2017 April 12 Archive - EXEIdeas – Let's Your Mind Rock

Developing a great name in and of itself is difficult. It’s definitely not something that you would expect to complete quickly, even though you might want to. If you sit down all by yourself and just start trying to create a name you could be there for hours and never come up with anything good.We’ve already created more than 8,000 names for businesses and products around the world, and we want to share some of the techniques, process, and tricks we’ve learned with you, to help with this seemingly overwhelming struggle to find just the right name.Create Your Vision:The first thing you need to do is create a vision of what your company is and what it’s going to do. You want to focus on things like your company purpose, your intended audience, your benefits, and the emotions you want to draw in from your customers. Take out a piece of paper and just think about your company and the product or service that you want to offer. That’s where you’re going to start. In just one sentence, try to write what the business (product, app, or the likes) is going to do. Maybe your purpose is to make finding great music easier than ever or to provide a new way of building a bridge. Whatever the purpose, write it down.Once you’ve written that down, take a sentence or two to write out your ideal audience, the people you’re trying to target with your business. Think about what type of emotions you want to bring up in them. Do you want them to be scared of the issues that you prevent or do you want them to think your business is fun and something they really want to be a part of? Are you hoping to make them a little nostalgic?You’re the only one who can decide what the idea is and then, you’re the only one who can decide what the benefits of your company are. Why are you the company they should come to instead of someone else who offers the same (or similar) services or products? Once you know all of this, you’re on your way to creating your name.Build Your Team:If you’re looking to do anything quickly, you’re not going to be able to do it all alone. You’re definitely going to need help. That means getting together a team of people who are either important in your business or people that you trust (or both).This team is going to be responsible for helping you brainstorm your ideas, so make sure they know how important they are and make sure you’re getting the right people for the job. No matter who you bring on, you need to get them together at one time either through digital means (like video chatting) or in person.Develop Your Idea:Now it’s time to start your brainstorming process. Be open and free about everything that you’re doing and don’t let anyone cut short an idea before it even gets started. Just because you’re not sure about something when it’s first mentioned doesn’t mean that it can’t become something you love. It takes brainstorming, not just one ‘aha’ moment.Share your overall idea for the company. Once you have, give the rest of the team some freedom to come up with ideas and just spout things out. Make sure you write down everything. You never know what idea could turn into ‘the one.’ Instead, encourage everyone to be spontaneous, be creative, and most importantly, be encouraging of each other’s ideas.Search Your Name:Before you can finalize your name, you’ll need to make sure it’s available and that’s where GoDaddy is going to become your best friend. While you’re brainstorming with your team, you should have it up on a computer so each name you come up with can be run through. GoDaddy (or a similar site) is going to help you figure out which domain names are available and which are not. When you type in your domain name, it will tell you if that name is taken and then suggest alternatives for you or even just different extensions.Check Your Laws:Finally, make sure you have legal support that will go through any names that you love and let you know if it’s a safe option, or if it’s something that could cause you trouble down the road. Using a name that’s too similar to something already out there, especially if you’re going to get into the same type of business, can be detrimental to your future. It could mean spending a lot of time and money in a courtroom and that’s definitely not something you want to get involved with. That’s why you need to understand all the legal implications.Know Your Name:Once you’ve gone through all the steps and you have a name that’s free and clear, you might still have a few names on the list that have made it through all the steps, and this is where you’ll need to sit down with your team to choose the one that fits you, your company, and, most importantly, your audience best. While it may seem like a lot on paper, this process can shave hours, days, even months from your naming process.About the Author:Grant is responsible for content marketing and branding at Squadhelp, a crowdsourcing platform that lets companies host competitions to find a name and logo. He writes about topics related to startup naming, branding and entrepreneurship.Find Me On GooglePlus | LinkedIn