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Grow Your Business Choosing the Right Name
Grow Your Business Choosing the Right Name | Choosing the Right Name |
| Written by Chris Freeburn | |
 You've burned the midnight oil for months or years to build a stunning new product that will revolutionize the world, but now you face a daunting question: What do you call it? Choosing a name for your product or your business is a momentous decision that can have an enormous effect on how many of your new gizmos actually sell, or how long your company endures.Company and product names are brands. They are often the first thing a potential consumer learns about the business or item, and the impression that they create can be a lasting one. A cool product with a lousy name won't necessarily fail, and certainly bad names can be overcome, but hobbling your company or product with a poorly chosen or incomprehensible name certainly doesn't help. The name you choose will end up in almost every advertisement and product listing. Your company's name will be there too—as well as on your business card, which may be the first place potential clients or partners see the name and form their first impression about your business. "Making that first impression is absolutely crucial," says image consultant Jill Bremer, president of Oak Park, Illinois-based Bremer Communications. "Customers begin to form their expectations of your business from the merest mention and it doesn't take much to let them down," she adds. An inappropriately goofy or blandly generic name can undermine confidence in your product or business before the customer even meets you or tries out the product. So how to choose a good name? First consider what you want to convey. When naming a product, the name should be tied in some way to what the product does, or the activity or lifestyle it is meant to represent, if possible. Try to link the name with customer perceptions of the product or business. Short names with hard consonant sounds at their start are particularly effective, according to Paul Orfalea, founder of the Kinko's (now FedEx Kinko's) copy chain. "Think of Costco or Google or Kmart—the hard first sound makes the name stand out in a person's mind," he explains. "The shorter the name the better, since short names are more memorable than long ones. The easier it is for a customer to recall your company's name, the more likely they are to come and do business with you." Orfalea notes that Kinko's name was suggested by his early employees as a joking reference to his kinky hair. "Frankly, I never really liked Kinko's as a name for the business, but I kept it because I knew people would remember it—and that's half the battle right there." Try a brainstorming session during which you write down any and all possible names that come to mind. Then try out the best ones on friends or family or employees. What are their first impressions? Does it fit the product or company? Does it stand out from the competition? Avoid anything that is too generic. Do some research to make certain the name isn't already in use. Look at the names of comparable products or businesses. Try not to sound too similar to an existing competitor since it might lead to confusion in potential customers' minds. It's also helpful if you can use the name of your company or product as the domain name for your website, since it makes it easier for people to find you on the web, and thus adds more power to your promotional efforts. "The name you choose will have a big effect on your marketing, and possibly on your product's success,so take your time when deciding on a name," advises Bremer. |
