Business Naming Basics

If you’re doing business on the web – generating leads, selling product or establishing an “authority” image – then you know the importance of generating relevant traffic.

And you know that search engines are a major source of relevant traffic. But unless you already own a well-known, top-of-mind company name, people don’t search for business names using Google, Yahoo or Bing. They use generic keywords to find the product or service they are researching or purchasing.

And the way you get recognized in a search engine is to be on their first page of results when people search for the keyword(s) that best describe their need or desire. Getting on the first page requires that you optimize your site by making it relevant using a host of search engine optimization (SEO) techniques.

Name as SEO component

A major characteristic of a web site for SEO is the domain name of the site. Thus, if your site’s domain name contains the keyword your prospects are using to find businesses relevant to yours, it stands to reason your position in the search engines will be higher than if your domain name does not include the searched keyword.

But keywords are usually descriptive and generic. And business names should not be descriptive and generic. Business names should be unique and memorable; at least businesses that aren’t exclusively web-based. So there’s the predicament: how do I have a relevant, searchable domain name and a unique, compelling business name?

Naming hierarchies answer the call

We are aware of the many companies that have multiple businesses and/or products. Each of those entities has a distinct name, and some of those brands will have products – line extensions – under them. Then many products will have branded characteristics or features as well. Within these companies a naming architecture, or hierarchy, has been established which brand managers adhere to when it’s time to name a new product, corporate division or, yes, a web site.

The answer to the dilemma of the domain vs business name is to treat the domain name as an association to the business brand. The domain name should be created with the major keyword as part of the name. The business has a more “people-appealing” name that differentiates and delivers a suggestion of the brand’s promise.

Real live example

You are reading a blog post at Business Naming Basics. I chose this name after doing my keyword research and found, not the most used keyword, but one I felt I could raise to the top of the Google rankings (first page). The site name and its contents are relevant to the search term.

But my business name is Signature Strategies. The company does create names for companies, and it also helps smaller businesses with brand strategy and management; graphic standards and trade dress; name, logo and tagline creation, and brand audits and positioning research. So naming is a subset of the business.

And because I derive much of my business from Internet contacts, I wanted a domain name that would attract relevant visitors to my web-site. Signature Strategies would not be that traffic-generator for the service of naming. Now I also have a Signature Strategies web site – www.signaturestrategies.com – where I also blog, but that site is not expected to get a lot of search engine traffic. Most of its visitors are folks who have read an article I’ve posted on the web, backlinks from other branding sites and my social networking activities.

Know what you’re naming and why

That’s the real message here. Before naming your business, or your web-site, or your product, or your new subsidiary, take the time to create a naming brief, one that gives you direction based on long-range goals and missions. This goes for anything you name in the future. It’s also a good idea to establish your brand architecture structure early on because if you don’t, in all likelihood you’ll have to backtrack – rename or rebrand parts of your business that tend to confuse customers and prospects.

So it’s best to begin with a brand platform (the structure that contains the brand hierarchy). You can find help in constructing the platform at Signature Strategies web-site. Then create a naming brief for each aspect of your business that needs a name, following the brand hierarchy you’ve already established.

Yes, there’s more to business naming than a brainstorming session and trademark search.

Tags: Name Management, Naming Strategies by MartinJ
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Using place names as business names can be advantageous in some instances and almost suicidal in others.

But first, just what are geographic (aka place) names? Most obviously we’re talking about the names of cities, regions, counties, states and countries. We’re also alluding to geographic features such as the names of mountains, deserts, rivers, lakes, and oceans. On a more local level, we find the names of streets, neighborhoods and subdivisions are adopted for business names as well. And on a universal level, adopting the names of planets, stars and galaxies fall into this naming bucket as well. And, place names can have originated in myth and fiction, too

This business naming post has to do with the pros and cons of using these names, and avoiding the pitfalls.

The pros of geographic names

Many geographic place names have established images in the minds of prospects because of their history, location or physical characteristics. These images can be transferred to the company or product named. If relevant, names evoking the old West, or exotic destinations can benefit from those existing images. They usually have stories connected to them – Casablanca, Cheyenne, Rushmore and Atlantis, for instance.

Note, too, that many place names were originally the names of people, so there is often a story connected to those people who were admired enough to have a place named after them. There are the usual suspects like Washington, Lincoln and Jackson, and there are the more obscure like Pontiac, Denver and Raleigh.

Also, many two-part geographical names will have as the second part a type of geographic feature – Lake, Park, Hill, Glen, Brook are examples. These are often combined with personal names as well.

It is also possible to “invent” new words that sound like place names. These will sound and feel familiar even though they are unique. And as long as they are just quirky enough to stand out, they can be memorable as well.

So, geographic business names can be associated with images or stories that conjure good feelings, that feel familiar and that are usually easy to remember, pronounce and spell.

