What’s in a name? Quite a bit if you are starting a business. From cute to goofy, serious to silly, business names can range from the ridiculous to the sublime. Perhaps hungry for opportunities to be creative, some entrepreneurs seem to have the market in a corner on how to get what may be the most important aspect of marketing genius wrong: the business name.

It never ceases to amaze me how people come up with their business names. Many business people approach me after they have worked with their lawyers and accountants to set up the business, perhaps going the extra mile to incorporate, and sometimes have also taken it upon themselves to design their own logo before realizing that it is it takes a little more talent to create a brand than an amateurish attempt at graphic design. I then have the dubious honor of taking the joint efforts of these three dedicated professionals, some of whom must have slept through commercial marketing to work with a sometimes problematic name they agreed upon and create a logo or trademark that addresses the desperate need for an eye-catching. , a definitive and effective professional image for the duration of its existence.

Many people starting small businesses don’t consider that in the highly competitive field of local marketing, the name must quickly define what the business stands for. This creates two problems: the name does not describe what the business offers; or, even if he does, he usually uses too many words or the wrong combination of words to do so. And to make matters worse, this is usually after a false start with liberal spending to try to promote this new company, based on a series of inept marketing decisions and the use of poor marketing tools, a situation that makes it more hard for me than starting from scratch.

Case in point: I was recently contacted by a relatively new organization that said they needed a marketing plan. Upon further analysis, I learned that they had been placing an ad in the regional newspaper for their geographic service area almost daily with no response. Searching for your industry through Google, I couldn’t find any mention of your group within the first ten pages of results. Only after looking up the name of the man who had contacted me was I able to locate his name on a web page about the board of directors of this organization. Literally walking in the back door, I was able to find a link to their home page which, looking at it, reminded me of the incompetent ad that had been running in the newspaper that I read every day but, like everyone else, had ignored like Irrelevant. Understandably, with a nebulous business name, poorly designed logo, non-existent advertising message, and busy, unprofessional presentation, it is sad and ironic that this non-profit group that provides a valuable service to seniors has so miserably wasted its resources. limited funds trying to do everything themselves to save money. And none of this internal marketing group could spot any problems with this effort, too close to the forest to see the trees.

Now resigned that a do-it-yourself strategy is not always the most profitable, the directors were surprisingly receptive to my suggestion that, while I expected resistance, they might consider a business name change at this early juncture in their business. organization history. Simultaneously, I also proposed that along with the marketing plan and name change, a new professional logo would logically follow along with a series of well-conceived banners that they could use for ongoing promotion. As soon as your signed contract and project deposit arrives I will be taking on this challenge as you are now eager to proceed with the sudden acknowledgment and appreciation of your failed attempt at self promotion.

From the perspective of my long career, I assure you that this is a common phenomenon, particularly in situations where the marketing is done by a “committee,” which tragically describes most of my clients: law firms, health practices, and dental, non-profit organizations, industrial and pharmaceutical companies, etc. And it doesn’t matter if the company is big or small, or if it is run basically by a single professional or by a group of directors. In most cases, business leaders often lack the vision or self-confidence to make marketing decisions on their own, so they involve the opinions of everyone and everyone around them, regardless of background. competence to judge the subject. This means that my directives come from sources as diverse as teenage children of clients, wives of clients, secretaries, summer interns, random clients of clients, anonymous emailed comments from websites, and assorted other “experts,” all of whom emphatically express their views. therefore, I am well informed on how to do my job effectively.

Of course, I’m not so stubborn that I don’t see the value of such an input. On the contrary, I appreciate knowing how this diverse universe processes information so that I can evaluate each strategy as it is developed to meet all possible requirements. It doesn’t matter if someone realizes that this marketing method is quite impossible to achieve, since no one can measure every individual response to marketing efforts anyway. The old axiom, “You can’t please all the people all the time” may apply, but you can’t blame one person for trying.

