Naming a business is not a piece of cake. You need to follow conventions for naming a business like any other naming ritual. If you are even just a little bit reckless, your whole foundation for your startup’s success may come tumbling down with all your hard work.
Naming a business rightly is as important as finances, management, staffing etc. People especially hire people to help them choose the most appropriate name for them, signifying the intellectual process behind naming a business.
In light of that topic, here are some of the things that you should avoid doing while naming your organization or it can lead to issues in the future or, worse, failure of your venture!
DO NOT MAKE IT TOO OBVIOUS
The name of your business should not plainly explain your business, when a name holds a story or mystery, it becomes more intriguing for the audience and thereby attracting them to visit the places or buy products or services related to it. If you sell books, you cannot name your business as ‘BOOKS ONLINE AND OFFLINE’. This is not only a very dull name but also limits the expansion of your business. If you want to sell more products like stationery or gifts in the shop, you would need to change your whole name, which is not convenient each time if you want to diversify your business.
DON’T USE TERMS THAT WON’T GO TOGETHER
In a desperate course to name a business quickly, sometimes people tend to concatenate two different words to create a new one, which isn’t catchy and compatible enough. It is like the trail mix but with ingredients that don’t go well together. For example, a jewelry shop names itself as QualiJew, the amalgam of quality and jewellery, but this is just not attractive enough and even drives people away due to lack of creativity.
DON’T USE A NAME THAT IS TOO HARD TO SPELL OR PRONOUNCE
While naming a business, make sure it is not too hard to say or spell, or it will not stay in the mind of your customer for a long time. This will also hinder the dissemination of your brand through word by people and thus, slow down your sales and the process of attracting more people, which is the primary objective while naming your business. Following this simple tip may prove useful in the long run.
AVOID REPEATING NAMES
If you do not conduct thorough research while looking for a name for your brand, you may get in severe trouble. Suppose your name is the same as some competitor which already exists in the market. In that case, the other brand may sue you or take other legal actions against you, which is a waste of time for both parties and it also involves much money and buries the reputation of your brand underground. If that happens, you might lose your business even before it starts.
DON’T BE OVER CREATIVE
One of the common mistakes that people always make while naming their venture is they pry too much into technicalities and look so much on the creative side that instead of being quirky enough, the name becomes a whirlwind of ambiguous spellings and words which people hardly understand. You need to be creative, but keep it down a notch and name something related to the objective and the products and services offered by your brand. This might seem like a straightforward piece of advice, but it is quite useful and has been followed by many big brands worldwide.