If you thought finding funding for your small business was hard, try coming up with a name for your business. Although many people find it challenging to produce small business name ideas, it doesn’t have to be. You simply have to know what makes a name successful.
Make It Easy to Spell
Word of mouth marketing is still one of the most popular ways for people to learn about businesses. When you’re a small business, you’re going to depend on people talking about you. As people say it, others are going to remember it. When they get back home to type your business name into Google, Facebook, or anywhere else, you want to be sure they spell it right.
Most people aren’t going to take the time to spell out the name of a business. It’s just assumed that you’ll know how to spell it. If it’s a hard word to spell, a foreign word, or even a style choice to spell the word wrong, you could be in trouble. People may not be able to find you all because you chose to make your business name hard to spell.
Make It Easy to Say
There are going to be times when you’re talking about your business. You’ll say it in video marketing ads, radio spots, and even when you answer the phone. If your business name isn’t easy to say, don’t expect anyone else to be able to say it easily, either. This can lead to more problems with word of mouth marketing – and more problems with people spelling it online.
Think about this – if you have to enunciate too carefully or you have to spell out the name for people to understand, you need to rethink the name. It’s one of the reasons why you should have plenty of small business name ideas to choose from – over time, you’ll cross some off because they’re not easily said out loud.
Make It Memorable
Names have to be easy to remember. If you meet someone at a craft fair or a trade show, will they remember your name by the time they go to search for you? If people visit your small business and go to tell their friends, will they remember it?
Some of the most memorable business names are short and sweet. Once you start adding too many words (or too many characters), people may forget. That means you won’t get their business – and you’ll have to work extra hard to market yourself.
Make It Brandable
Once you choose a business name, you have to build a brand around it. If the name isn’t an easy one to work with, it’s going to be hard for you to build a good brand. If you’re a funny business, have some fun with the name. If you’re a professional business, make the name professional. The words you choose will have an impact on your audience.
Take a look at some of the competition in your industry. See how they brand themselves and how their name helps to support their brand. It will show you what you’ll need to do in order to actively compete with them. Don’t copy their ideas but be inspired by them.
Don’t Be Afraid to Break Some Rules
Marketing firms love to be the ones to lay down the rules that all of their clients have to follow. They want you to choose a website with a .com ending because it’s the most popular. They want you to have a profile for all of the major platforms. Oh, and they want you to keep up with an insane number of posts for all of those platforms.
Guess what? Some rules are made to be broken. And, you can start with the .com website rule. The reality is that there are over 100 million websites using .com. So much for being different. It will make it harder for you to come up with a small business name idea that has a .com that matches. Does that mean you throw your idea away? Absolutely not. It just means that you look for a domain that stands out – like .ONLINE. It’s unique, easy to remember, and allows you to get the website address you really want.
Once you make your website easy to spell, to say, and to remember, be sure that it’s branded. If you have to break some of the rules to make it happen, so be it. By the time you find a small business name idea that you’re in love with, you’ll be more passionate about marketing it – and that’s when it will be that much easier to succeed.
Why spend money on a professional marketing agency when naming your business is personal? Small business name ideas should come from the heart. As you explore the names, find a matching website domain and you’ll be in business.