Of the clients I have who believe there is one, and only one, way to market your business effectively, that way being your own personal way, based not on advanced business marketing studies, mob psychology, the elements of style, or effectiveness. communication strategies, but nothing more than in the pure, unadulterated and egocentric ego. I say, hey, more power to them! It is their money that they are spending and they certainly have a right to believe what they want to believe. Furthermore, marketing that is part art, part science, and part luck has as many guarantees as we have at the racetrack or on the stock market. So who am I to disagree with my clients’ beliefs?

Well, just for the record, I chimed in with my own opinions that are backed by 35 years of hands-on marketing experience including a successful marketing career for myself and the businesses of my many successful clients. If my opinion differs from that of a selfish customer, for example, it is enough that I have warned him despite his stubborn impulse to dismiss it and follow his own strategy despite what I think. You have obviously reached this stage of his illustrious career through his own sailing talents and his distinctive intelligence, for which I respect him and in no way offend his self-confidence, most of all.

However, this places a huge task on my shoulders: marketing your business using a name that includes six long words, some of which are esoteric and industry-specific. This means that the logo, in addition to including a striking mark, must also be made up of six words that add up to 42 letters. Add to that the need for a tagline, the entire package of which must be large enough to read on applications as small as checks, business cards, and in the smaller units offered by the yellow pages both online and in print.

Compare this to trade names using a short word: eBay®, Google™, Yahoo!®, Microsoft®, Apple®, etc. Of course, some of these names do not describe what the business offers. But these are all very successful businesses nonetheless. How have they done this? By allocating ample funds to build their brands so that the company name needs no definition, it becomes its own word with its own meaning. Such is the power of successful marketing.

You may say that those companies had the advantage of marketing their brands over the Internet, but today we all have the same advantage. Especially with the help of brands like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube, all four are great examples of short, punchy business names that aptly define your brand. Reason to be. Most of the companies that approach my company for marketing help are small businesses, sometimes with limited geography. These companies often don’t realize how much time, money, and repetition of effort it takes to build a brand.

One of our competitors in the New York metropolitan market recently began airing a commercial to promote their business and invite a response from the very market we serve. While I can’t mention the name of this business for legal reasons, suffice it to say that it’s a short 3 word slur aimed at the very market they are trying to attract. And, moments ago, I was scolded by a telemarketer who responded to my polite statement that his offer to sell my business didn’t interest me at the moment with, “Okay…come down with the others!”

Have I missed something? Are insults the new marketing strategy? of the day? In both cases, injecting negativity, or worse, personal abuse into a normally polite business protocol, in my opinion, does nothing more than send a message of disrespect, insolence and humiliation to the very subject who is trying to endear himself.

Having been raised by a mother who was 40 years older than me, I often heard old American colloquial expressions, a couple of which now occur to me: “Honey makes more bees than vinegar” and “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all!” In marketing, these two sayings are powerful guides to proper business etiquette, and by extension, to long-term business success. While you may feel like this is a milquetoast approach, the muscle is in heartfelt, heartfelt delivery.

How does that relate to your business name? In a few ways that I’ll list as a random set of rules to follow:

1. Your company name can be your most important marketing tool if it defines what you’re offering but is distinctive enough to stand out from the crowd.

2. Keep it short and sweet, but most of all, memorable.

3. Accentuate the positive, with an emphasis on value to the market you plan to target.

4. Don’t limit yourself too much if you need to expand in the future.

5. Remember, you may want to protect your business name by registering a trademark, incorporating, or filing a dba (an alternate or assumed name registration for your business known as “doing business as”), so you hire a lawyer to carry out a valid process. a search may be required, which might require a list of suitable possibilities rather than a single name choice.

With all of the above in mind, it is of the utmost importance that you realize that whatever you end up calling your business, it will be one item in a long list of vital components that together will cumulatively work to establish your business for success. . your wish. That’s the bottom line.