This is how you name your business

6 Sep

When it comes to naming your business, it’s much like the process of naming your first born child...

Fraught with doubt and questions “but I don’t know what it will be like just yet” or "what if I start to dislike the name/it goes out of fashion"?

Typically, even as a one person business, I suggest creating a branded name and identity for your business. The separation from yourself and your professional service can be valuable and you can sell the business, hire people, pivot it etc more easily.

When I was naming The Ask® it was like my brain was stuck on a loop. For nights on end I couldn't sleep the ideas were circling around and for what felt like eternity, nothing felt ‘right’.

I did in fact skip over the name “The Ask” at first, to go on to explore alternatives. Then it hit me that it had everything I wanted in a name, and love it so much that I trademarked it. Point being, that it isn’t a simple process, and so if you are finding the decision hard know that you are not alone.

Here's the advice that I give my clients and the process I used for myself.

Best practices for naming your business

Easy to say - you don't want people to misunderstand or misinterpret it
Easy to spell - even more important when it comes to online search
Generally, 2 words can be preferable, as with just one word the online space is more competitive and you might not get the brand assets or be found on Google as easily. But if you can't think of a second word try words like ‘The’ or ‘Company’ which you can always drop in the logo but keep on a URL
Check there are no big conflicts with a registered trademarked name (do this by searching the trademarks directory but do note that a full search is often a labour or financial investment to search globally)
Check that you can get the URL you want - try a domain checker like GoDaddy for a free search before you commit!

Get naming your baby!

My best piece of advice here is to play with the art of language. Think about words, phrases and synonyms that are related to different aspects of your business.

Dig out the thesaurus if you need to. Think of puns, cultural references or facts. You can find words in other languages or words that sound like something relevant phonetically. If you do this for the different aspects of your business that's where it can get interesting.

The different aspects include...

YOUR INDUSTRY so the sector that your business is in, e.g. personal development, finance, software, wellness
THE TRANSFORMATION you take someone through meaning how they change as a result of interacting with your business e.g. secure, confident, peaceful
YOUR PROCESS meaning what happens when you work with a customer, and the impact of your product/service e.g.

Come up with ideas of words and phrases for each, and keep a list of everything you come up with - especially the bad names.

That’s how you’ll get inspired by your ‘discard pile’.

You can also use tables to visually represent these different words, so that you can look across the table to see which different combinations could work. Again write down every combination and keep them to hand.

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Other sources of inspiration

Still stuck? Try some of these other sources of inspiration for size:

Your competitors names but don’t copy(!)
Market or macro trends influencing your business
Your own name (maybe just part of it, or a nickname)
Identifying characteristics about your business origin or your personal life
How did you come up with your business idea? There may be clues there
You can name your business exactly what it does on the tin, aka in literal terms

Whilst there are infinite names and methods for naming your company the process can and should be fun!

Relax and give it time to percolate.

Also - try not to ask everyone under the sun their opinion at this time.... either as too many cooks can spoil the broth!

Wait until something feels 'right' then you can share with some trusted people if you feel it is needed.

Shout out to some businesses I feel absolutely nailed it with their business name: 8000 hours (helps people make the best use of their 8000 hours at work), Pip n Nut (nut butters! And the founder is called Pippa), Vestpod (helping women break the taboo around investment and money matters), SaaS Savvy (my amazing client Alice educates SaaS professionals to level up), The School of Life (helping people live more fulfilled lives).

And, if you fancy a giggle, here's a list of just some of the many (124) names I actually considered for The Ask.

Passion Police... 🤢

Happy naming!

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