Business Naming Basics

If you’ve followed my blog postings concerning business naming, you’ll know I emphasize going for quantity first.

By getting as many word combinations and approaches to naming as you can – not stopping until you have at least a couple of hundred name candidates – you’ll enjoy two advantages. The first, at least a dozen or so candidates that will work as your company name. The second, and probably most important, are the directions that some of the candidates will lead you. They become catalysts for fresh naming ideas that are relevant but novel, the very characteristics I look for in a business name.

One method of creating that long list of candidates involves building a “mind map” of synonyms and associated words. You begin with a characteristic you’d like your name to possess. In the example below, it’s a “sexy name”.

Then think of the obvious words that convey sexy: romance, passion, spicy, etc. Make each one a branch from the sexy name root. Then for each of these sub-branches, list their synonyms. Just take them directly from a good thesaurus like Roget’s 21st Century Thesaurus. (I particularly like this one because of the cross references to concepts, i.e. associated words which I can also add.)

You might also add some sub-branches for animals, flowers, colors, scents, etc. that you think convey sexy.

Now begin combining words from one branch with words from a second branch, then a third, etc. It won’t take but 10 to 20 minutes until you have a large list of candidates, each that might be a name or a path to one.

Tags: Name Development, Name Management, Product Naming by MartinJ
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Naming a new product, particularly if it’s the first product you introduce, will have far-reaching implications. That’s because the new product name will effect the naming of future products and associated services.

Those future products may be additional models or styles of the original, in which case you’ll want to establish a naming architecture before adopting a new product name. You’ll want to make sure that the name you chose will accommodate the “and more” designations of future products.

In addition, you may be introducing entirely new lines that need to be “soul mates” or accessories to the original product. You’ll at least want to consider the impact of such additions on the original name, and you don’t want the subsequent names to be limited by the original if at all possible.

A thirds consideration is naming replacement products. Will you want to have a name for the new product that might “borrow” associations – like a similar name to the original. If so, you’ll want to consider this when naming the original.

Now I’m not saying you need to lay out a ten-year product introduction plan from the very start. Nor do you have to name future products before they’re created. But one of many criteria you should use when judging product name candidates is, “Is it flexible enough to accommodate future product naming?”

In other words, you don’t want to name a product in such a way as to hamper future product names.

Don’t name yourself into a corner.

Tags: Product Naming by MartinJ
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