Are you a natural do-it-yourselfer who is convinced that no one can do a better job of naming your business than you? Then, it’s time to brainstorm!
Brainstorming is a creative technique that can be used by individuals or groups to devise novel solutions to complex problems. The problem in this case is “what do I name my business?”
While brainstorming is mainly focused on the free flow of options and ideas, it is helpful when attempting to solve this particular challenge to have some guides in place. Here at Brand Boutique, we’ve found the following brainstorming guides effective in helping us develop creative, catchy and practical names for our clients’ businesses.
Start at the Beginning
Answering the “who am I?” and “what do I offer?” questions is a natural start to the business naming brainstorm process. You can choose to stop here, finding that a simple Lucy’s Cakes or Lawrence Legal Services works for you.
Explore the Features of Your Product or Service
Is there an element of your business that sets you apart from your competition? What key selling points have you identified about your product or service that will help you stand out in the marketplace and in the minds of your consumers? What is your defining motto? There is no better place to make these unique features clear than in the name of your business.
Get Nostalgic
What motivated you to start this business? What moments in your history, from your youth or yesterday, led you to pursue this passion project? What influences you to keep going? Tapping into the things that inspire you can prove to be a treasure trove of ideas.
Stalk your Customer
Gaining knowledge about your target audience is paramount in any element of your marketing and is just as helpful in the naming process. Learn about your customers. Follow them on social media, online, in the store (although you might want to keep a safe distance on that last one). What are their likes and dislikes? What are their shared experiences? What do they find humor in? A list of these seemingly useless factoids could help you arrive upon a name that resonates with your target audience.
The fact that Google has crossed over from brand name to verb underscores its importance. It’s the easiest way to conduct some secondary research about your business, customer, industry and competition. In addition to discovering the names of your competition to make sure you don’t become a copycat - or get sued, you can quickly find language and terms that could help you name your business. These can include market trends, industry jargon and so much more.
Google Images
The usefulness of Google in the brainstorming process isn’t limited to searching through copious amounts of information delivered in text form. A picture is worth a thousand words, and performing an image search on some of the terms related to your business could return some interesting finds and lead you down paths you wouldn’t have explored if you’d limited the fun to the written word alone.
Get a Little Crafty with Language
So you’ve brainstormed your tail off and found what you think is the perfect name that delivers all the meaning and impact a few words strung together have ever delivered in the history of modern language. But then you find that it’s taken by another business. What then? Whether you’re at the beginning, middle or end of the process, you can come up with a lot more options if you embrace the fluidity of language. Found a word that works? Explore a thesaurus for synonyms that deliver the same meaning but offer greater possibilities for combinations. Want to get a little exotic? Head to Google Translate to find that word in multiple languages. Maybe the sound or the spelling stands out to you.
Whether you start at the top or the bottom, or you pick a brainstorming tip that works best for you and how you’re comfortable creating, there is no wrong way to brainstorm. Armed with these guides, you can overcome creative blocks and create THE name, or several names, that works for you and your business.
Happy brainstorming!
About the Author
Teneil Lawrence is the founder of South Florida based Brand Boutique - a marketing and graphic design agency dedicated to small businesses. Visit www.BrandBoutique-FL.com for more information.
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