Your brand is the face, the portrayed personality of your business, and a good brand is something that the consumer will connect with on an emotional level which will help your business become more visible and grow. So creating the right brand name is incredibly important, it could make or break your business.
We’ve put together this list of 8 tips to help you create the perfect brand name.
Keep it short
There are a couple of reasons why you should aim to keep it short. But the main one is simply because shorter names are easier to remember. Most brand names are kept to one word and normally no more than two – three syllables. For example, SnapChat, WhatsApp, Microsoft, Apple, Netflix. That being said, paired with a powerful visual identity a long brand name can work, for example American Eagle Outfitters, International Business Machines, or Emporio Armani. These are generally remembered in shorter versions though, eg. American Eagle, IBM and Armani.
Can people spell it?
Mixing up the spelling of a word can be a good way to create an interesting unique new name, but you have to remember that people need to be able to find you. If you name is difficult to spell then people won’t be able to type it into search engines.
It’s not just people though that need to be able to spell it. With smart devices becoming more popular, Siri, Alexa, and Cortana for example, voice searches are becoming more and more common. However, not even smart machines spell everything correctly. So if your brand name is spelt a little weirdly that could cost you visibility online and make it harder for people to find you.
Make it Relevant
A really good brand name shouldn’t be completely random. It should at least hold some relevance to the industry you are working in. Google is a great example of this. The name Google is derived from a googol which is the second largest number: 1 x 10^100. They chose to name google this as they were searching for a word that could accurately represent what is essentially the largest source of data. It relates to the size of the database of the search engine. It’s also has connotations of technology. Nike is another interesting example. Nike is the greek goddess of victory, so for a sportswear brand this is a perfect name suggesting the wearer will be victorious.
Take it to a party
That’s right, once you’ve got a list of nae ideas take them out for a drink. There is a reason for this beyond helping yourself to a cold one. When people ask you what you do, try out your name ideas with a short sentence describing what it is. This will allow you firsty to get a taste of how it feels to use that name in a busy place but it will also allow you to gauge people’s reactions.
Use this Brand Name Generator
Start with a piece of paper and a pen and write down all you brand name ideas. Then look up synonyms, combine words and phrases to create a list of interesting industry relevant keywords.
Once you have a list of keywords type them into the Brand Name Generator to instantly generate thousands of interesting brand name ideas. Even if you don’t end up liking any of them, they will certainly help inspire you and get you a whole load of ne idas and avenues to explore. On top of this you can easily check domain name availability at the same time using the domain name checker on the results page.
Think about the Domain
Once you’ve settled on a few brand ideas you will need to think about your domain name. The more original your name the more likely t is you will be able to get hold of not just your domain name but also all the relevant social media handles as well. HOwever, whilst having the right domain name is important it’s not the end of the world if you can’t get ‘yourname.com’ as there are a few alternatives you can look into, including using one of the new gTLDs like .FOOD or adding a prefix or suffix.
Get Feedback
You, your friends and family aren’t necessarily your target market. So that witty ame you are all set on may not be as perfect as you first thought. It is worth getting feedback from an unbiased group to see what the think, they may even be able to give you a few more ideas.
One thing you could do is set up a short experiment to test out what name works best you can try this one for example: create two landing pages, identical in every way apart from one the brand names. Then start driving traffic to them through targeted Facebook ads. Next wait. Once you have enough data you can compare the analytics for each site and see which page performed better with your target market. This is just one way to get some completely unbiased answer. You could also think about setting up surveys with an offer to people that complete it, for example enter them into a prize draw. This is a good way to start collecting people’s data for your company too.
Don’t be too specific
A very specific name could limit your business growth down the line. Your brand name should be an overarching emotive identity not specific to a single product. The reason behind this is to allow room for your business to grow into new areas and approach new markets. For example, you might have a candle business that makes hand-crafted beeswax candles. A brand name like Bee’s Candles would limit your business to always making beeswax candles as that is what people will expect when they see the name. A better name might be ‘Eros Flames’. This is a much broader idea with more scope for expansion into other products but it still hints at candles but also connotes ideas around romance, thus evoking an emotional response in the consumer which makes the name instantly more interesting and memorable.