Part 1 of New Business Series: What's in a name?

Over the next few weeks, we will be doing a series on starting a business, developing your brand, and launching succesfully. We hope you enjoy our first entry!

Part I - What’s in a name? 5 important rules for choosing a business name.

• A winning business name has to be memorable – but easy to spell. Unique is good but difficult spellings or pronunciations are a bad idea. A quick reminder here to remember to research any name you would like to use to help avoid any potential copyright or trademark issues. A quick search on the internet should help you along the way.

• A winning business name needs a visual element. Generally we are hard-wired to “see” images when we read or hear language, and incorporating a visual element into your business name can be a powerful aid to customers’ memory (and a powerful advertising tool). So you want your business name to have a strong visual element to it. The catch is that...

• A winning business name has to have positive connotation. Many words have both denotation (literal meaning) and connotation (emotional meaning). A word’s connotation can be positive, neutral or negative, depending on the emotional associations that people generally make. The classic example is the difference between “Mom” (which has a very positive connotation) and “Mother” (which has a neutral connotation). So a winning name would be “Mom’s” cookies, rather than “Mother’s”!  When you create a business name, you need to choose words that have the positive, suitable connotations that you want people to associate with your business. If you are starting a trucking business, for instance, you don’t want it to have a weak sounding or negative name, such as “Willow Twig Trucking” or “Kitten Transport”. You want a business name that conveys strength and reliability. A choice such as “Stone Creek Trucking” would be much better. All these names have a strong visual element.

• A winning business name needs to include information about what your business does.

You need to be sure that your new business name at least gives your potential customers or clients some clues about what you actually do. That’s why you see so many landscaping businesses that have the word “landscaping” in their name, and hair styling businesses that include words such as “salon” or even “hair designs” in their names.

Including information about what your business does in your name also makes it easier for potential customers and/or clients to find your business in phone books and directories (both off and online).

And a last tip about names: think about colors when you’re choosing a business name. Colors will be an important component of your business logo and other business promotion materials and your business web site. But colors have strong emotional associations, too. Red, for instance, is an aggressive color; its fiery elements are associated with speed, excitement and passion while green is a calming color associated with growth, renewal and nature.

References: Istockphoto, About.com