What’s in a business name?
My nephew, now a teacher, briefly went into business as a personal chef. Having a fine marketing brain, he did all the right things – scouted out the competition, networked, designed an appealing web site. He handed out little spatulas with a terrific tag line printed on the handles: “Eat Right at Home.”
His value proposition was perfect. Most take-out food tastes good, but is terrible for you. The deliverable? Literally, fresh, healthy meals, any day of the week. No other catering company or take-out service had chosen that angle.
Then he picked a company name: “Dinner Sanctum.” The fork dropped from my hand. Clever… and something else. Blood red dining room walls. Too many candles burning on every surface. What sort of catering was this? Despite my nephew’s belief that eating is “close to a religious experience” and that home is “the place where people feel safe and protected,” I couldn’t keep the Goth imagery from crowding out the main idea, that this was about food, GOOD food.
Not all bad business names are intentional.
It’s tricky.
Entrepreneurs can be in love with a business name without thinking about how it affects their audience. Not that it always matters. To wit the scores of hair salons innocuously named for children or boyfriends. Or the marketing firm I once collaborated with named for the two principals’ dogs. Certainly there are lots of now world-class companies that began as start-ups with unusual names that roll off the tongue: Amazon, Google, Hulu, Etsy. But for the small service business not yet entered into the hall of start-up fame, names are brands, and brands are relationships. And relationships are everything. Too frequently, business owners let their creativity guide where, well, no one will follow.
My own example.
In design school, I didn’t yet own a business, so I made one up. Surrounded by countless “Missy Designs” and “Flair One Design Studios,” I rebelled against the self-important, the obvious, the stupid. I would be “Domestic Blitz.” Everyone knows that residential interior design can be a source of marital strife, especially if there is kitchen work involved. But my cynical title referenced a pun too subtle for most. Instead, it conjured up Rosanne Barr on a relentless cleaning rampage. Moreover, folks were confused. I’d positioned myself as a maid, not a designer.
Here’s the point.
Every business relies on building an avid clientele, so, when naming a business, think like the customer. And not just the like-minded customer, but different ones, gathering many reactions. The name may sound cool, even provocative. But consider your promise. Take connotation as seriously as insight, humor, cleverness and the other motivators that spawn these happy little moniker campers. Check out competitors to make sure your name – and domain name – are available. Be positive, as well as unique. Unless you want to later invest in a re-branding. Name that endeavor “let’s get it right this time.”
