10 Things to Check Before Naming Your Business
There are several pre-launch tasks to complete before starting a business. Naming your brand or business is one. If you thought this was simple, let me tell you it isn’t. Giving your business a name that is sweet, memorable and aligns with your product or service is, in fact, the most thoughtful branding strategy.
Many businesses have started quite ambitiously and then later on gone down in history just because of a wrong name they picked for their brand. But if you are not ready to face that fate, here are ten things to check before naming your business. A name that you come up with after this exercise is surely going to be remembered, liked and promoted.
1. Do a thorough trademark search
This is the most important thing because if the name that you choose for your business is already taken by someone else, then you will have to deal with a lot of trademark-related litigation later on. As a new startup desperately trying to get into people’s minds, such consequences will be the last thing you would expect.
You can search the public registry in your country to verify if the name you have in mind is not taken by others already. If you have any intention to expand your business to other countries later, it is worth checking the registries of those countries as well.
2. Check domain name availability
Having a certain name for your business and a different one for your website is not ideal. People tend to think of businesses with websites on the exact brand name as more genuine or authentic than those with a different one. Why do they think so? Because a matching domain name makes the business easier to identify online and gives people more confidence that they are visiting the company’s official website.
Try to search for the .com version first, because most customers naturally type that out. If it is taken, consider whether a slight variation or a different top-level domain works for your brand without confusing your buyers.
3. Verify social media handles
Social media presence is everything now for new brands. If your desired brand name is already taken by others on social media handles like Instagram, Facebook or LinkedIn, you may have trouble building a consistent brand identity across platforms.
Ideally, your business name should be available on all major social media channels to help people find and recognise your brand easily.
What happens if someone already grabbed your exact handle on one platform? You can add small words like “official” or “hq” to maintain a uniform presence across platforms.
4. Test for ease of spelling and pronunciation
Can people spell or pronounce your business name easily? Can they remember it? A startup business cannot survive without word-of-mouth marketing and publicity. If your name is too hard to pronounce, spell or remember, you are out of this possibility. Because complex names lead to lost traffic and lost opportunities.
Say the name aloud to a few friends and ask them to spell it back to you. If they get it right on the first try, the name is worth it; if they struggled, you might want to simplify the word.
5. Screen for unintended cultural meanings
Words can have completely different meanings in different languages and cultures. A name that sounds energetic in English might mean something offensive in another language.
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Take time to research what your chosen name means across different cultures. We have seen embarrassing PR mishaps when brands enter new markets without doing this homework before they start growing into new markets.
6. Evaluate future growth potential
If you start your business with a name that is too narrow, it will trap your brand in a corner. For example, if you name your store “Cochin Shoe Repairs” and later on decide to expand into selling jackets or opening a shop in another city, you will either have to limit yourself to shoe repairs in Cochin forever, or spend money rebranding and rebuilding the recognition you already paid for.
So, it is better to evaluate your future growth potential by asking yourself if your chosen name allows your business to grow over the next five to ten years. Make sure the title leaves enough room for new products and service offerings.
7. Check search engine visibility
Try typing your desired business/brand name into a search engine and look at the results. If the results are flooded with massive global brands, it is a red flag because you will really have to struggle to rank high on search pages.
You want a name that has relatively low competition in search results. Choosing a unique combination of words gives you a much better shot at owning the top search result when you launch into the market.
8. Gather feedback from target audience members
When choosing a name for your brand, what does it matter most? How people feel about the name or how you feel about it? If you ask me, I would strongly stand for the former.
It is easy to get attached to a name because you thought of it yourself. However, your opinion matters less than the impression it leaves on actual potential buyers.
Run a simple survey or ask a group of unbiased people what feelings the name brings up for them. Their responses will quickly reveal if the name connects with the right vibe.
A good name can spark interest, but getting people to trust a business they’ve never heard of takes more than that. Read our guide on “How to make people trust a brand they never heard of” for practical ways to build credibility with first-time customers.
9. Avoid trend-heavy phrasing and spellings
Trends come and go very fast. Dropping vowels or adding trendy suffixes might make your startup look cool today. However, the biggest risk with following such trends is that they can make your business look dated in five years.
Looking timeless is more important than looking trendy. A classic name holds up much better as market trends shift over time.
10. Ensure the name aligns with your visual identity
You cannot just hope your brand name will continue to thrive by itself once you have it decided. That is just a baseless hope. Your name will thrive when it blends smoothly with your visual elements — logo, colour schemes, packaging layout, etc.
Try associating your name with a sign or business card or a an app icon. Does it look neat, clean and visually appealing? You may reconsider it if it looks clunky in visual mockups.
It is better to take time to choose a perfect name for your brand than to choose one in a rush and later regret your decision. If you work through this checklist methodically, I am sure you will be able to select a name that you will never wish you could change.
