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[H943]How To Choose A Business Name
by Deep Arora, Dee
A business name is often an identifier, revealing something unique about the company. A name may tell customers what the business does such as Ford Motors, how they do it like LA Therapeutic Massage, what they promise to deliver such as Thompsons Best Apparel, who the people are behind it naming Smith and Wesson and what the business hopes to achieve promising Prosperity Credit. Other business names provoke further investigation or questions, such as names like 401K or Oxygen.

In most businesses across the globe, the business name reflects the businesses positive attributes, in names like Lucky Enterprises, Best Buy Depot, Star Corporation, the Dynamic Software Company and so on. You would be hard pressed to find any positive words that havent been put to use one way or another in a business name.

The initial selection of a business name is a relatively easy process, what most often causes headaches is when the organization seeks to register their business name. The authorities dont allow two businesses to use the very same name. This decisions makes sense, as clearly having multiple businesses bearing the same moniker would make the regulation of organizations a nightmare! For example, if a registered business is found to be violating some law it is therefore open to prosecution. If more than one business has the same name, then there is the potential that during an investigation, the other business entity would naturally be open to being implicated. For this reason it is unsurprising that the unauthorized use of a registered business name thus became a violation of the law also.

Having considered the implications of sharing an existing business name, then the next thing worth working on are names youll want to rule out. In all honesty, its only the weirdo types who will want to name businesses as Unscrupulous Incorporated or Thieves R Us! Although it raises curiosity and provokes humor, common sense tends to dictate that dealing with an unscrupulous organization or worse yet a thief, is risky in business. Chances are you would run the other way if you were confronted with a bank named the Bankrupts Bank of the Middle East or Shady Dealings Bank.

On the other hand, the clever use of a weird, intriguing and easily recalled business names can save an organization a bundle on advertising money, through the use of clever and satirical business names. One crafty air-conditioning service center named its business Stiff Nipples, using eye catching, sexy wording in the business title of a company selling air conditioners!

A popular example of a satirical business name is the successful Monster. Surprisingly, it is a job placement service. Why would a jobseeker go to work for a monster, or an employer hire one for that matter? This name begs the question of what the likes of Karl Marx would have made of this unique business name, given his stance on capitalism! One suspects that he would have loved to make fun of that website in advancing his particular ideology. As a business name, however, this unusual choice has nonetheless become synonymous with the employment website.

A recent post by a writer from Ezine highlighted this unusual selection of names. When asked their thoughts on several different words one respondent commented that Amazon suggested a jungle when in fact it was the business name of an internet business, the respondent noted Apple was a brand of computer named after a fruit and Caterpillar was a brand of heavy machinery rather than a soft, crawling bug. These answers served to highlight the juxtaposition of the business names and products with the initial meanings of the words used in their names.

If you have found the perfect name only to discover it is taken, then you can still find a way around this. One way is by associating the name selected with your particular business location. If you want your name to be Superstars Marketing, then naming your business New York Superstars Marketing can give you the name you are after without conflicting with another registered name. The thing you should consider in this situation is whether the other business is already in your location doing the same thing with a very similar name. If this is the case then you may simply be better off looking for an alternative business name.

Choosing an appropriate and meaningful business name is one of the key ingredients for your business. When you are starting out the choice of name can play a key role in your advertising, marketing and branding. Spending time ensuring that your business name is a good fit with your products and service will make the key promotional elements of your business plan easier to implement. Have some fun with your business name and view it as a unique opportunity to start the process of carving out your own niche in your area of business.

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.
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About Author
Both Deep Arora & Henry Apruk are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.

Deep Arora has sinced written about articles on various topics from Site promotion, E Diet and Business Plan. Deep Arora is an Internet marketer with over 7 years of online experience and he teaches internet marketing from his blog at
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