8th Nov 2023
As a starting point, think of adjectives that describe the business, this could be about the brand's personality, its USP, how it's going to make its customers or clients feel or its products/services.
What do you want people to think of when they hear your brand's name? This is the first step to discovery and it will help you to decide on a name that truly represents your brand. If descriptive words aren't inspiring you, you could try out acronyms, inventing your own name or maybe joining two or more words together to form a unique name for your company.
Now that you have thought about the words around the brand, you can start brainstorming the name. This is best done within a team as you'll have several opinions from different points of view. You might think you've already found the perfect name but someone else could point out a major flaw you've overlooked. For example, there are plenty of brand names that do NOT translate well from one language to another, such as Pho King, a somewhat common name for Vietnamese style restaurants. You might be thinking what's wrong with Pho King? Well it's actually pronounced 'fuh' not Pho, so, when pronounced properly, it's not the best name for a restaurant, at least not in the UK...
If you already have a brand name that you're set on, really think about whether this name actually makes sense for the business.
Does it represent in some way what your company does?
Does it sound appropriate for the field your company is in?
And is it easy to read and pronounce?
And don't forget to make sure it translates well, you wouldn't want to someday go international with your company only to find out the name of your brand means something unsavory in another language.
Before going any further, find out whether your chosen name is available or already being used, especially within your sector as this would make it a no-go. You want your company to stand out, feel unique and not have a similar name to most other businesses in the industry. Using the UK Trade Mark Database you can search in the form of images and words to check whether your brand name (and logo) are already trademarked as well as see any similar ones.
Another step we take is to research company names that are similar or the same, but are in other industries. This prevents the business from being dominated by other brands even if they're not within the same sector, which wouldn't show up in the trade mark search.
A great example of this is the company PSC Global. We worked with PSC to refresh their branding and one of the issues we found was the name, which at the time was PSG. PSG was used online to refer to a French football team and was impossible to compete with. After a vast amount of research and brainstorming, we decided on PSC Global. It retained the acronym style from the previous name, but also helped to push the fact they are a global business rather than appearing to be UK-only. You can read our PSC Global case study here.
Another example is in fact Storm12, which started as Storm. After several years, due to a similar company with the same name, Storm changed to Storm12 to avoid confusion and to keep the company unique.
The next step is to find out how your target audience responds to your name ideas. The best way to do this is to test them out. For this you'll want to make sure you're testing it on your target audience, so you actually know how the potential customers and clients of your brand feel about the name. A short survey is a great way to determine whether your chosen name resonates with your audience. Ask some open ended questions to learn about how your audience respond to your name idea(s):
What's the first thing that comes to mind when someone hears the name?
What industry would they expect it to be in?
What do they like/dislike about the name? (How it sounds, easy to say/spell, the uniqueness of it, etc.)
Now it's time to make a final decision. Although it is possible to completely change your company name in the future if you decide it really isn't working for you, it's not ideal. So, preferably the name you decide on is going to stick and be your brand forever... no pressure.
And make sure you fill out an application to trademark your brand's name, before someone else beats you to it!
At Storm12 we can create a unique brand name for your business that accurately reflects who you are and what you do.
Through thorough brand research, our creative team gains an in-depth understanding of your industry, competitors, products, services and clients. With this information we can work together to create bespoke branding such as a name, logo and colour story. We also work with excellent trademark and intellectual property attorneys who specialise in the field of trademarking and will be able to guide you through this process.
Head over to our Branding page to find out more about what Storm12 can do for your business.
Cision, 2020. Available at: https://www.prweb.com/releases/these_are_the_top_brand_naming_agencies_according_to_new_report/prweb16834127.htm
