How to conceptualize a brand name?

A brand name is a foundational piece of your branding strategy, and often the most difficult one to produce since you are trying to convey so much with just one or two words. It is worth remembering that a rigorous approach, being true to your brand promise, and getting direct customer feedback can fundamentally improve the chance of the name’s longevity and success. This article intents to help you make some crucial decisions and explain the process to name your business.

Do you debate on whether to name your brand yourself or get professional help?

With a good process and strategy, you can probably develop a good name on your own. However, you may not have the resources or desire to handle the project internally. While it’s no guarantee that a firm or consultant will develop a better name, they may do it more quickly and objectively. Here are some points to consider before arriving at your decision:

• The stakes: if you’re investing a lot of money into launching a new product to a major market with established competition, the stakes are high and you might seek some expert advice.
• Your confidence in your team’s creative power or objectivity.
• The amount of time and energy you have to devote to the project.
• Whether you can afford to bring in an outside resource.

If at this point you have decided to name your business yourself. Great!!!

Let’s move on to understanding what is a Brand name?

Keep your thought process simple. This will allow creativity to seep into your brand naming process. In simple words BRAND NAME reflects:

• You
• Your product/service
• It’s that first impression of your product/service that tells a story without narration.
• It’s your differentiator

Choosing the right brand name is an emotional, technical & functional process. How do you find a name that works for you in all aspects? The honest answer is, band name selection is a subjective process. An expert can give you guidelines, but what resonates with you and your team is exclusive to you. That is the uniqueness of a BRAND NAME, the storytelling process begins with that exclusivity you elude.

Let’s discuss some steps to align the thought process to name your brand.

However, my suggestion is to use the guidelines and go wild with YOUR VISION of YOUR BRAND.

Step #1 Internalizing & realizing

Stop searching online for resources to name your brand! Yes, read this point and close your web browser.
Cut information from any expert telling you HOW to name your brand and go back to your journal and write your purpose and vision. This information is for you and no one else, so be honest and do some insightful thinking.

• Why are you venturing into this field/idea/product/service?
• Your earliest memory of inspiration?
• What do you wish to create?
• Who do you want to cater to?
• How is this journey going to be fulfilling for you?
• What makes your product/service unique?

Step #2 Associative words

Write all words that you can think of, for your business.
These could be:

• Industry-specific words
• Service-specific words
• Differentiators
• Your inspiration
• Any associative words that come to you
  (* Read our list of 15 types of brand names to get some inspiration)

Step #3 Competition names

Now go online and start researching! See what your competitor names are? What other providers in your industry are calling themselves?

Step #4 Put names together

This is where the work play begins with combining, mixing or innovating

• Use web tools to search synonyms of the shortlisted words.
• Look up words that mean the same, in other foreign languages.
• Brainstorm with your team.
• Use name generators like Shopify Business Name Generator to get some ideas and inspirations.

Step #5 Shortlist potential names & evaluate availability

Evaluate the list against your criteria and choose a winner. Make sure you check the availability of the business name. Your entity name is how the state identifies your business. Each state may have different rules about what your entity name can be and usage of company suffixes.
In most cases, your entity name registration protects your business and prevents anyone else in the state from operating under the same entity name. Check with your state for rules about how to register your business name.
You might want to check on the availability of the domain name if you plan to have an online presence for your brand. Godaddy.com is one of the trusted platforms to check available domain names and also buy them. If someone else has already registered the domain you wanted to use, that’s okay. Your domain name doesn’t actually need to be the same as your legal business name. However it’s highly recommended to keep the two same to improve brand recall, but exceptions do exist if you are not left with a choice.

Conclusion

Your brand name is one of the most important elements for the success of your company. Taking the time to create a memorable, evocative, and distinctively unique brand name will give you an unshakable foundation for an effective branding platform that ultimately leads to your brand’s success and growing profitability. If you get stuck at any stage of the process (or simply don’t have the bandwidth needed to complete it), consider bringing in some support or feel free to hit us up.