Category Archives: brand names

Brainstorming a name for your business

If you’re starting a business, you’ll need to name it, and will probably require a website. That means registering the name as a domain, most likely dot com, though possibly with a country code such as dot com au.

The web has been going for 30 years or more, which means that most of the good names have been taken. However that’s not a cause for despair.

Hundreds of thousands of domain names are for sale on sites such as Atom and GoDaddy. Be prepared to pay a lot for a good one.

Or you can invent a name yourself, then register it.

PAIR KEYWORDS

No, this isn’t a hopeless task. Start by thinking of the keywords associated with your business and write them down. For example, if you’re a graphic designer, likely keywords will be design, image, hue, visual, display, color.

Then think of general words that could pair with these keywords: my, maxi, sure, true, sense, flair, skill, streak, style, vibe.

Pair off a keyword with a general word, eg visualflair dot com, and see if the domain is available on ICANN. Mostly it won’t be.

NEW GROUND

Here’s where the game gets fun. All the easy and obvious combos are registered already, so we need to break new ground.

One good way is to use metaphor, which is something that AI and other naming tools don’t understand. Instead of calling your hairdressing studio SnipSalon, try SnipStreet. It’s not literally correct, but works as a brand.

Or you can abbreviate one or more of the keywords, as Microprocessor Software did very nicely. Or extend a keyword, creating HotterLips from HotLips.

Another method is to misspell slightly. Skilsaw has been doing this for 100 years.

A further technique is pure invention, and I’ll pat Nvidia on the back for that. This name doesn’t really pass the radio or phone test, but the world’s most valuable company isn’t worrying.

LYIN’ AROUND

Once you get into this, you’ll find plenty of names that have slipped the cracks. They’ve been lying around a long time.

Sit on the name, think, and check for any conflicts on the trademark sites such as USPTO. Then go register your very own business name.

What makes a great business name?

A top name usually has edge, which means that it intrigues or even needles. Nobody can be sleepwalked into choosing a new brand.

Facebook doesn’t scare anybody now because the title is so familiar, but as business owner it would have given me butterflies.

Google likewise. Apple in its day. Virgin going back even further.

IMPUDENT

Tesla isn’t terrifying as a business name, except for the impudence that the company is in the same league as the developer of AC electricity networks.

My own brand WordMills might be viewed as big-headed, as it chooses the auspicious company of WordPress, Word and WordPerfect.

A name I really like is Pixel. It uses synecdoche, where a small part – pixel –  stands for the whole – phone. This is a tactic that takes guts.

Then there’s the opposite strategy where a big name stands for something small. You need a bunch of courage to call your rock band America.

ONE LETTER AWAY

Other attractive business names include the charmingly modest Airbus, Great Wall Motor (now sadly reduced to GWM), and the cheeky little Poss-Off (a possum deterrent) – one letter away from you-know.

When brainstorming a name, it’s good to start on the side of audacity or gall, then tweak back if the title is keeping you awake at night.

You can’t bore people into buying.

New domain appraisal tool tells you why

Is that name you’ve got your eye on any good?

Domain sales agency Atom dot com has long offered an appraisal service for domain names, awarding a score of between one and ten, and telling you other facts such as the age of a domain, its possible value, and how many extensions the name is registered in.

Now the service has jumped up a level. Atom’s Instant Domain Appraisal gives you written reasons why the domain is a good one or not.

WORD PLAY

The AI-powered evaluation does a pretty good job, although it can miss the subtleties and word-play of everyday language.

I tested the service on some of my own domains. Here’s what it said about Gignome: “Clever blend of gig and gnome, but feels playful rather than broadly brandable.” Okay, fair enough.

How about my BudgetSkil? “Misspelled second word weakens brand credibility and fails the phone test.” Hmm.

RADIO TEST

Let’s try a famous name that truly strains the radio or phone test: Nvidia. Atom’s appraisal tool overlooks that deficiency. “Iconic global tech brand; one of the most recognized dot com domains in existence.”

The tool can also check for Brand Alignment with your intended use of the domain. But here’s where a weird discrepancy shows itself.

I checked my domain GulchCountry for Brand Alignment and was informed that it’s “a compelling choice for a western clothing brand. . . .  Overall, a perfect fit.”

Great, but when I submitted the name for an Instant Domain Appraisal, I was told it’s an unlikely fit for Atom’s Premium marketplace. “Nice geographic pairing with limited commercial brand appeal.”

MORE SOBER

This pattern is repeated over and over. The Brand Alignment test talks up the domain, as if pitching for a sale, while the Domain Appraisal offers a more sober and balanced view.

Not surprisingly, the AI assessment doesn’t grasp the metaphoric subtleties of names. My domain MealCheetah is intended for a speedy dinner delivery service. The appraisal tells me that it “has an unusual animal-food pairing with limited brand appeal.”

On that basis, I suppose it might say that Facebook undermines its brand value by linking the unrelated concepts of body and print.

Overall, though, the Instant Domain Appraisal is a fair and useful tool.

No need to tell it all

A problem that often stumps people when they’re naming their business is finding a word or combo that fully describes it.

This difficulty is added to by the fact that the new company may not be sure of its eventual direction. The result can be a name that sounds broad, vague and not particularly distinctive.

