASHINGTON,
POLITICAL ACTIVIST
 
 
Expert Assistance
 
Given all the considerations that go into a good company name, shouldn’t you consult an expert, especially if you’re in a field in which your company name will be visible and may influence the success of your business? And isn’t it easier to enlist the help of a naming professional?
Yes. Just as an accountant will do a better job with your taxes and an ad agency will do a better job with your ad campaign, a naming firm will be more adept at naming your firm than you will. Naming firms have elaborate systems for creating new names, and they know their way around the trademark laws. They have the expertise to advise you against bad name choices and explain why others are good. A name consultant will take this perplexing task off your hands—and do a fabulous job for you in the process.
The downside is cost. A professional naming firm may charge from $5,000 to $80,000 to develop a name, which usually includes other identity work and graphic design as part of the package, according to Laurel Sutton, a principal with Catchword Brand Name Development. A Google search turned up several companies that charge as little as $49 just for the naming work, but the benefit of using professionals is that spending the money now can save you money in the end. Professional namers may be able to find a better name—one that is so recognizable and memorable, it will pay for itself in the long run. They have the expertise to help you avoid legal hassles with trademarks and registration—problems that can cost you plenty if you end up choosing a name that already belongs to someone else. And they are familiar with design elements, such as how a potential name might work on a sign or stationery.
If you can spare the money from your startup budget, professional help could be a solid investment. After all, the name you choose now will affect your marketing plans for the duration of your business. If you’re like most business owners, though, the responsibility for thinking up a name will be all your own. The good news: By following the same basic steps professional namers use, you can come up with a meaningful moniker that works without breaking the bank.
What Does It Mean?
 
Start by deciding what you want your name to communicate. To be most effective, your company name should reinforce the key elements of your business. Your work in devel oping a niche and a mission statement (see Chapter 6) will help you pinpoint the elements you want to emphasize in your name.
 
TIP
 
Where to get ideas for your new business’s name? Get your creative juices flowing by paying attention to all the business names you run across in your daily life—whether the businesses are similar to yours or not. Which names do you like, and why? What makes them effective? Which ones don’t you like, and why are they unappealing? Soon you will have a clearer idea of what makes a good (and bad) business name.
Consider retail as an example. In retailing, the market is so segmented that a name must convey very quickly what the customer is going after. For example, if it’s a warehouse store, it has to convey that impression. If it’s an upscale store selling high-quality foods, it has to convey that impression. The name combined with the logo is very important in doing that. So the first and most important step in choosing a name is deciding what your business is.
Should your name be meaningful? Most experts say yes. The more your name communicates to consumers, the less effort you must exert to explain it. According to naming experts, name developers should give priority to real words or combinations of words over fabricated words. People prefer words they can relate to and understand. That’s why professional namers universally condemn strings of numbers or initials as a bad choice.
 
WARNING
 
One common naming error that can be fatal to a new business: choosing a name that’s difficult to pronounce. If people don’t know how to pronounce your business name, they will be hesitant to say it. That means they’re less likely to tell friends about your company or to ask for your product by name.
On the other hand, it is possible for a name to be too meaningful. Naming experts caution that business owners need to beware of names that are too narrowly defined. Common pitfalls are geographic names or generic names. Take the name “San Pablo Disk Drives” as a hypothetical example. What if the company wants to expand beyond the city of San Pablo, California? What meaning will that name have for consumers in Chicago or Pittsburgh? And what if the company diversifies beyond disk drives into software or computer instruction manuals?
Specific names make sense if you intend to stay in a narrow niche forever. If you have any ambitions of growing or expanding, however, you should find a name that is broad enough to accommodate your growth. How can a name be both meaningful and broad? There’s a distinction between
descriptive
names (like San Pablo Disk Drives) and
suggestive
names. Descriptive names tell something concrete about a business—what it does, where it’s located and so on. Suggestive names are more abstract. They focus on what the business is about. Would you like to convey quality? Convenience? Novelty? These are the kinds of qualities that a suggestive name can express.
Consider the name “Italiatour,” a name that was developed by one naming company to help promote package tours to Italy. Though it’s not a real word, the name “Italiatour” is meaningful. Right away, you recognize what’s being offered. But even better, the name “Italiatour” evokes the excitement of foreign travel. It would have been a very different name if it had been called “Italy-tour.” The naming company took a foreign word, “Italia,” but one that was very familiar and emotional and exciting to English speakers, and combined it with the English word “tour.” The result is easy to say, it’s unique, and it’s unintimidating, but it still has an Italian flavor.
Before you start thinking up names for your new business, try to define the qualities that you want your business to be identified with. If you’re starting a hearth-baked bread shop, you might want a name that conveys freshness, warmth and a homespun atmosphere. Immediately, you can see that names like “Kathy’s Bread Shop” or “Arlington Breads” would communicate none of these qualities. But consider the name “Open Hearth Breads.” The bread sounds homemade, hot and just out of the oven. Moreover, if you diversified your product line, you could alter the name to “Open Hearth Bakery.” This change would enable you to hold on to your suggestive name without totally mystifying your established clientele.
Making It Up
 
At a time when almost every existing word in the language has been trademarked, the option of coining a name is becoming more popular. Perhaps the best coined names come from professional naming firms. Some examples are Acura and Compaq, names coined by NameLab.
Since its beginning, NameLab has been a champion of the coined name. According to company president Michael Barr, coined names can be more meaningful than existing words. For example, take the name “Acura”: Although it has no dictionary definition, it suggests precision engineering, just as the company intended. How can that be? NameLab’s team created the name “Acura” from “Acu,” a word segment that means “precise” in many languages. By working with meaningful word segments (what linguists call morphemes) like “Acu,” Barr says that the company produces new words that are both meaningful and unique.
“It’s choice not chance
that determines your
destiny.”
—JEAN NIDETCH, FOUNDER
OF WEIGHT WATCHERS
 
 
“The naming process needs a creative approach,” says Barr. He says that conventional words may not express the innovation or new ideas behind a new company or product. However, a new or “coined” word may be a better way to express that newness. Barr admits, however, that new words aren’t the right solution for every situation. New words are complex and may create a perception that the product, service or company is complex, which may not be true. Plus, naming beginners might find this sort of coining beyond their capabilities.
DOS AND DON’TS
 
W
hen choosing a business name, keep the following tips in mind:
• Choose a name that appeals not only to you, but also to the kind of customers you are trying to attract.
• To get customers to respond to your business on an emotional level, choose a comforting or familiar name that conjures up pleasant memories.
• Don’t pick a name that is long or confusing.
• Stay away from cute puns that only you understand.
• Don’t use the word “Inc.” after your name unless your company is actually incorporated.
• Don’t use the word “Enterprises” after your name; this term is often used by amateurs.
 
An easier solution is to use new forms or spellings of existing words. For instance, NameLab created the name Compaq when a new computer company came to them, touting its new portable computer. The team thought about the word “compact,” but that word alone wouldn’t stand out in major media like
The New York Times
or
The Wall Street Journal
. So, Barr says, the team changed the spelling to Compaq to make it more noticeable.
BOOK: Start Your Own Business
6.22Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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