How to Choose an Effective Name for Your Business
Naming a business or product is exciting, challenging, and nerve wracking all at the same time. It seems like a straighforward task, but in reality it’s rife with pitfalls. Let’s examine what qualities make a great brand name with examples from Vancouver-based businesses.
The stakes are high in choosing a name for your business, product, or service: The best brand names require the least marketing. They differentiate you from competitors, make an emotional connection with audiences, and effortlessly help build brand awareness.
A strong brand name should be the result of a powerful brand strategy and solid naming process.
But sometimes names are chosen informally (“I like the sound of it”) or for the wrong reasons, e.g. it’s practical, functional, or quick. Names that haven’t been carefully examined and screened inevitably don’t work out. Learn why below.
Qualities of the Best Brand Names
1 / Unique
It’s easy to miss the mark and choose a name that’s too similar to another existing business or product.
By choosing a unique name, you’re demonstrating to the world that you are different.
Changing part of your name, or the spelling, doesn’t make it distinct enough. The surprising truth connected to this: audiences often only retain part of a name that’s longer than one word.
Having a name similar to another business in your category might result in sending potential customers to the wrong business.
For example, if you’re planning to launch a pet grooming service in Vancouver, you’d want to avoid using “Woof” as the first word in the name as we already have:
Woof & Meow Spa
Woof Dog Shoppe (offers grooming)
Woof Wash Mobile Dog Grooming
Woof Woof Dog Grooming
An expensive issue is at stake here. If the other similarly-named business chooses to legally pursue rights to the name, you may be faced with:
Changing your name
Losing all the brand equity that you’ve built to date
Starting over with the expense of new branding
AVOID THIS PITFALL by doing your research. Start with a competitive analysis to rule out any names already in use in your market(s).
When you have a shortlist of potential names, consult your search engine of choice with potential variations on your business name in all the markets that you plan to do business in. Also refer to business directories, government databases, especially the Canadian Trademark Database.
2 / Memorable
If your name isn’t unique, it won’t be memorable. Going one step further, choosing a name that’ll stick in someone’s head when they need it in the future is incredibly important.
The name needs to be easy to remember, pronounce, and spell.
One approach is to keep it simple. Including more than three words will be harder to remember.
Think of convoluted quadruple-barrelled law firm names, and then appreciate some of the most successful brand names around us like Google, FaceBook, Apple, Caspar, Uber, Glossier—consisting of one remarkable word.
Solid Vancouver examples of simple names from our food scene include Botanist, Burgoo, Forage, Flourist, Nightingale, and Tacofino.
Another approach is to rely on mnemonic devices (techniques to help memory) like rhymes, puns, homonyms, or acronyms.
Being clever with a name assists with recall. Think of Elon Musk’s tunnel construction services company, The Boring Company. Some have called the name a little too on the nose, but it’s witty and thick with meaning.
The sight and sound of the name is related to its memorability. A strong name lends itself well to graphic representation. It also has rhythm and is easy to say.
Do you know how to say this brand name: XOCO? I struggle with it, so instead it’s “that chocolate store in Squamish.”
Names derived from other languages tend to be unique, but they need to be tested to ensure that audiences understand how to pronounce and spell the name after hearing it.
AVOID THIS PITFALL by conducting contextual testing, e.g. say the name, leave a voice message, mock it up on a business card, etc.
3 / Meaningful
What does your company stand for? A meaningful name communicates something about the essence of the brand, and it supports the image that the company wants to convey.
Meaning can be approached in a number of ways. The name could:
Be related to what you do
Evoke positive connotations
Reflect your mission or values
Connect with your audience
Vancouver’s craft beer scene is packed with examples of well-chosen meaningful brand names like Brassneck, Strangefellows, Andina, Luppolo, Container, Electric Bicycle, and Storm Brewing.
But having meaning shouldn’t be taken at face value. This isn’t a reason to go with a purely descriptive or functional name like East Van Brewing. Simply describing your product or service will make your name too generic—and, putting it bluntly, boring.
AVOID THIS PITFALL by doing the brand strategy legwork before naming. Creating a brand name should be part of a process that involves careful consideration of the brand personality that you want to communicate to your audiences.
4 / Future-Proof
A name should be timeless: it positions the company for growth, change; and is sustainable.
Don’t be tempted to latch onto a trend in your name, or focus it on your initial product. It’ll be restrictive if you decide to expand your product or service offering.
For example, Rocky Mountain Soap Co. started out making only soap, and now it represents a small part of their product offering which includes sunscreen and skin care.
A future-proof name is protectable. It should be available to be registered within your business trade area and possibly trademarked. A closely-related domain name should also be available for registration.
AVOID THIS PITFALL by envisioning the name being used five or ten years in the future. Remain open to the possibilities of expanding into new markets, exploring new customer bases, or broadening your product/service offering. Will that name still be suitable?
5 / Positive
The name must have positive connotations in the markets that it serves, and in potential future markets.
If you choose an unusual name, a word from another language, or an acronym, be sure it isn’t infused with negative meaning that might deter certain audiences.
When I worked at Artizia, their in-house street-sportswear brand TNA (short for Talula National Athletics) wasn’t popular with a group of mothers - not the end users, but the purchasers - who didn’t want their daughters wearing sweatshirts emblazoned with an acronym for “tits ‘n ass” (known as such in their generation).
This is a more common mistake that you may think! This post on “10 Worst Product Names Ever” has some great examples including one for a meal replacement drink called Soylent—which, to me, sounds disgusting without even reading about the nasty origin of the name. When you blend the two syllables together, I hear “soil” which sends me running in the other direction.
AVOID THIS PITFALL check the dictionary, urban dictionary (slang and colloquial phrases), translation apps, and say it out loud to ensure your name won’t be misinterpreted.
Creating a brand name requires careful consideration and strategic work. If you need help in developing a brand name that defines, supports, and enhances your business, contact me.
Blog image source: Elena Koycheva on Unsplash