[bctt tweet=”Many entrepreneurs have lost great opportunities from having the wrong business name” username=”SheLeadsAfrica”]
While some entrepreneurs are lucky enough to choose the right names for their businesses on instinct and impulse, many have suffered great losses and lost great opportunities from having the wrong name.
Today’s business space is crowded, it is therefore important that entrepreneurs take conscious decisions that set apart their businesses apart in the market place as well as protect it for the future. A business name is one of those decisions.
In business, it’s important to choose a name that sets you apart, one that will last. Every business should have a name that is catchy, a name that sticks. Put some thought into the name choosing process for your business.
Here are tips to guide you through the process of naming your business.
[bctt tweet=”Every business should have a name that is catchy, a name that sticks” username=”SheLeadsAfrica”]
Decide
Decide on what you want the name of your business to communicate; you want your name to convey your objectives as a business.
Choose
Choose a name that not only appeals to you but your target audience, your business name should be meaningful to your target audience.
Relate with your audience
Pick a name that your target audience can relate to on an emotional level; a name that triggers an emotion in your target audience.
Avoid unusual spellings
Stay away from unusual spellings; new forms or spellings of existing words can make it difficult to locate you on the internet.
Be mindful of translations
If you decide to go with a quirky or abstract name; check to make sure it does not have a negative or unpleasant translation in any other parts of the world.
[bctt tweet=”A good business name can quickly get you the right attention your business requires” username=”SheLeadsAfrica”]
Think of the future
Avoid names that can restrict the scope or expansion of your business in the future.
For example, you might start out making dresses for the Lagos weather. Avoid names like ‘Lagos Dresses’ because as you grow and expand, you might decide to start making skirts, tops, trousers for people across the world. When that happens you do not want to confuse your audience/customers.
Say no to long names
Avoid names that are long and confusing, you want a name that is easy to spell, pronounce and remember.
Be unique
Go for a name that is unique to you. Depending on what’s relevant to your business, you might want to do a business name search, trademark search, simple web search, social media search to see if the name is available for use on these platforms.
You do not want to start up a small business and when it’s time to go big, you realize there is a company somewhere with the legal rights to stop you from using the name, imagine what that can cost you. It’s better to go for a name that is available on dot com (.com), if you can afford to, you can buy the .net, .org, .info domain or any any other domain that can distract traffic from your website.
Visualize it
Try to visualize what your name will look /sound like in various adverts – print, radio, television.
A good business name can quickly get you the right attention your business requires, implications of the wrong business name, however, can be fatal, from losing investment opportunities to litigation: so much can go wrong from a seemingly simple decision.
If you are just starting out in business, you should consciously pick a business name.
Depending on how far gone you are in business, repairing a wrong business name might have to involve re-branding This costs money and should be done with the help of a good branding expert as it can also go very wrong if not done gradually and with caution.