Six Types of New Business Names Which One is Right For Your Product or Company

•Tips For Evocative Distinctive Company Names
As the sponsor of a Name-This-Company Contest, I’ve been watching suggestions come in by the dozens every day. Unfortunately, the great majority of names submitted so far do not pass “go.” A good company name is not only catchy and evocative, but also pronounceable, spellable and not likely to backfire because of unsavory associations. Since the contest offers a prize of $100 for the best business name submitted, along with the chance to become a professional “namer,” getting paid to think...

•The 2 Most Common Mistake in Naming a New Company or New Product
Most of the time, business owners and organizational marketers look for a new company name or new product name that seems to get the job done. That’s unwise because they don’t take the time to think about possible shortcomings of the name they settle on. Instead, those shortcomings emerge over time, costing them dearly in sales and opportunities. Sometimes the name problems require an expensive rebranding overhaul. It’s far more cost-effective to name your product or service properly in the...

•Naming Tips From the Internet s Most Popular Free Business Name Generator
Thinking of using some fancy-dancy automated name generating program to brainstorm possible new company names or new product names? You can easily find such software utilities in a web search. In what appears to be a bonus of incredible value, these programs not only propose names for your consideration but also take a look and see whether the matching dot-com domain is available. You know what, though? Most of the time, these advanced and handy tools do not resolve your naming challenge....

•New Business Names Naming For The Ear
It's surely happened to you, too: You call someone back from a telephone message, not sure who they are or what they want, and what the receptionist recites upon answering comes off as a complete blur. It doesn't even separate into words. In many cases this has nothing to do with the diction of the receptionist. Out of context, the company name simply makes no sense to the ear. Years ago I had an extreme version of this experience when a gardening columnist I was interviewing said something...

•The Mystique Of Numbers In Company Names
While visiting the House of the Seven Gables in Salem, Massachusetts two weeks ago, made famous in the 1851 book by Nathaniel Hawthorne, I mentally tried out other numbers to see if they would sound as spooky and portentous. To my ear, House of the Five Gables sounds all too ordinary, while House of the Eight Gables lacks anything that would send a chill up someone's spine. Both the sound of seven and its properties as both odd and prime give it a reverberating ring. I would go so far as to...

•Five Dangerous Myths About Naming Your Company Business Product or Service
I’m not sure why, but naming a new business or product trips up a lot of otherwise smart, level-headed entrepreneurs. Here are five dangerous myths that can send your naming process straight to nowheresville or even to hell. Myth #1: The name “will just hit me” when I come up with the right one. This myth hinders business owners from two sides. First, it prevents people from recognizing a highly appropriate name when they do come up with it. And second, it can lead them to embrace a name that...

•Business Names Can Bring Good Fortune
Judging only from the name, which company comes across as more crisply efficient, Order Out of Chaos or Ockahochee Organizers, Inc.? Which business seems more innovative, Kabloom or Finest Flowers? Which consulting firm seems more dependable, RP&G Consulting Partners or Skyhunters Consulting? A company name can influence perceptions - attracting or repelling not only customers but also media people and joint venture partners. It does so through these and other factors: * the style of...

•Must a Great Business Name Be Short
Look around the Internet, particularly at blogs written by high-priced naming consultants, and you'll find a lot of rules about what makes for a great business name. Some of these are pure nonsense. They're not observations but opinions - shaky opinions, too. For example, some naming consultants claim that a great business name must be short. True, some are: Google. Nike. Intel. Ford. Best Buy. Sprint. Deere. One expert says names should be no more than three syllables, and another says no...

•What Research Says About Selecting the Best Business Name For Your Company
High-priced branding consultants who huddle together for months to concoct a new company name would like the public to think that effective naming involves secrets revealed only to those who earned a Ph.D. in linguistics, speak 17 languages or learned advertising through working their way up the ranks at a famous-brand agency. If you turn away from the idea of naming as a black art, however, you can find some secrets of branding in scientific studies that have been published after having been...

•Business Names Do Matter Norm Brodsky
In the November 2005 issue of Inc. magazine, Norm Brodsky wrote: Your company's name plays little, if any, role in determining your success. I agree completely that a company with a bad or mediocre name can reach success. However, here are 10 reasons why coming up with a snappy, interesting and memorable name is worth the business owner's or organization's time and energy. 1. When you call or speak with strangers and mention the name of your company, and the name in and of itself provokes...