How to Choose and Find A Business Name For Your Company

It is amazing how little time and effort many business people put into choosing and finding a business name for their company. And this is considering its utmost importance in the business world.

Why are business name important?

Your business name is the first figure that your business projects. It is what customers will remember about your business that will either draw them to it or send them away.

Assuming your business lasts for many years, you will have invested a lot of time and money building it. Part of the value of your business is the name. If you have branded the name, your brand alone might be worth more than the assets of the business itself.

What should you look for when choosing your business name? Try asking yourself these questions: Ask yourself the following 9 questions about your business name:

Is it easy to remember?
Does it tell people what your business does?
Is the meaning confusing?
Is it unique?
Will your business or your market outgrow the business name?
Can it be branded?
Is anyone else using this name?
Is it trademarked?
Can you trademark it?

1. Easy to Remember.

This is one of the most important requirements of a good name It should not be too complicated or very long. As much as you may want a particular proper name put in your business name, it may not be the best thing for your business.

2. Describes what your business does.

A good business name describes in some fashion what the business does or what it is about.

Real life examples are; Creative Walls & Spaces; Wine Fetish; Seven Seas Travel and Running Paws. All of these names create an image and give a good indication of what service or products the business provides.

Many businesses lately have been choosing more contrived, or transparent names. Since these names do not have a meaning, they can be branded to mean almost anything you want. The negative is that you will have to invest heavily to market your new brand so that it becomes recognizable.

3. Make sure it is not confusing.

Keep it simple. You do want your business name to confuse itself with a double meaning or bring up an image that is not related to your business.

4. Unique

A corporate name must be unique and must not be similar to another corporate name registered with the state.

The same thing should be employed with your business name, even if it is not a requirement by the state. Another way to look at it is if your name is too similar to other names, will your customers confuse your name with another company. If they do, you may once again lose business to your competitor.

5. Choose a name the business or the market itself will not outgrew

This is a little more difficult because nobody can tell what will happen in the future. To be around for five years is already considered a success for many businesses.

Projecting your market, the longevity of your product and where your company’s focus might be in the future is a lot to ask when coming up with a name.

However, thinking more about this subject cannot hurt. IBM was first known as International Business Machines, but it later changed its name because its business model changed. Keep that in mind when naming your business.

6. Is anyone else using that name?

If you have chosen a good name for your business, be wary. If it was good for you, maybe it was also for others. You can bet several other businesses are using the same name somewhere in the US.

7. Has your name been trademarked?

A trademark is a word, phrase, symbol or design, or combination of these, which identifies and distinguishes the source of a particular good or service.

A service mark is for services. The United States Patent and Trademark Office handles the national registration of a trademark or service mark.

If another company has registered your chosen business name as a national trade or service mark, then you will not be able to use it for your business.

The court would consider it “trademark infringement” if the average consumer would be confused as to the source of the good or service sold. Even if you think your name is different enough from another company’s trademark that there would not be infringement, go see a qualified trademark attorney before proceeding.

Read more publications about how you can incorporate your business online and protect your assets at NeoIncorporation.com/publications/

Article Source: http://www.marketingarticlelibrary.com

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