Juliet almost had it right. “What’s in a name?” she asks in Act 2, Scene 1 of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Sure, she’s ruminating about her teenage love life and family squabbles, but this question certainly has its place in business, too.
For the purposes of our discussion, the question is less about feuding houses and more about branding and identity. Whether you’re launching a new business or a new product, getting all the bells and whistles right is important. Don’t overlook, however, the importance of what you call it.
Texas-based Insperity provides a full range of human resources and business performance solutions. In other words, if you wanted to outsource your HR functions like payroll and benefits management (and more), this is the sort of company you might partner with. When they first launched, however, they went to market with a different name: Administaff.
Their market didn’t connect that original name to the breadth of services they were offering. In fact, if you heard Administaff and assumed it was a temporary staffing service, you wouldn’t be alone in making that assumption. Their advertising and branding efforts required a bigger investment in time and money than they might have needed if their original name didn’t paint the wrong picture.
Yes. You want to make it memorable. You want it to be unique. You also want it to be something folks can pronounce, spell, and recognize. Word-of-mouth and online search are two key factors in how customers are going to find you. Don’t complicate the process with quirky misspellings or a confusing play on words.
The less time you have to spend educating your market on how to spell your name, how to say your name, and what your name actually means, the more time you can spend building your brand and getting them excited about what you’ve got to offer. (And if you’re in doubt about that, go ahead and look up the Administaff case study on Smart Business online)
Naming your business or your products and services starts by knowing your voice, your values, your goals, and your market.
In other words, if you’re offering coaching services to young professionals looking for their first job or to make that first leap up from an entry-level role to something with more responsibility, the name you land on may be less formal and traditional than if you were aiming to provide a similar coaching service targeting late-career executives. If you’re offering creative services and your office blends playful with creativity, your name should reflect that.
The benefit to naming a company or product in the information age is that you can quickly nix some of your great ideas with a quick online search. Run your ideas through the search engine and see what comes back. Is the name already trademarked? Is it in use by a company in the same market space? Is there a name similar to what you’re toying with in use that might cause confusion? Are there any negative or confusing connotations for the word you’re considering that pop up in the search? Still looking good? Then do a more formal trademark search.
Adding a new product or service to an existing catalog? How does the new name mesh with your existing products and services? Does it feel out of place and off-brand? If you’re an established business, your new offerings should be consistent with your existing brand.
Don’t cause confusion by trying to tap into trends that don’t mesh with who you’ve established yourself to be unless you’re planning on revamping your image from top to bottom.
Speaking of trends, it can be tempting to tap into something fun and current. It can also, however, be limiting. Unless you’re launching a limited release or expect a limited lifetime for this business, product, or service, you want to be sure you’ve picked a name that’s going to stand the test of time. What’s clicking and on point today may be cringe tomorrow. Don’t set yourself up for regret by focusing too hard on being in the moment.
If you’ve got any plans on selling beyond your local market, test run your name in other languages and cultures. Does it still mean what you think it means outside of your local sphere?
Answer all these questions satisfactorily and you’re one step closer to making this dream a reality!
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