Choosing a name for your new business is a lot harder than it might seem on the surface.
You have to pick the right name so that it makes sense in your industry, plus it needs to have the right ring to it for branding purposes.
If you accidentally choose the wrong name for your business, it could ultimately hurt your chances for success over the long run.
To help you avoid making this potentially devastating error, we’d like to share three of the biggest mistakes that people make when naming their new business.
1. Using Plain Words That Don’t Stand Out
Unless you’re creating an entirely new industry with your company, like General Electric and General Motors did many years ago, it’s a bad idea to choose plain words that just don’t stand out when naming your company.
If the competition is fierce in your industry, you’ll need to have a name that will differentiate you from your competitors.
So choose a descriptive name and use words that help explain more of what your company is about. By naming your business this way, you’ll be able to prove your company’s uniqueness and this will help carve a path to success in your industry.
2. Creating Your Company Name Via Committee
On the surface, it probably seems nice to recruit everyone you know to help choose the name for your new business.
In reality, this is not a very good idea. Why?
Well, there are a few problems with naming your company via this method.
To start with, you can only choose one name for your business. If you ask 20 people to come up with a name, you’re guaranteed to disappoint 19 people!
Why put yourself in that situation? You’re only going to make a bunch of people mad at you in the end.
Second, by asking multiple people for input, the entire consensus will ultimately end up choosing a very vanilla, really safe name. It’s not going to be something that stands out more likely than not.
At the end of the day, you should ask input from the key decision-makers of the company and nobody else.
These people know the company, know the goals of the company, understand the mission and the values, and they can help you come up with a great name that fits your industry.
Using Geographic Locations to Name Your Company
Many companies like to pick their city or state and use it to name their business.
In the beginning, this could actually be helpful in some regards. But as your company gets bigger, and you decide to expand, this could essentially cause a bigger problem over the long run.
As an example, let’s say you’re opening a plumbing business in Atlanta, Georgia.
You decide to name your company Atlanta Plumbing.
Before long your business is booming and you decide to expand.
Now, you want to start offering services in Decatur, Marietta, Alpharetta, and other cities, towns, and villages in Georgia.
At this point, you can see that naming your company Atlanta Plumbing wasn’t the greatest idea. It might’ve made sense at first, but now that you’re growing your operation, it really doesn’t fit what you’re trying to do.
Conclusion
Please use these guidelines when naming your business.
According to SecStates.com, information provider for the GA Sec. of State, “You can find information on any corporation or business entity in Georgia or another state by performing a search on the Secretary of State website of the state or territory” where that corporation is registered.”
And remember; always check with the local Secretary of State to find out if your company name is still available.
Author Bio
Wendy Dessler
Title: Super-Connector
Wendy is a super-connector with Towering SEO and Youth Noise NJ who helps businesses find their audience online through outreach, partnerships, and networking. She frequently writes about the latest advancements in digital marketing and focuses her efforts on developing customized blogger outreach plans depending on the industry and competition.
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