The entrepreneurial bug has bitten me again. Just started work on an Education startup that will be working on an interesting mobile App (more on this later – watch this space).
While we work on the features, coding and marketing, there is a stage we have to cross – the brand name. Even if all names would smell as sweet, having the right name can mean a lot. The sweet taste of success aided by the right name would mean a lot.
This is my short checklist of what the business name should (and shouldnt) be
- easy to remember
- short
- easy to spell
- no unusual spellings (flickr also owns flicker.com)
- coool (and hopefully not outdated like most fashion in a year)
- relevant for business
- try two words if one isnt available
- try a word variation
- try a phrase
- try something that rhymes
- look up suffix and prefixes
- get inspired by word meanings
- something we can protect (talk to a good trademark attorney)
- a .com domain name should be available (do a quick whois search to eliminate some names)
- use a thesaurus or a domain name suggestion tool if necessary
- facebook and social media pages should be available
- the meaning or pronunciation should be appropriate for all major customer segments
- positive meaning (Remember Reebok’s Incubus?)
- give you competitive advantage
- not too narrow a niche
- think AAA if alphabetical sort order will give more business
Happy gaming naming !
