Ten issues to consider when naming enterprises

What is the meaning of the name? When considering what to call your company, you will come up with various answers. A company name may be too broad or too limited. It may be too weird or not memorable. It is a challenge to choose a catchy name that fits your business type exactly.

Here are ten questions you need to consider when weighing various names. Always be aware that your choice will directly determine whether your company's starting position in the market is high or low.

What aspects of my company do I want to improve with this name?

A good name can help you distinguish yourself from your competitors and strengthen your brand image. This is the view of Steve Manning, the founder of a naming company, whose company is called Sausalito Calif, headquartered in Igor, California. He clearly suggested that before naming the company, you should first clarify your brand positioning - just like Apple, which is enough to distinguish yourself from those corporate sounding names, such as IBM and NEC. "The good name they seek is to support the brand positioning strategy, which can make people feel plain, warm, human, friendly and different," Manning said.

Is this name too restrictive?

Don't restrict yourself too much. This is the advice of Martin Zwilling, who lives in Phoenix. He is the founder and CEO of "Professional Start Co., Ltd.", and also an adviser to early start-up companies. To avoid choosing a name that will restrict your business to expand its product line or expand its new direction, he said, taking Angelsoft.com as an example, the company was founded in 2004, with the initial goal of helping start companies establish links with angel investors. A few years ago, the company realized that it also needed to attract venture capital and other types of investors. So it paid a high price to remodel the brand as Gust (Strong Wind). com, which is not as specific as the previous name, but also creates a good image of "sailing in the wind".

Does the meaning of this name involve my business connotation?

For most enterprises, the name they choose is better to provide information about their products and services. This does not mean that it cannot have the advantage of being catchy at the same time. Zweining gave an example: Lawn and Order, which is a good name for a beautification business, because it can attract people's attention and also clearly connect with the company's service scope. On the other hand, unusual words, such as Yahoo and Fogdog, sometimes work, but strange names are always risky.

Is this name easy to remember?

Zweining believed that the shorter the name, the better. He suggested that company bosses limit the name to two syllables and avoid using hyphens or other special characters. He also advised people not to choose abbreviations, which have no meaning for most people. Also, the first letter of the selected name should be as close to A as possible in A-Z order, because the specific algorithm and directory list are arranged in alphabetical order. "When choosing the name of a company or a product, it is more practical and straightforward to establish your own style early and create a brand at a lower cost," he said.

Is the name easy to spell?

The answer seems to be fixed, but some companies will deliberately choose names that are not easy for consumers to spell correctly. This is a risky strategy, intended to make the company stand out. However, some naming consultants gave the opposite view: "If your name looks like a typo, cross it out of the candidate list." This is Eat My Words in San Francisco Alexandra Watkins, founder and chief innovation officer of Naming Services. She also believes that it is very important that your name should be spelled and pronounced exactly the same. Otherwise, when you read out your company name or your company's email address or website address, you will always need to spell it out to others. "Think about how often you spell your name for others," she said. "Why do you want a new name with the same type of trouble?"

When did your prospect first see your name?

Other naming experts believe that there are exceptions to the "easy spelling principle", especially when most people will see your name for the first time in print or online advertising. For example, consider Zullily, an online company that provides daily products for mothers, babies and children. "If you just hear the name, you may not be able to guess how to spell it, but the company's aggressive online advertising campaign doomed most people to spell it when they first saw it. The reward is that the name's different pronunciation and spelling create a very distinctive brand image." Chris Johnson, a naming consultant in Seattle and the author of the blog "Name Inspector", said that it was he who conceived the name Zullily.

Does this name sound good? Is it easy to read?

Manning said that the pronunciation of the name is important to convey a sense of vitality and excitement. At the same time, you must also ensure that potential customers can easily pronounce your company name. "This is an iron fact - the name people can spell, spell and remember is the name they are familiar with." He cited Apple, Stingray, Oracle and Virgin as examples. On the contrary, he doesn't like company names such as Chordiant, Livent and Naviant. He said: "Without a huge advertising budget, it is impossible to spell or remember these names, and their appearance, rhythm and pronunciation all show a cold, inhuman image."

Is your name meaningful only to yourself?

A name with hidden meaning or only private meaning can not create any impression of your brand, and when most people encounter it, you will not have the opportunity to stand there and explain it to them. "Rhymes like Swahili, words that clarify the background, and don't use your dog's name," Watkins said. She took Lynette Hoy as an example to illustrate that this person used her name to name her PR company located in Banbridge Island, Washington State. But Watkins believes that this name is not suitable because it does not show Ms Holly's fiery personality and passion. So the company was renamed Firetalker PR, and Holly even used the title of fire captain. She called her office the Fire Brigade and began to provide public relations software packages such as "purgatory", "fire control" and "matchbox". "Her whole brand is to expand the relevant images endlessly around the name itself," Watkins said. "Her previous name did not provide any concept that can serve as a theme or word game."

Is the name visually attractive?

You may also want to consider how to make the name look like a sign, advertisement, or billboard, Manning said. He cited Gogo as an example. The name of the air Internet service provider is a great name from the design point of view. "Its letters are balanced and harmonious. All the letters are round and friendly, in complete contrast to those hard and angular letters, such as K, T and R." Manning said. Other visually appealing names include Volvo, which has no low line letters at all (q/p/f/j/g/y), and Xerox, which starts and ends with the same letter.

Have I conducted an appropriate trademark search?

If someone else has already claimed ownership of it, then the name is great and worthless. First, start with some free resources, such as Trademarkia.com or USPTO.gov, and do a rough search to see whether the name has been used. Then, a trademark attorney will be hired to conduct a more thorough screening. If the name has not been taken away, it will be registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office. "We should get its relevant rights at the first time," Walkins (from the naming service company) cautioned, "our worst business comes from those companies facing the threat of trademark infringement."