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Denese is a lover of knowledge and puts her research skills and creative eye to good use with her infographics. When she’s not researching and designing visuals to present data, she spends time volunteering in her other passion–health education.
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Denese is a lover of knowledge and puts her research skills and creative eye to good use with her infographics. When she’s not researching and designing visuals to present data, she spends time volunteering in her other passion–health education.
Thoughts to get a jumpstart on naming your business.
Starting a new business is a fun and scary process. For one, you have decided that it’s your goal to offer goods and services that can benefit the masses and that excites you. On the other hand, the energy and work needing to be put in is overwhelming and finding the direction you need to go in can get blurry.
First, building your brand strategy from the business plan you have already developed is a great starting point. After all, the name of your business should be an extension of your brand’s goals and identity. The name chosen, will also be wrapped in how you advertise and market the company to reach the correct audience. Determining the difference between branding and marketing will be helpful in the steps to creating the perfect name.
Just as they tell you all throughout school, no idea is a bad idea – you can and should absolutely use this principle when starting to compile potential names for the company.
Inspirations can come from:
Favorite stories, book titles, and even author’s names are a great place to find inspiration. These stories inspire imagination and possibilities and that does not stop at childhood (and shouldn’t).
Similar to literature, music is a top muse and sparks can be found in how a song makes you feel, song titles, album cover art, and musician & group names. Even specific instruments can be a trigger source.
Do you want to honor who founded the company (yes, yourself – it’s okay!)? Is there anyone in close proximity to the company that can be incorporated? People from every aspect of those connected to the company can be used to draw upon ideas.
How does the word in English translate to a different language? Does that language reflect the brand? Does the alternate language hold a special meaning to the founding members or company?
Sometimes, simple is the best! This means, the intended use of the product can be used for the name of the company. If the service is unique, then possibility that is the name. Every so often not overthinking can create the best outcomes.
Have you had an altering experience during the development of creating the item or service? Has there been a past event that could be relatable to your company?
Pulled right out of the sky; every now and then it works out for the best! How does an apple relate to a computer?
As the list narrows on selections, there are a few ways to check to make sure that it will be best suited for your brand and company.
Finding out that your favorite name has already been taken or is close to a similar type of company, can be discouraging. There are ways to check against those road blocks during the naming discovery process.
Did you switch up the spelling of a word, create your own word, or play upon the product with how it’s named? Being original can be difficult and intimidating, but a must for your business. You believe your offering is needed in the market and want to differentiate yourself.
Remember to think long-term about your business. Will you reach out to a different market with the product and services you offer? If so, remember not to pigeon hold the name so that you don’t need to circle back to a full rebranding of your company.
Will the name be easy to roll of the tongues of your consumers when referencing the wonderful experience they had? Will it be difficult to explain the name versus the concept of the company? Is the website address difficult to type in?
The name chosen may sound fun and original, but if the logistics of presenting the name and where information can be found are too hard, consumers will start to move on.
This may be the most heartbreaking step of the whole process. You find the name you love and can’t wait to incorporate it in to your brand strategy and marketing, but you start the research to see if there is any other company similar using that name and BAM! The road block has been set up and the detours begin.
There are great resources to check the availability of your URL and to see what other alternatives there are. One category of resources you can try are domain registrars like GoDaddy.
If you need to trademark the company name, this page can be used (U.S. searches only).
If your business plan and brand strategy is well developed, the creative juices are already flowing and you may not need a firm or consulting group to aide you in the naming process. However, if you feel that time may be running out or a dead-end has been reached, there will be great resources available to help locally or nationally.
One caution in bringing outside help is time and financial constraint. An immense amount of both have already been placed into building your business. Before reaching out take the following steps:
Starting a business from the ground up is in no way inexpensive or free – make sure you are checking the funds to ensure you can afford outside help. Also, confirm that there is enough time to go through a discovery process before the volley of naming rounds.
The first firm you meet with does not necessarily mean it’s the right fit for your company. Make sure you have time before launching to shop around to other firms and consulting groups before an agreement is made.
Has everyone involved with the company been invited to help generate ideas? Those close will understand the most of what your company is and the goals needing to be reached. Utilizing their creative minds will ensure confidence in a strong team to build the strongest business possible before opening the doors.
When your name is set and design is next, contact Colleen Eakins Design to set up a consultation to learn how we can best support you.
I received my Bachelors in Marketing and Certification in the Pastry Arts. I have managed a wide array of printed and digital marketing needs.
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Denese is a lover of knowledge and puts her research skills and creative eye to good use with her infographics. When she’s not researching and designing visuals to present data, she spends time volunteering in her other passion–health education.
