This post may contain affiliate links. Read more here.
The Ultimate Guide On Brainstorming The Perfect Business Name
Choosing a name for your business is a big decision. After all, this is the name that will represent your company to the world. It’s important to choose a name that is both unique and reflective of your brand.
Today we are going to walk you through a step-by-step activity that will help break down the brainstorming process and make it easier for you to come up with the perfect name for your business.
For those of you who may struggle with creativity or putting your thoughts into words, I’m going to include a MAJOR brainstorming cheat at the end of this post that will change everything.
Let’s get started!
What does your business do?
The first step in brainstorming a name for your business is to think about what your business does. What are the products or services that you offer? What benefit do these products or services provide to your customers?
Try to come up with a one-sentence description of what your business does. This will be helpful in subsequent steps when you start to brainstorm possible names for your business.
Examples:
We provide web design and development services to small businesses.
We make and sell all-natural health and beauty products.
If you’re struggling with summarizing what your business does, try this fill-in-the-blank exercise:
My business ____________ (verb) ______________ (service or product) to ____________ (target market) by ____________ (benefit).
So, for our first example above, the sentence would read:
My business provides web design and development services to small businesses by helping them create a professional online presence.
And for the second example:
My business makes and sells all-natural health and beauty products to people who are looking for safe and effective alternatives to traditional products.
Expand on your target market
The next step is to dig a little deeper into who your target market is. This will help you to narrow down the possible names for your business.
Think about the age, gender, and location of your ideal customer. What are their interests and hobbies? What are their needs and wants?
Answering these questions will help you to better understand your target market, identify important potential keywords and come up with a name that appeals to them.
Our web design and development example above might target small businesses in the United States who are looking for help with creating an online presence.
On the other hand, our all-natural health and beauty product company might target women of all ages who are looking for safe and effective alternatives to traditional products.
In both cases, we can see how the target market would influence the possible names for the businesses.
Examples:
Our target market is young, urban, and hip. They are interested in fashion and want a brand that reflects their style.
Our target market is health-conscious and looking for natural products. They want a brand that reflects our commitment to quality and healthy living.
What are your keywords?
Now that you have a good understanding of what your business does, it’s time to start thinking about some keywords that represent your business. These could be words that describe your products or services, your target market, or your company values.
Keywords are an important part of the brainstorming process because they can help you to come up with a list of possible names for your business. They can also be helpful in the future when you are choosing a domain name or conducting keyword research for your website.
Examples
Some examples of keywords that might be relevant to our web design and development business:
Web design
Web development
Small business
Online presence
Professional
Some examples of keywords that might be relevant to our all-natural health and beauty product company:
All-natural
Healthy living
Safe and effective
Beauty products
Alternative
Again, these are just examples. The keywords you choose will be based on your specific business and target market.
Make a list of 10-15 keywords that you feel best represent your business. These will be helpful in the next step when you start to brainstorm possible names for your company.
What are your business values?
The next step is to think about what values are important to your business. These values will help to shape the tone of your business and influence the name you choose.
Some common values that businesses choose to reflect in their name are Quality, Innovation, Creativity, Fun, Professionalism, Reliability, etc.
Once you have decided on the values that are important to your business, try to come up with a few words that reflect these values. These words will be helpful in subsequent steps when you start to brainstorm possible names for your business.
(I also have a free download available to help you deep-dive into your core values to make sure your business and your personal interests align, feel free to check it out!)
Examples:
Our values are quality and innovation. We want a name that reflects our commitment to providing the best products and services to our customers.
Our values are sustainability and health. We want a name that reflects our commitment to creating products that are good for the environment and our customers.
Now it’s time to start brainstorming!
The next step is to start brainstorming possible names for your business. To help you get started, we’ve included a list of brainstorming prompts below.
Try to come up with as many ideas as possible. At this stage, don’t worry about whether or not the name is perfect. The goal is to generate as many ideas as possible so that you can narrow down your options in the next step.
