Imagine living in a world without brands. A world where companies don’t offer value propositions, and businesses don’t use mottos, stories, and brand names. In such a world, companies would struggle because having a powerful brand always inspires the success of a company’s products. Businesses with faulty branding always underperform in every industry. We saw this happen in 2020 when brands like Washington’s Redskins, and Aunt Jemima suffered heavily for their faulty brand names, while other brands performed exceptionally well. When it comes to branding, there’s no vacuum. You either define yourself or your customers and, in worst cases, your competitors will define you. And the best way to define yourself is by getting your business the perfect name.
How The Perfect Name Helped Push Garage Businesses to Success
Most entrepreneurs don’t believe that their business has what it takes to stand out in their industry, so they don’t put too much thought into getting a great brand name. They seem to forget that industry leaders like Apple, Google, Microsoft, Disney, Amazon, Nike, Dell, Harley-Davidson, HP, and many others rose from garages to become the pioneers and leaders of today. And one striking thing they all shared was that they set up their business for success by choosing the perfect name early on. And that’s why you need to make sure you start your company with the best brand name because it can help you:
- Build a unique company
- Catch customer attention
- Increase sales
- Boost customer referral
Every small business in the market today—like a planted seed—is meant to grow, and finding the perfect brand name is your best chance of helping it do so. Here’s how you can find the perfect name for your business.
Know Your Target Audience
Every business is unique in its own right, especially to their audience. Customers are very picky and usually identify with brands that suit their personality, and meet the exact needs they require. Apple’s exclusivity and clean design has positioned them as a classy brand in the industry; customers who value being classy will always go for Apple over other brands. Apple is currently taking its strong reputation to other areas by building an ecosystem for its customers. But Apple could only achieve this because it knew its target audience and what they wanted. So, make sure you have an in-depth knowledge of your customers because it won’t just help you tweak your products or services to meet their specific needs, but will also position your business as a brand that cares for its customers.
Set Up Your Brand Foundation
Your brand’s foundations are those elements of branding that’d help you create an identity that customers can associate with your brand. So set up a great foundation by understanding your company’s:
- Big ideas: Identify the concepts that drive your business
- Stories: What personal experience led you to where you are today?
- Benefits: What should your customers expect from your products?
- Feelings: What customers should feel when using your products
- Values: Identify the personal and corporate values that drive your brand
- Industry specifics: Identify the specific values in the industry that your brand aligns with
- Value proposition: A simple statement that captures why your products should exist
Setting up these brand foundations makes it easier for your target audience to identify and patronize your business.
Brainstorming? Beware of Cautionary Zones
Building a great brand name isn’t easy because you can make fatal mistakes and still think you’re on the right track. Brainstorming—creatively generating a brand name for your business—is usually the most frustrating aspect of the naming process for entrepreneurs because it swallows a lot of time, not to mention that you could fill a paper bin with many name ideas for your business and still be far from the perfect name. So while brainstorming, make sure you take caution, and avoid zones that could make your brand name generic, or land you in legal trouble. Some of these zones are:
- Using symbolic words like Bridge, Spring, and Rockets.
- Using Single English words, which are slowly becoming almost extinct in the branding world because virtually every English word has been trademarked.
- Using Power words like force, icon, command, united.
Look for words that:
- Are easy to say
- Are easy to spell
- Sound nice
- Don’t have any negative meaning
Get an Outside Opinion
Two great minds are always better than one. So get a team involved in finding your perfect name. Getting a second opinion on your shortlisted names would give you a great idea of how industry insiders, employees, and even your customers may respond to your brand’s name. But it doesn’t end there. Your team can come up with great insights that can help you with selecting a strong name that meets your business’s needs. And just in case you don’t have a team, you can always use a business name generator.
Test Your Name
Remember, be careful while choosing a brand name for your business, because if you choose wrongly, your reputation and startup might never survive the negative impact of that decision. So make sure you leave nothing to chance; even after consulting your team and other experts, make sure you perform extensive audience testing to ensure that your name isn’t just perfect to you, but also to your customers.