You and a group of friends have decided to start your own small business. You know exactly what you want to do in terms of products and services. You have a good handle on startup funding as well as a solid management team to kick things off. You even have your business plan mostly done. All you need now is a business name. Where will that come from?
It turns out there isn’t just one way to come up with a business name. You can do it in any number of ways that are limited only by your imagination. Less importance than the process is the name you actually come up with. It needs to be creative, somewhat unique, and be easily applied in both the digital and non-digital worlds.
Automated Business Name Generator
The hottest trend these days is to use an automated business name generator similar to the free tool TRUiC offers on their website. Most are online tools that combine basic search engine strategies with artificial intelligence. You enter a few keywords along with your industry and location, and the tool gathers and analyzes data before offering suggestions.
In some cases, entrepreneurs may find one of the suggestions works well verbatim. But more often than not, the suggestions returned by business name generators are just that: suggestions. They are really just a starting point for inspiration.
Hire a Brand Expert
Another popular option in the 21st century is to hire a brand expert. A brand expert is a company or individual consultant who specializes in brand development and maintenance. When you hire one, you’ll get more than just a name and a logo. You will get an entire suite of services designed to promote your brand to the hilt.
The upside to this option is the assistance of an expert who knows what it takes to put your business on the map. The downside is cost. Your startup may not be able to afford professional branding from the get-go.
Let It Happen on Its Own
As strange as it sounds, some business names just happen on their own. That is how things went down when Larry Page and Sergey Brin started what would eventually become the world’s most dominant search engine. Page and Brin used to joke about the amount of information a highly sophisticated search engine could handle. To them, it would be one googol. Numerically speaking, a googol is represented by a 101-digit number.
Following a presentation pitching investors, Page and Brin were given a check to help fund their fledgling company. The investor who wrote the check misunderstood something in their presentation, assuming the company name was ‘Google’. The rest, as they say, is history.
Go the Traditional Route
If your business is more of a traditional enterprise, you can take the traditional route to come up with a business name. Let’s say you wanted to open an auto repair shop. Just take that phrase – auto repair shop – and add your name to the front of it. It’s not glamorous or exciting, but it is effective.
The danger of going the traditional route is being less-than-competitive when it comes to online searches. But that can always be overcome with a solid SEO strategy that focuses heavily on relevant, local content.
This post hasn’t even scratched the surface in terms of the number of ways to come up with a business name. You can use the suggestions offered here or utilize some other method. It’s entirely up to you. Just know that whatever name you choose will set the stage for how people perceive your company and brand.
