How to Name a Business Customers Will Remember

As a business owner in the 2020s, having your brand name be memorable to consumers is one of the biggest challenges you face. Every day, people are assaulted with a barrage of information wherever they turn. Be it on their phone, watching TV, driving with the radio on, or even on the side of a bus driving past. Branded advertising is everywhere.

Competition isn’t slowing down either. Digital spaces in particular are becoming more crowded, encouraged by AI-powered content creation tools. As such, brand memorability is harder to achieve.

Deciding on a name for your business shouldn’t be rushed, as it’s often a more complex task than expected and will define your direction. You should treat your name as an extension of your business plan, as it needs to reflect what you do, your goals, and your values. This blog will teach you how to create a memorable business name that fits your mission.

 

Why Names Matter

The one constant in your marketing will be your company name. It’s attached to every email you send, your website, social media posts, and even your products and uniforms. It’s there for users from the first touchpoint until they make a purchase.

Your business name is one factor alongside the others that make up your brand identity, including:

 

• Logos.
• Symbols.
• Characters.
• Colour palette.
• Tone of voice.
• URLs.

 

While these elements make a significant contribution to your brand, the name is most likely to be the ‘evergreen’ aspect. Branding refreshes typically involve tweaking logos, colours, and slogans, but the business name almost always remains the same. This is because it is the main factor that provides continuity for customers.

Steps to Develop a Memorable Business Name

Reaching the ideal name for your business doesn’t happen overnight. Instead, you should take the time to ensure the name reflects your business values, the nature of its products, and how it provides services.

It’s also important to choose a name that will last, as over time, your business name will be referenced and linked to in various parts of the internet. This can add authority to your brand and help it to rank for certain search terms. But if your business name changes, these brand mentions will become outdated.

 

Refer to your business plan

You’ll have likely spent hundreds of hours toiling over your business plan, during which time the brand name should have been a major focus. If you’re still deciding on a name, going back through your initial thought processes can provide a great deal of insight into which names could fit your business’s brand identity.

Think of the business name as a summary of your plan. It should make it clear what you sell and/or what services you provide, along with giving an insight into your values and aligning with your brand story. If you can’t tick all these boxes, you should at least avoid conflicting with them.

 

Brainstorm anything you think has legs

When you’re in the pre-registration phase, you have complete freedom to consider all branding ideas. You should make the most of this time, as once you settle on a name and visual identity, it can be difficult to stray too far away from it. We often see companies tweak their logo and try different marketing campaigns, but rarely a full name refresh.

If you come up with a potential business name, put it on some merchandise, put it in an email, say it out loud, and most importantly, get the opinion of people who aren’t involved in your business.

 

Explore creative ideas

Did you know? Google is named after the term ‘Googol’, which is the mathematical name for the number 1 followed by a hundred zeros. Reworking some industry jargon like this could provide some out-of-the-box ideas. You can smash multiple words together to make use of both meanings, or even invent new words which could have the right feel.

If you have friends and family who are willing to provide honest feedback, especially if they fall into your business’s target demographic, don’t be afraid to reach out. They’ll be able to offer a fresh perspective, and might prefer names you had already disregarded during the initial stages.

 

Professional Advice for Brand Naming

If you’re looking to establish your business online, whether it’s to sell online or to provide services, you can benefit from a memorable name. Aside from helping to grab users’ attention while they’re scrolling social media or looking through search results, a memorable brand is more likely to stick in people’s minds when they next think about the associated service/type of product/niche/etc.

 

Don’t:

• Choose something generic: People are unlikely to remember your brand name if it includes words that are often used in general conversation. Common phrases can also create confusion for people trying to find your business online. For instance, a beauty and personal care brand called ‘Luxury Skincare’. Think outside the box.
• Pick an overly wordy name: The most memorable brands don’t have complicated names. If your business name is hard to pronounce or spell, it’ll be harder for it to stick in people’s heads.
• Include a location in your name unless you’re certain the business will remain nearby: This will create confusion if you ever move the business, but can also have a detrimental effect on future local SEO efforts.
• Decide solely based on SEO: Even if your chosen name is search-engine friendly now, this won’t always be the case. You also risk choosing a name that doesn’t accurately reflect your brand, which can be more damaging in the long term.
• Choose a name without an available domain: A good rule of thumb is to always check that there’s an available website domain with the name you’re planning to use. Having a website that matches your brand name is essential to avoid confusion for customers and search engine crawlers.

 

How to Get the Most Out of Your Business Name

Brand names permeate throughout business marketing, from social media and emails to website landing pages and printed materials. As such, there are many ways to stretch the influence of your brand name to work across multiple channels.

Consider how your brand name could fit into a sentence or phrase. For instance, if you’ve already come up with a catchy slogan or tagline for the business (think ‘Every Little Helps…’), then you can test how the name would look and feel next to it. Similarly, try saying your chosen brand name out loud. Even if you don’t have a brick-and-mortar shop to sell from, it’s still important that people can talk about your brand without stumbling over the words.

Lastly, your business name will often sit side-by-side, or even within, graphic designs. If you’ve settled on the brand colour palette, test how your name looks in those colours. Font choice can also have a big impact on how your name comes across. While these factors might seem minor, you can bet all the biggest brands in the world continue to consult graphic designers and experts in brand marketing to ensure their business’s image is maintained.

 

Conclusion: Keep it Personal

Ultimately, your business name should reflect a lot of your personal preferences and experiences. Don’t get caught up in what other businesses in the market have named themselves. As long as your business doesn’t have the same name as someone else’s in your niche, following the dos and don’ts in this blog will help you settle on a business name that works for you.

People are no longer discovering brands solely through Google search. They also find products and services through shared social media posts, affiliate articles, YouTube product reviews, and word of mouth. Having a memorable brand name which cuts through the noise is a valuable long-term marketing asset.