What’s in a Name?

Emogen recently had the great honor of helping a client name her new business venture. While that activity is right up the alley of what we do here at Emogen, it’s more common for a client to come to us for branding consultation after the naming decision has been made.

Naming a business is a very, very intimate thing. Those of you familiar with Emogen may recall that we associate logo design with the birthing process, so naturally we associate the naming process with, well, the baby conception process. Intimate, indeed.

What makes naming so personal is that it is a lifelong decision. A visual identity can be tweaked and altered over the years, if not entirely revamped; but a name is much more permanent. In today’s blog we’d like to share eight tips on coming up with a name capable of going the distance.

1. Develop your elevator pitch. Before tackling a name, make sure you have a good grasp on what your business will offer. Consider developing an elevator pitch—how you would describe your business if you had to say it all in one elevator ride.

2. Consider existing vs. abstract words. Existing words are useful because they can quickly communicate what your business does, but they can also carry baggage… sometimes negative. “The Twilight Club” might sound like a really awesome name for an after hours/BYOB club, but it could potentially alienate those repulsed by the Twilight book/movie mania.

Another option is to use abstract (made up) words, which allow you to mold the words’ meaning. Xerox, for example, was adapted from a word relatively unknown to the public, so the company was at liberty to give it as much meaning and personality as it wanted. A tool for developing the meaning of an abstract word is to clarify it with a tag line, slogan or descriptor. Emogen’s descriptor, for example, is Marketing Group and we use the slogan “we’re in the business of getting your business more business” to help show the breadth of services that can fall under the term “marketing.”

3. Don’t box yourself in. Keep your name flexible enough to accommodate future growth. Naming a diner “First Street Hamburgers” could put a limit on both geographic and product expansion. It might be a little confusing to customers when you open a subsequent location on Second Street or add pasta to your menu. Although you can’t foresee where you’re business will be in 5 to 10 years, you can think about your growth strategy. If you’re philosophically against ever opening a second location or having anything but hamburgers on the menu, then you’re probably ok with the name. On the other hand, if you’d welcome opportunities to expand, then allow yourself a little room to grow.

4. Look at competitions’ names – and then make yours stand out. Does everyone in your industry basically have same name? Take auto body services, for example. I’ll bet just about every auto body shop in your town is named according to the following formula: [enter name]’s Body Shop. Not that the collision repair industry is much on the creative end of the spectrum, but a little differentiation and effort on the part of one body shop could go a long way toward signaling customers that it is different… which makes way for the opportunity to communicate that different = better.

5. Make it easy to say and remember. Your Icelandic heritage may be very important to you, but naming a store in the Deep South "Sigurðardóttir’s Clothiers" would be a mistake. It’s not linguistically or culturally relevant, which makes it both hard to say and even harder to remember.

6. Make it look and sound appealing. Pretend to answer a call saying your proposed business name, “Hello, this is so-and-so with XYZ.” Did it sound ok? Did it feel natural? A name great on paper can prove to be harsh or odd sounding when spoken. Now try writing it every possible way you can think: all caps, all lowercase letters, different fonts, etc. Some words can look funny or downright ugly when written out. Here at Emogen we’ve fought a hard battle with “landowner.” Sure it looks ok, until it’s put in all caps (LANDOWNER) and one person calls out lan-downer… and then it’s all downhill from there.

7. Check in with the government. If you’re in Louisiana, visit the Secretary of State’s website and do a database search within the corporations division. A quick search here will confirm that your proposed name isn’t currently in use. Another place to check is the US Patent and Trademark Office, especially if you have dreams of expanding beyond your city. In addition to verifying name availability, you can also confirm your slogan isn’t already being used elsewhere.

8. Perform a URL search. If you think you might one day want to appear on the world wide web, check now to see if a URL relevant to your proposed name is available. You can easily perform a domain search on a domain registry site, like godaddy.com. Lagniappe tip: if your dream URL is available, go on and purchase it even it you’re not yet ready to develop a site.

Alright, so there are our eight tips for naming a new business. And while this list may not be all inclusive, these steps should get you well on your way down the path to the perfect name for your business endeavor.

~Sarah, Emogen marketer