Five tips for naming your startup business

Posted March 2, 2020 by Lee

So, you’ve decided to launch a startup. Congratulations! But what are you going to call it?

Choosing a name is important, but it’s also not so important that you should delay launching to go over it again and again. Check out these five tips designed to help you get through the process quickly and find the right name for your business.

1. Describe your business

A great name is one that evokes what you really do. Your customers should be able to hear the name and understand right away what your business can do for them. Take an example: Invisalign, a type of clear plastic brace which is used to align teeth without being visible (or at least, as visible as metal braces). Or there’s Burger King, where you can get – you guessed it – burgers.

Start thinking of words that have something to do with your business and use these as a basis for the name ideas you come up with. You may or may not want to include your own name – especially if you would consider selling the startup somewhere down the line, you might not want to be tied to it forever.

2. Check existing names

Research your industry as thoroughly as possible. First, Google each of your potential names with quote marks around them, “like this”, to ensure that you are looking for exact matches. It’s also a good idea to search a trademark database. Anything that comes up as already being in use is a no-go.

3. Check social media

Next, thing about the social media handles you want to use. Burger King would want to be found when you searched @BurgerKing, right? If someone has already claimed the account handle that you want to use, you might want to think again. It’s important that customers can find you on socials, as more and more people are doing their shopping for both goods and services through these channels.

If the handles you want are available, it might be a good idea to create the accounts now – even if your name is not yet set in stone. You can delete the accounts later, but you can’t retroactively claim them if someone gets in there first.

4. Consider your domain

Think about how long your domain name will be, and also how easy it will be to spell. The best case will be a name which is the same as your company name – Burgerking.com, for example. If you have chosen a long or difficult to spell name, this could be tricky for customers who want to find your site.

Don’t expect them to type in a long or convoluted name – they’re likely to go to a rival instead.

5. Ask opinions

Find your target audience and ask some of them what they think of your chosen name or names. This is important – you need to know how they would react because you’ll be selling to them later!

After following these steps, you should be able to narrow everything down to a great name that you and your audience love. Now it’s time to go ahead and use it, without any doubts!

Categories: Business, Domain Names