The cons of place names

Have you ever looked for a business in the white pages of a telephone directory? If the name is common to the area, you may have a devil of a time finding the one you want. Fir instance, here in Denver, CO, businesses whose “first name” is Denver occupy 12 columns. Those beginning with Rocky Mountain take up 11 columns. Using the name of geographical places and features local to your business will lead to confusion and certainly doesn’t differentiate your firm. You’re lost in a sea of sameness.

There’s another reason for not naming your business by using local geography. What if you want to expand? That’s what happened to a laser clinic founded 60 miles north of Denver named Poudre Valley Laser. When they opened two Denver area offices, they felt they needed to change their name. They changed it to Colorado Laser Clinic. Sure hope they don’t open offices is Cheyenne or Provo any time soon.

Many entrepreneurs who have no plans of expanding believe a local name will endear them to local people, but I’ve found no reason to think people need to have a business named after their town to be convinced the business is local.

There is an exception to local naming. If the name is chosen because it represents the actual location of the business, the name then serves to give people directions to the firm. And if there aren’t too many people naming their companies with the same location, the name is somewhat unique. Again using Denver as an example, there’s a smart little mini-community occupying several blocks along Pearl Street, so the Pearl Street Café, or Pearl Street Fashions identifies both location and business type. If expansion is not a problem, those names make sense. (But if a lease is lost and the business must move, yes, there is a problem.

That reminds me of a true story, though I don’t know all the particulars. There used to be an annual conference and trade show named the Pittsburg Conference. But for many years it was held in Cleveland. I don’t know the reason they had to move from Pittsburg, but their solution – thought up by engineers no doubt – saved them money while giving participants something to laugh about.

What would INC500 companies do?

As you may know, I’ve analyzed the names of INC500’s Fastest Growing Companies over the past 12 years. I looked at the trends of geographic business names. Over that entire period, only four-percent of all names studied were geographic, and in the last year, just three-percent. Most of those had adopted a local geographical name. Just goes to show you that there’s more to success in business that a successful name.

Anyway, using your locale as part of your name is not a good idea. It exhibits no personality – in reality it’s just a generic name.

On the other hand, by adopting a non-local geographic name with some rich imagery, some rhythm, some psychological trigger, or some romantic story, you may have exactly what you want: a unique, memorable, emotion-evoking name.

Since so few companies have not adapted this naming practice, it may well be a fruitful approach to naming a business today. So get yourself an American Atlas, a World Atlas and an Atlas of the Ancient World.

Mind travel: That’s the ticket.

Tags: Name Development by MartinJ
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Business naming and linguistics – plosives

Business naming can be as easy as having an “aha” moment, or as complicated as introducing the science of linguistics to the naming process and to name evaluation.

Linguistics is a study of language based upon how words are physically formed by vocal cords-lungs-pallet-tongue-lips. It has its own array of distinct definitions for various sounds and how they’re made. There are those who advocate a linguistic approach to naming a company of product, and particularly encourage the use of certain consonants labeled “plosives”.

Plosives burst from the mouth

Plosives are letters that when verbalized require three vocal actions (as described in Wikipedia):

Catch: The airway closes so that no air can escape through the mouth.
Hold or occlusion: The airway stays closed, causing a pressure difference to build.
Release or burst: The closure is opened. In the case of plosives, the released airflow produces a sudden impulse causing an audible sound (hence the name plosive).

The letters from English that meet those characteristics are: B, hard C, D, hard G, K, P and T.

Why are plosives encouraged?

First, they dominate other letters in the words in which they appear. They demand our attention when pronounced. This is particularly so when a plosive begins a word. So several naming companies suggest one criteria of a good name is whether it begins with a plosive. Two names are usually cited as good examples of strong brand names using plosives: Kodak and Coke. Other obvious examples: Die-Hard, Texaco, Pepsi, Brillo and Glade.

Plosive usage by INC 500 companies.

But among the fastest growing U.S. companies, as measured by the Inc 500, business names beginning with a plosive are only slightly more popular than those beginning with other letters. (Recall that I’ve analyzed the names contained in those INC 500 lists for the past 12 years, and that I’m reporting some of the conclusions I’ve reached in this blog.)

In analyzing the first letter of the names, the most significant conclusion about plosive usage among INC 500 is that it appears to be almost random. True, two plosives (C and P) are also top-five first-letters, but P declined in popularity since 2001 and not all C’s used in naming are hard C’s. On average, the use of those seven first-character plosive names has remained stable over the 12-year span, and represents 35% of all company names. In contrast, the use of any seven random characters is 27% on average.

I suggest it’s worth investigating the use of plosives as first-characters in names, but only as a secondary factor. There are certainly other factors more important in name creation and evaluation.

Tags: Name Development by MartinJ
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