Brainstorming prompts:
- Use puns or plays on words
- Combine two or more words to create a new word
- Create a portmanteau
- Make up a word
- Abbreviate a word or phrase
- Add a prefix or suffix to a word
- Use your initials
- Use your first, last or full name
- Use an acronym
- Use a foreign word
- Use a pop culture reference
- Use a trend or current event
- Use a rhyme or rhyming words
- Alliteration
- Spelling variations
Now it’s time to narrow down your options.
The next step is to take a look at the list of possible names you came up with and start to narrow down your options.
Here are some things to consider as you are narrowing down your list:
- Does the name reflect the products or services you offer?
- Does the name reflect your target market?
- Does the name reflect your business values?
- Does the name have a positive connotation?
- Is the name unique and memorable?
- Is the name easy to pronounce and spell?
- Is the name trademarkable?
- Does the name have the potential for a logo or tagline?
- Is the name available as a domain name?
- Is the name available as a social media username?
- Can you see yourself using this name long-term?
Research Availability
Select 3-5 of your favorites and then start to do some research. Chances are your favorite names will likely be taken, so it’s always a good idea to do your due diligence and check before moving on to the next step.
Here are some resources you can use to check if a name is available:
USPTO Trademark Search Database:
https://www.uspto.gov/trademarks-application-process/search-trademark-database
Domain Name Search:
https://www.namecheap.com/domains/registration/results.aspx?domain=yourchosenName
Social Media Username Availability:
When A Name You Love Is Taken
When a name you loved is taken, it’s time to get creative. Use a thesaurus or dictionary to find synonyms for the word(s) in your chosen name.
For example, if you are selling natural beauty products, some alternative words for “natural” could be “organic”, “green”, or “eco-friendly”.
Another way to use a thesaurus is to find different words that have the same meaning as your business values. This will help you to create a name that accurately reflects the tone of your business.
For example, if one of your values is “quality”, some alternative words could be “excellence”, “superiority”, or “craftsmanship”.
If you are struggling to come up with alternative words, try looking at your product or service from a different perspective. What are the benefits of your product or service? What need does it fulfill? How does it make your customers feel?
For example, if you are selling healthy food, some alternative words for “health” could be “wellness”, “fitness”, or “vitality”.
Once you have a list of alternative words, try combining them to create new names. You can also use these words as inspiration for a completely different name.
One of the best options, when a name you love is taken, is to play with adding modifiers before or after your chosen name.
For example, if the name “Boutique” is taken, you could try “The Boutique”, “Boutique Co.”, or “Boutique Collection”.
Another option is to use initials instead of the full name. This can be a great way to create a unique and memorable name.
For example, consider how “Jennifer Lopez” became “J. Lo” or “JLO”.
Major corporations have done this as well, such as “GE” for “General Electric” and “3M” for “Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company”.
Major brainstorming cheat option
For some of you, you may have read through this article and thought, “This all makes sense but I’m not very good at brainstorming”. If that’s the case, I have a major cheat for you that will help you to come up with endless name ideas in minutes.
I’m going to share my #1 hack I use for ALL brainstorming (and writing) for my businesses. It’s easier to show you than tell you, so check out the videos below!
How To Use AI To Name Your New Business
Below is a link to a Jasper “recipe” I’ve created where I’ll walk you through how to use artificial intelligence (for free) to do all the creative thinking for you to generate hundreds of amazing names in a matter of minutes.
The recipe will walk you through step-by-step, including links to tutorial videos for extra guidance.
Video Tutorial Playlist How To Name Your Business
Conclusion
Choosing the perfect business name is a critical part of starting your business. By taking the time to brainstorm, research, and test out your options, you can choose a name that will help you to build a strong and successful brand.
I want to hear what great names you come up with! Be sure to share your favorites in the comments below.
Clean Copy & Paste Version for Brainstorming Hack
The Ultimate Guide On Brainstorming The Perfect Business Name
Choosing a name for your business is a big decision. After all, this is the name that will represent your company to the world. It’s important to choose a name that is both unique and reflective of your brand.
