Sometimes, new entrepreneurs are in such a rush to get started at their businesses that they jump right into working with customers without giving much thought to their BUSINESS NAME. “I’ll just do business under my own name for a while, until I find something I like.” While it seems easy at the time, you might want to re-think the plan to change business names down the road. You will find that, as your professional recognition and customer base grow, people have started to IDENTIFY you with the name of your company. A name change in mid-stream can be costly and confusing.
First, you will lose ground in the marketing arena — it takes time and effort to build up BRAND RECOGNITION, and that time is lost when you change names. You may also lose customers to the competition — what are they to think when they go looking for “Joe’s Mobile Car Wash” in the yellow pages and you’ve changed your name to “Fast and Easy Auto Detailing?” They might think that you’ve gone out of business and it’s time to find someone else to clean their cards. And finally, changing names can cause you increased PAPERWORK and EXPENSE — changing your bank accounts, credit cards, marketing materials, incorporation documents, DBA registration, etc. So why not get it right the first time? Here are some suggestions for choosing a business name that will serve you well for years to come.
IS IT MEMORABLE?
When people hear the name of your company, will they be able to REMEMBER it 15 minutes, 30 minutes, 3 hours, or a week later? When they decide to hunt you up on the web or in the phone book, will they be able to easily recall your business name? It doesn’t matter if you are choosing a fictitious business name or using your own — the same rules apply. Your name should be UNIQUE enough that it will stick in a potential customer’s mind — “Smith’s Gym” isn’t going to be nearly as easy to remember as “Work That Body.”
You also want to stay away from names that are likely to be CONFUSED with another company. You may think it’s a cute idea to come up with a name that closely resembles (without exactly copying) another company’s name. But calling your personal coaching company “Joys-R-Us” is confusing, unoriginal, and likely to bring about a lawsuit! And beware of phrases or ACRONYMS that are overused in your profession. You wouldn’t believe how many Professional Organizers use some combination of words that spell out SOS (usually “Someone’s Organizing Solutions”). Your company will stand out more if your name is truly unique.
IS IT EASY TO SPELL?
However, the next question is “when they do recall it, is it easy enough to spell that they can immediately find your listing?” You want to stay away from challenging spellings and pronunciations. Calling your restaurant “Phine Phoods” is just asking for trouble — how is your customer going to know to look under “p” instead of “f” in the phone book? And if your last name is Piccalopoupoulis, you may be better off creating a fictitious business name. A good rule of thumb to follow is to pay attention to what happens when you tell other people your name — if you are always having to SPELL or PRONOUNCE it slowly, it will be hard for people remember and find later on.
This is particularly important if you are planning to turn your business name into a DOMAIN name. Websites with long or hard-to-spell names get overlooked during standard searches. And try to avoid having to include a hyphen or underscore in your name to make it appropriate for the web. Short, snappy, easy-to-remember names work best in the translation from brick-and-mortar to internet.
DOES IT DESCRIBE YOUR COMPANY?
Will customers learn something specific, unique, or descriptive about your business, just from hearing the name? Will they get a feel for WHAT you provide or HOW you provide it? Many individual service providers try to sound like high-end firms by using some derivative of their first and last name for their company identity - “Joanna Carrol and Associates,” or “JC Consulting,” or “Carroll and Company.” But what does that really tell a potential customer about your company? I don’t know if you are an insurance agent or an attorney or a professional organizer. Include something in your name that describes your product or service — “JC Graphic Design” — so customers aren’t left WONDERING what type of business you have.
You can also include some information about those special CHARACTERISTICS that make your business DIFFERENT from the competition. Okay — so you’ve told me that you are a printer. Why should I hire you instead of the printer down the street? You might be faster, cheaper, provide better quality, have more experience, offer a higher-end product, or provide more services than the other guy. If it’s appropriate and pertinent, include one or two of those traits — “JC Full-Service Graphic Design” — in your name.
DOES IT LIMIT YOU?
If you are joining an industry that allows for “branching out,” be careful about giving your company a name that traps you in a very small service area. For example, a company that starts out putting in tile floors — but has plans to expand into vinyl, hardwood, and carpeting down the road — wouldn’t want a name like “TileMasters.” Something more along the lines of “FloorMasters” will give the company the FLEXIBILITY they need to grow and change later on.
And if you have intentions of ever expanding your service area, you need to be careful about a GEOGRAPHICALLY limiting business name. “Hair Over Atlanta” isn’t going to work as well when you open locations in Seattle and Los Angeles and New York. Be sure to check the US Patent And Trademark Office’s online database (http://tess.uspto.gov) to make sure your name is available for national use before you start printing it on your cards.
You also have to stop and think about whether naming your company after yourself — “Bob’s Bar and Grill” — will limit you in a different way. If you have ever read “The E-Myth” by Michael Gerber, you know that having customers identify your business as an EXTENSION of you brings about its own special pitfalls. You become indispensable to the company — people get used to seeing Bob behind the counter every night and that’s what makes it “Bob’s” — the business can’t run without you. And if you ever decide that you want to take a break, let someone else run the place on your behalf, or sell the company, you will run into a roadblock. Quite often, what seems like a great way to PERSONALIZE your business ends up turning it into a stone around your neck.
