A Simple Strategy for Business Name Success

by Jeff Richards www.CreativeBusinessAdventures.com

Marketing your business starts right here.  This opportunity to reach your audience in a single bound can contribute to your success or impede it.  This is your chance to stand above the competition or join the crowd.  It is your chance to announce your distinctive brand identity and act as a directory to your specific customer.

If you are considering a business name, then chances are you are developing a new business or re-defining an existing business.  Start here.

Know your audience. Know what they want.  First do the research or hire a marketing professional to help you.  You need to know who your customers are and want they want before you can effectively sell to them.

The largest companies do extensive marketing research, but even the smallest company with a small budget can do some research to answer these and other relevant questions:

• Who are your customers?  Are you targeting a specific niche?
• How old are they? 
• Are they primarily male or female or both?
• Where do they live?
• Will your product or service be affordable to them but still be profitable for you?
• What will motivate them the most to purchase your product or service and choose it over your competitors?
• Who are your primary competitors and how can you stand out from them?
• How will they find your business, products or services?
• How can you make purchasing your products or services easy and convenient?

Convey a Powerful Message that Targets Your Market Niche

• Use a professional graphic designer and marketing professional to create a custom business logo and advertising slogan that targets your audience.

Characteristics of a Good Business Name

• It is generally short and to the point.
• It is easy for anyone in your target audience to pronounce and spell.
• It displays a clear picture of what you do while still being general enough to expand your business as market conditions change.
• It creates desire for your primary product or service by stirring emotions that influence buying decisions.
• It calls out to your primary customer and announces your distinctive brand identity.
• It acts as a directory to your specific customer.
• It creates an immediate picture in your mind that entices your customer.
• It doesn’t limit your geographical location when you may want to expand.
• It doesn’t imply any time period that may some day be outdated.
• It is different enough to avoid confusion with any competitor.
• It makes people laugh or gets them talking.
• It conveys your experience and professionalism.
• It provides your customers and employees with a clear vision of focus.
• It helps you develop a distinctive reputation and brand.
• It can easily be incorporated into a business logo and advertising slogan.
• It brings referrals.

Special Considerations for Internet Marketing

• It will save confusion if the business name is available for use for a website domain name, preferably with a .com extension.
• Use of a popular Internet search phrase in the business name and domain will bring more visitors who are already searching for your products or services.
• It is especially important to use a name that is easy to pronounce and spell or people may never find you or confuse you with a competitor and end up on someone else’s website; for this reason don’t use domain names for advertising that contain dashes or hyphens.
• Consider hiring an SEO (search engine optimization) professional to help you.

Things to Think About:

• Shorter business names are easier to remember and will not only save you money when you advertise in print, but can save you thousands of dollars if you are going to invest in typical commercial signage for a retail location.
• If you are going to depend upon any type of a directory with alphabetical advertising, such as the yellow pages, give this extra consideration.
• If your family name is part of the title, it may limit your ability to sell your businesses to a non-family member in the future …making your business tough to sell.

© Jeff Richards, 2008.  The right to duplicate is approved, referencing the author and a link to www.CreativeBusinessAdventures.com

About the Author

Nationwide Free Business Consultation www.CreativeBusinessAdventures.com

Jeff Richards is the Founder and Director of Creative Business Adventures and SEO Web Pro, a business professional whose career spans over thirty years of corporate management, business development and consulting experience in a variety of industries for businesses of all sizes.  As the founder and co-founder of several businesses, he has demonstrated skills in business turnaround strategies, business start-ups, business development, traditional and Internet marketing, business research, search engine optimization, website design, strategic planning and innovative advanced techniques for rapid business success.