How-to Name Your Business: Utilizing Linguistic Tricks

As a small business, you’re likely willing to be a little bolder in your choice of names. Here are some ways to turn that instinct into a handle worthy of your brand:

•    Pick a name that lends itself to wordplay ⎯ Eat My Words, the naming firm, decided to toy with the food theme in its name. For example, its blog is called The Kitchen Sink. This theme can carry over into its other marketing and verbal branding collateral.

‚Ä¢¬†¬† ¬†A strong name should be simple ‚éØ Make it easy to spell and pronounce for starters, and meaningful to your audience, not just to you. Watkins says, “Any time you have to explain your name or apologize for it, you’re just devaluing your brand.”

‚Ä¢¬†¬† ¬†Avoid using puns ‚éØ A pun in your company name is risky. If you land a good one it can make your name super sticky, but you don’t want one that’s over used or too cutesy.

‚Ä¢¬†¬† ¬†Don’t be a copycat ‚éØ Pinkberry, a popular frozen yogurt chain, has spurred countless imitators with “berry”-studded names, so when a yogurt chain approached Watkins she wanted to help them find a really distinctive name. They ended up calling the company Spoon Me, and the name was such a hit that t-shirts and bumper stickers bearing the brand were flying out the door. “They’re making more money selling t-shirts and buttons and bumper stickers than they are selling frozen yogurt,” Watkins exclaims. When “people are paying you to advertise your brand that’s the ultimate in a good name.”

Source: Inc Magazine.