Here’s the thinking: “Yes, we fly passengers, but we also do a bit of cargo, and have a sideline in emergency medical supply flights for the state. Let’s call ourselves Air General. That way we cover everything, and also insure ourselves against business changes in the future.”

Not a great idea.

JUST AN EMBLEM

Business owners fear that if the name doesn’t include or imply the whole range of services, then people won’t choose the company because it sounds too specific. This, in practice, doesn’t happen.

A name is like a badge or emblem. It creates imagery – a picture in people’s heads. It need not cover all your activities. And usually it can’t.

wells fargo

I love the name Wells Fargo, which conjures up pictures of the gold rush, stagecoaches, bank holdups and the pony express – and it doesn’t matter that the company is now a financial services giant.

London Fog is another favorite, for a similar reason. Who cares that Britain has had a clean air act since 1956?

A current trend is to adopt a business name that doesn’t mean anything much at all, like Uber or Slack. That let’s you off the hook, if you can find a word that’s still available. But you’re missing out on the imagery.

WATER HAZARD OR BUNKER

Long-established companies often reduce their names to initials, because of the belief that the original handle is too narrow or outdated. This can work okay if you’re IBM or KFC, because these companies have been able to spend enough on promotion to implant their acronyms in buyers’ minds.

It can also be effective where the business initials are actually pronounceable as a word, such as Qantas or Audi.

For the rest of us, opting for initials is like a water hazard or bunker on a golf course. VMLY&R is the result of a merger between marketing companies Young & Rubicam and VML. Any easy name to remember? No. Search for the erroneous VLMY&R and you’ll find that even the company itself gets it wrong at times.

Not much hope, then, for the struggling customer.

Tried and tested devices

Black Lives Matter. Indeed they do, and the snappiness of the slogan is an important factor in burning the saying into people’s minds.

It has a nice rhyme, plus the alliteration provided by the repeated Ls.

How about these?

  • Twenty-First Century Fox
  • Apple Mac
  • Starbucks
  • Boris Johnson
  • YouTube, TikTok, Google, Samsung
  • Gone With The Wind (oldie but a goodie)
  • Tyranny of distance
  • Battle with cancer

If you want your name, slogan or saying to be remembered, don’t be bashful about using these devices. Tried and Tested.

After the perm, it’s still a dog

The corner restaurant near this office has been through five tenants in recent years. Each spends money on a new name and new fitout, but these don’t stop the venture from failing.

We’ve had a Mexican, Turkish, contemporary, Asian, and one I can’t remember.

In each of the formats, there’s been nothing wrong with the food or service. But the floor size of the premises is enormous and would need a lot of diners in order to be profitable. Many of the tables are empty during the week. The two-highway exposure must also push up the rent.

BLIND FAITH

And this is on a high street that’s already overserviced with casual restaurants.

What startles me is the faith that each new operator has in a fresh concept, as if this will be the one to break through into profitability. A revamp is seen as the answer.

You can dress up these premises any way you like and the business fundamentals aren’t going to change much. A dog remains a dog, regardless of the color of its coat.

The invisible mouse mat

Pens, diaries, key rings, coffee mugs, juggling balls.

We’ve all been showered with these promo giveaways that are emblazoned with the name of the supplier. The brand is in your face each and every day, so the advertising must be effective.

Or maybe not.

Back in the era of the mouse-mat, there was one on this desk promoting something or other. No idea what. After just a few days, the unchanging copy became unseen wallpaper.

Some giveaways such as t-shirts, baseball caps and pedestrian backpacks are undoubtedly effective. The brand names walk the streets and get in front of fresh sets of eyes every day.

They’re like newspaper billboards and headlines. Do we glance at them as we walk past? Of course.

FRESH WISDOM

A pawnbroker near this office has a whiteboard on which is scrawled some cock-eyed piece of wisdom that he refreshes every morning. Clever.

This leads to the question of how often we should change our marketing messages. Maybe a further question is needed, which is how often do your customers see them.

Daily exposure creates the need for frequent change. Which is something you can’t do with a coffee mug.

Brands with two faces and not a leg to stand on

We’re all encouraged to promote ourselves as brands, and this is facilitated by the self-publishing vehicles of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Products, including personal ones, plug their positive side and show themselves in the best possible light. This can create a disconnect between image and the real thing.

On a personal level, so-called friends will expose and denigrate you online, if they believe your online story is not an honest one.

At worst, this can result in the destruction of morale and even a total mental breakdown.

Businesses face the same danger, when the gulf between image and day-to-day actions stretches the trust of the public. Here in Australia, the banks and other financial institutions are under fire for exactly that reason. Chairpersons, board members and CEOs are resigning, while share values are plunging.

PERFECTION NOT NEEDED

Of course we’re permitted by cultural convention to put our best foot forward, and this applies equally to commerce as to personal life.

Neither are we expected to be perfect. A frank admission of faults or weaknesses in areas that are not crucial to the main offerings can usefully deslick an image and lift credibility.

Problems arise when this honesty is withheld from the sharp end of the operation – for fear of losing customers, hurting profits or shedding fans, as the case may be.

When the public finds out, we’re treated to the ritualised apology, managed by the publicist or PR consultancy who’s in charge of the reputation of the celebrity or company.

These days, the public are so inured to these standardised grovellings that they no longer appease.

By watching for a disconnect between image and reality, we can save ourselves from the pain of rejection and humiliation. And guard against becoming a two-faced brand.