Brainstorming Company Name Ideas

Readers have kindly shared their tips for brainstorming good company name ideas. Read though for ideas about how to come up with your own business name.

10 Tips for Naming Your Craft Business

1. Create a contest to name your business. This has been done with logo redesigns and works quite well. It has the added benefit of getting your name out.

2. Use easy to remember words, this is so that people can easily remember the name.

3. Use objects that represent your company. For example, an arc or pillar can represent strong business integrity.

4. Don't use triple 'AAA' for business placement; consumers may think your business is a scam.

5. Create a mood board. These are images cut out from magazines, websites, and other resources, placed on a board, that depict your business and what your business does. Anything goes for a mood board, and it is a great thinking tool for more visual people.

6. Create a word board. Similar to a mood board, a word board has words instead of pictures.

7. Look at your services and find associated items that you work with or use. For example, if you want to start a garden business, you can look into the different types of trees, or flora names.

8. Look into foreign words. For example, the Japanese word for "plum" is "ume". This is a nice easy word to remember.

9. Talk to a strategic design firm. These people specialize in advertising strategy. Some of the best ideas come from this sort of firm.

10. Keep it simple. This helps when creating a website and giving it a short domain whenever possible.

Initials and Puns, Plus a Few Things to Avoid

by Tim

Depending on your business ownership style I have used initials of the owners to create words that may relate to the business.

Often too you can create new cool and catchy sounding words using the initials which can then set your business name apart from your competition while also having a classy personal touch. Try to avoid making a name without vowels; however, as it just seems tacky and confuses people.

A pun on words as it relates to your business can also be cute and effective. While these types of business names may sound silly or downright corny, believe it or not it can be a great marketing ploy as potential customers do take notice and will remember your name in the future because of the pun.

After you've narrowed down your name choices, you'll want to check them against a list of other business names registered in your state to be sure you're not reusing another business's name. Also, if you're not too hip on the current slang, it's not the worst idea to have a teenager look over your name choices to be sure you don't potentially make a huge social faux pas.

In closing, the most important thing is that your name accurately portrays who you are and what you do. As an entrepreneur, you no doubt will not have access to the same resources as the big guys, but there's no reason that with your own creativity you can't come up with your own business name that will stand out from the crowd.

Keep It Simple

by Vanessa
(Tarzana, CA)

The advice I would give on brainstorming business names is to try the name out on people who would be potential customers.

Brainstorming with a general audience will show if the name is memorable, easy to spell and pronounce, free of unfortunate associations, etc. However, the only way to tell if it works for your business in particular is to try it out on members of the target market.

It doesn't do any good to have a cute or catchy name for your craft business if it doesn't work for people who are likely to buy your product.

As an example, in my area we've had a trend of people giving pun names to BBQ places. All the serious rib eaters I know tend to stay away from a place with a cutsie name. When "Johnson's BBQ" opened, it caught everyone's attention, because the local market had been saturated with "Tickle Me Ribs" or whatever.

These kinds of names also tend to become dated much more quickly, in my opinion.

I think this is how new business owners shoot themselves in the foot by trying to be too clever and convey too much information by way of the business name.

Don't be afraid to choose a very straightforward name if that's what works for your particular situation.