This business is your baby, your investment in the future, and you will have it with you (hopefully) for a long time. Don’t short-change your business by skipping out on one of the most important steps you will take during start-up — selecting just the right name.
Ramona Creel is a Professional Organizer and the founder of OnlineOrganizing.com — a web-based one-stop shop offering everything that you need to get organized at home or at work. At OnlineOrganizing.com, you may get a referral to an organizer near you, shop for the latest organizing products, get tons of free tips, and even learn how to become a professional organizer or build your existing organizing business. And if you would like to read more articles about organizing your life or building your business, get a free subscription to the “Get Organized” and “Organized For A Living” newsletters. Please visit http://www.OnlineOrganizing.com or contact Ramona directly at ramona@onlineorganizing.com for more information.
Oyster holders put up one of the economical methods, which guarantees a visible point for your organisation or trade name and allows many great opportunities to advertize your society. It is a stylishly designed promotional product, which forms an superior campaigning platform for your company and allows for a solid platform for your business. Card holders enable you to fit the need as well as the taste of your potential customers. It is a flawless item of usefulness, which allows for an original, practical and a reliable way of promoting your brand. It gives a great option for gift making, availing you to present or further your business among your valuable clients, irrespective of the type of your business enterprise.
1) The Card wallet is fashionable, low-cost item, which will appeal to the wide-ranging preferences of many people. It arrives in long-term glossy PVC plastic, and is perfect for your essential travel card. You can entice and arouse people with this merchandise, by utilizing some fascinating shows.
2) An Card holder is made from a long-lasting PVC finish on one side of the Oyster card holder and on the other it features two compartments to store plastics or the oyster card. They can also be given in a glorious present package and is the appropriate ware, to serve your customers.
3) They create an ambient medium to carry your promoting subject matters, efficaciously. Oyster card wallets can be made with your trade name and easily create popularity for your company or administration. They can be mounted and printed with your company name or logotype and make an quality gift for your clients or beloved ones.
4) Card wallets can facilitate you save all of your significant cards or bus passes together in one solid and favorable point. They are produced from functional PVC plastic and accept charge card expansion slots and central note pocket. They look stylish and glorious and allow a great opportunity to make an powerful effect. You can either give them to your clients, admirers, deputes or staff, for valuing them for their work. They will genuinely make you jump out above the crowd and are great for your own individual use, too.
5) It looks genuinely elegant and operational and is crafted from the most operational PVC plastic. Card holders are ideal for adding a bit of vogue for your society logotype, which can be adorned on the face. They are also obtainable in individual colors and purposes that are pre-made.
Studying various target-marketing techniques and here is a thought. We have been reviewing companies who cross over into many sectors to identify with their potential customers. We have watched as they attempt to understand their customers buying behavior and how they try to create a desire to purchase. Few companies do this very well, few advertising agencies understand the dynamics of multiple markets. I have seen many advertising agencies squander their client’s money. In my company, our team has nominated a few companies for their understanding of their customers, we have only considered those companies who cross ethnic barriers, and market to multiple sectors and customers in many industries. My choice was Rolex and Nike. Others members of our team felt comfortable with were GM, Dell, In and Out Hamburgers, Starbucks, E-Trade, MFS, Coca Cola, FEDEX, Washington Mutual, Mastercard, Wal-Mart (new series of ads), GE and Southwest Airlines.
With consumer spending decreasing in the future due to maxed out credit card limits and the next downward business cycles companies will have to decrease their P and L contributions column for advertising expenditure. Who will emerge the winners of tomorrow’s markets? Those with significant standing brand names have the best chances. Who will avoid the drying up of the lake and continue to expand and develop new market niches and open more stores? I believe that the most customer driven companies will emerge as the great strategic planners that they are. In times of tough markets the companies who deserve the winners circle will shine bright and above the crowd. To be able to write great ads and to keep the customers happy, first you must understand the customers wants and needs, then you write the ads to fulfill these desires, then the tough part to deliver on that promise. Creating a new customer in a tough market is tough and it is a necessity. Without the new life-blood you cannot open more units and expand market share.
As other companies close stores rather than getting tough with the market, it shows the observers that they are out of touch with the needs and wants of the customers. Others will consolidate to keep up the numbers to impress shareholders and maintain stock price. This is a time when BS walks. A time when the strong survive, many will fail and pendants will ask: What happen to those business goals? What is being taught in Americas Business Universities? If a company cannot work together as a team in the heat of battle when the going gets tough then they will be defeated by those who can. The customer will choose the best value for them, they will vote with their desires. Advertising is important, but so is the follow-thru, without it all the advertising in the World will not build a customer following. Bringing in a new customer who is under-whelmed will simply turn into a one time purchase and adverse word of mouth.
I salute the winners in the market who understand the desires of the clients and continue to deliver on their promise. I salute the advertising agencies who help these firms by bringing in those customers. It is important to realize that we do not openly give praise easily or often. When we pass a judgment in the market place we do so for the benefit of all.
Those who go the distance and stay the course and Keep on Keeping on, will emerge and do so by carefully advertising to their core target markets without confusing their clientele even when they have branched into additional market segments, while keeping careful tabs on their core businesses. They are the ones who will find themselves respected by the others who got rained on too and made it thru. The innovators, the winners and the strong should be celebrated for they are the ones who refused to give up and to go the distance against all adversity, and against all odds.
“Lance Winslow” - Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs/
