Common Mistakes to Avoid in Naming Your Business

Posted in Becoming a Business Owner | 13 comments

An appealing and memorable business name can mean wonders for your business’s bottom line. By choosing a clear and compelling business name, you are tipping the odds of success in your favor. Simply put, a good and appropriate name can add a lot of value to your business. It is vital to your business success – especially when first starting out.

Inversely, choosing the wrong business name can bring about a negative impact. It can even kill your business, either right from the start or gradually over time.

This is why you have to make sure that your business name is well-thought out and chosen with care. You have to get it right the first time. So before making a decision, make sure to avoid these common naming nightmares:

1. Avoid too long, difficult to spell, pronounce or understand names.

Obscure names will likely cause confusion to consumers. If your business name is too puzzling or complex, you will miss the opportunity to speak to your customers. It will remain a mystery or something irrelevant to them. It is also hard to pass along by wordof-mouth, or be easily found online.

Your business name should be something that people will find easy remember, understand, spell and pronounce.

2. Avoid basing a name on your product or service.

This is a good starting point, but won’t be beneficial to your business in the long run. Your business has to ultimately meet customer demands, and your initial offering is most likely going to change and evolve over time.  As your business grows and expands its offerings, your business name can become limiting.

Choose a business name that will give your business potential room for growth.

3. Avoid letting the map decide your business name. 

Small and local businesses tend to go the geographic route, using the street, city or state as part of their business names. You might get an initial competitive advantage with customers within your area, but not for the rest of the market. Also, if you become successful and decide to expand, your business name becomes restrictive. The business name you initially choose becomes a roadblock to your future growth.

Learn from companies like 3M who initially struggled with the same issue. It started with the name Minnesota Manufacturing and Mining, but changed its name to 3M to avoid limiting their growth and success.

4. Avoid meaningless acronyms or “alphabet soup” names.

Small business owners usually resort to acronyms to shorten long names or including family member initials. Spelling out the acronyms of your business name can trigger an awkward conversation or explanation. It won’t make your business memorable for potential clients. It also becomes a challenge to move the conversation to your products or services. Aside from that, competing with search engine rankings will become a major issue as well.

5. Avoid relying on your first or last name as an alternative.

A number of start-ups and entrepreneurs build their brand name using their first names or surnames. It seems logical, but it will eventually backfire. Remember that you need to create value into your brand over a period of time. Using your name is meaningless. Even well-known companies like S.C. Johnson took several years to build their reputation and make their brand strong in the market.

It also becomes a hindrance if you decide to form partnerships or sell your business later on down the line.

6. Avoid failing to conduct a trademark search.

Before deciding on your final business name, check the legalities of using that name. Be sure that your chosen name does not belong to another business. Doing this is crucial to avoid violating the rights of other businesses and the possibility of paying damages. Once you have chosen the perfect name, register the business name to protect it against possible trademark infringement.

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