Today we are going to walk you through a step-by-step activity that will help break down the brainstorming process and make it easier for you to come up with the perfect name for your business.
For those of you who may struggle with creativity or putting your thoughts into words, I’m going to include a MAJOR brainstorming cheat at the end of this post that will change everything.
Let’s get started!
What does your business do?
The first step in brainstorming a name for your business is to think about what your business does. What are the products or services that you offer? What benefit do these products or services provide to your customers?
Try to come up with a one-sentence description of what your business does. This will be helpful in subsequent steps when you start to brainstorm possible names for your business.
We provide web design and development services to small businesses.
We make and sell all-natural health and beauty products.
Examples:
So, for our first example above, the sentence would read:
My business provides web design and development services to small businesses by helping them create a professional online presence.
And for the second example:
My business makes and sells all-natural health and beauty products to people who are looking for safe and effective alternatives to traditional products.
Expand on your target market
The next step is to dig a little deeper into who your target market is. This will help you to narrow down the possible names for your business.
Think about the age, gender, and location of your ideal customer. What are their interests and hobbies? What are their needs and wants?
Answering these questions will help you to better understand your target market, identify important potential keywords and come up with a name that appeals to them.
Our web design and development example above might target small businesses in the United States who are looking for help with creating an online presence.
On the other hand, our all-natural health and beauty product company might target women of all ages who are looking for safe and effective alternatives to traditional products.
In both cases, we can see how the target market would influence the possible names for the businesses.
Examples:
Our target market is young, urban, and hip. They are interested in fashion and want a brand that reflects their style.
Our target market is health-conscious and looking for natural products. They want a brand that reflects our commitment to quality and healthy living.
What are your keywords?
Now that you have a good understanding of what your business does, it’s time to start thinking about some keywords that represent your business. These could be words that describe your products or services, your target market, or your company values.
Keywords are an important part of the brainstorming process because they can help you to come up with a list of possible names for your business. They can also be helpful in the future when you are choosing a domain name or conducting keyword research for your website.
Examples
Some examples of keywords that might be relevant to our web design and development business:
Web design
Web development
Small business
Online presence
Professional
Some examples of keywords that might be relevant to our all-natural health and beauty product company:
All-natural
Healthy living
Safe and effective
Beauty products
Alternative
What are your business values?
The next step is to think about what values are important to your business. These values will help to shape the tone of your business and influence the name you choose.
Some common values that businesses choose to reflect in their name are Quality, Innovation, Creativity, Fun, Professionalism, Reliability, etc.
Examples:
Our values are quality and innovation. We want a name that reflects our commitment to providing the best products and services to our customers.
Our values are sustainability and health. We want a name that reflects our commitment to creating products that are good for the environment and our customers.
Did you try out Jasper to help you brainstorm business name ideas? How did it go?
PROMOTE YOUR BIZ – WHAT NAME DID YOU PICK?
This blog post was written with my AI writing assistant, Jasper.
Did you find this blog post helpful? If so, I have a favor to ask:
This blog is free and maintained through the awesome power of sharing by amazing people like YOU!
Please consider sharing or pinning this post on social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Reddit, Pinterest etc. to help reach more small business owners and entrepreneurs. It really helps!
For your convenience, a ready-to-pin photo is below: (My social graphics are created by automation, too!)
P.S. You can use any piece or all of this post for your website, blog, social platforms or any other need so long as you do not plagiarize.
To avoid plagiarizing, just make sure to credit EricaNall.com for any portions you use and link back to our post. You can even modify parts of it (i.e. spelling) if you want to make the tone fit your brand/website better. I’m flexible like that! 😉
All I ask is that you reference EricaNall.com and hyperlink back to our site.
P.P.S. Have a blog of your own that focuses on business and entrepreneurship? Let’s connect! I feel some cross guest posting in our futures!
Thanks for your clicks, comments and support!