As a business owner, there are two important concepts that should be identified when creating your overarching plan – branding and marketing.
At first glance of the words, they seem like they could be interchangeable. But, as we take a deeper dive in to each, you may possibly need to adjust your strategic plans.
Let’s think of branding as the cohesive glue that holds your marketing campaigns together. It is the core of the business and who it is, represents and values. This can encompass:
Branding will also include a detailed use of your business’ design standards – such as:
A few components are wrapped up in to this piece. Determining if the logo needs to be in color versus black white is a first step. Is it more vertical or horizontal? Do you need multiple versions to fit different types of collateral?
Where will the logo be primarily placed? When placed with other logos, is there an order of hierarchy? Will it require specific size requirements pending placement? If this is being used within a footer of an email, what is the smallest size the logo will be allowed to be at?
Choosing the main colors for the logo is very important, as this will need to adhere to the overall brand strategy and represent the company correctly. There also needs to be thought on what other colors can be used if the marketing material clashes too much with the main logo. How else can this be represented?
In tandem with choosing your colors for the company and logo, the font chosen to be used in the logo will be as important. This will be the main representation of the company. Making sure it’s how the brand should be portrayed, it’s legible, and clear to the consumer is key. Also including in the brand standards similar fonts that can be used when speaking about the company will be beneficial when used on different materials.
The above items are pieces that a professional designer can help build out that supports and easily conveys your company’s mission and goals. From initial meetings for the designer to understand what the company does to deeper discussions about how the company should be portrayed – both elements fall under the building company’s brand identity.
You should be very detailed in how you express the needs of what the brand guidelines should entail. This will allow you to deepen the relationship between the different pieces of your company and why you are, who you are.
Long-term visions of the company should be included your brand identity. Without this aspect determined when building your business, you can’t fully understand what the business should accomplish and how those goals will be reached. You want to stay true to why the company was formed in the first place.
This is the marketing piece and how you execute the mission and vision of your brand. This will be ever changing and evolve as your products and services change, but will always refer back to core identity of the company.
Examples of marketing efforts to promote certain products or services are:
This includes newspaper, brochures, postcards, catalogs, posters, banners, etc. Though digital marketing efforts are extremely effective and cost efficient, print is still a main and valuable aspect of business operations.
This will not include any visual creative, but the tone and message for a radio ad still must reflect the brand’s strategy in how it wishes to present itself to potential consumers. Note: different markets are more expensive than others and will depend on the station for the demographic you would like to reach.
This form of marketing will be the most expensive. Not only will there production costs (location, actors, shooting, etc.), but there are also the costs of the actual advertising spot (differing per station and market). However, this can be very effective to reach a wide audience and to be able to use visual and emotional cues combined.
The following marketing tactics have not only become the workhorse of current marketing strategies, but also the most cost effective – they include: mobile, social media, search engine optimization (seo), email blasts, content marketing (blogs, videos, etc.).
Overall, marketing can be thought of as in what’s “in-season” and broken up in to campaigns – trends and channels that will help dictate how your message is delivered and to what audience, all while referencing and adhering to your brand standards.
Now that the two pieces have been hashed out, which one do you start with?
The brand should always be thought of first and then incorporated in to how a certain marketing tactic can be best used to solicit and engage current and potential consumers.
Branding and marketing have been broken up above, but that doesn’t mean that they do not ever work together. There are two areas on where the brand and marketing overlap: the company voice and imagery presented.
When developing your brand, you should have a specific tone to the company and target audience in which your products and services may be best suited for. Not only does this impact what you wish to offer to the market, but how your mission and culture are influenced. An ivy-league school operates and speaks differently than how a tech start-up will. There is no one way that is better than the other, but needs to be carefully determined to help structure how the organization speaks to its consumers and even their employees.
The other area where the two practices meet is when you determine what imagery, colors, etc. you will use. As mentioned earlier, this can be done with the help of a professional designer that will help guide the thought process to determine your logo and colors, but when executing different marketing campaigns, it is important that those are adhered to and any other selected images represent the company in the best light and in-line with the set brand guidelines.
When determining your brand and marketing efforts, contact Colleen Eakins Design to set up a consultation to learn how we can best support you.
I received my Bachelors in Marketing and Certification in the Pastry Arts. I have managed a wide array of printed and digital marketing needs.
©2018, Colleen Eakins Design
©2018, Colleen Eakins Design
©2018, Colleen Eakins Design
©2018, Colleen Eakins Design
©2018, Colleen Eakins Design