What do you do if your entrepreneurial venture needs a brand name that stands out?

Choosing a standout brand name for your entrepreneurial venture involves creativity and strategy. Start with brainstorming names that reflect your brand’s essence, values, and the solutions you offer. Ensure it’s memorable, easy to pronounce, and distinct from competitors. Consider the emotional response you want to evoke in your target audience. Conduct thorough research to avoid any legal issues and ensure the domain is available for a consistent online presence. Testing potential names with your target market can provide valuable feedback. A strong brand name is not just a label; it’s the first step in telling your brand’s story and capturing the interest of your audience.

Kickstart the process with a brainstorming session. Gather your team, if you have one, and encourage free-flowing ideas without judgment. Think about words, phrases, or concepts that reflect your brand’s mission, values, and personality. Consider your target audience and the emotional response you want your brand name to evoke. Use tools like mind maps or word associations to expand your list of potential names. Creativity is key at this stage.

There’s a process to developing a brand name. But first you have to remove the barriers and brainstorm. No such thing as a bad idea here. Key things to consider 1. How with we communicate 2. What to we stand for 3. Who is the customer 4. How do we want people to feel 5. List competition names 6. Go through types of names (acronyms, inventive, descriptive etc…) Once you have all the names, go through an elimination process and put the through an availability test. Brainstorming is key to an effective brand name.

Basics firss! Before you start brainstorming wild ideas, really put down the brand strategy basics: What’s your brand core? Values? Mission and Purpose? Attributes? Tonality? Then brainstorm. Use your environment: - Tell your friends and family (children are marvelous!) about the idea and ask you to give you the first associations they have. - Put ChatGPT to work, or any othe AI and ask it to be assoviative and creative and use othe languages too. Mega hack! Give it a word and ask it to give you the translation in 30 most important languages. - Play with letters. Do you have Scrabble? Take the letters out and form words without the board. Mix them playfully. - Go for a walk. To a museum. To cafes and bars. Look around for inspiration!

- Brainstorm unique and memorable names. - Research existing brand names and trademarks. - Consider your target audience and brand identity. - Seek feedback from others. - Conduct a thorough domain name availability search. - Test the chosen name for relevance and appeal.

En un proyecto que lideré, hicimos una lista de nombres potenciales para una nueva marca de frutas. Durante esta fase, realizamo un grupo focal con los directivos para entender cómo percibían cada nombre. Descubrimos que algunos nombres que nos parecían creativos y únicos no resonaban con ellos, otros fueron descartados por criterios técnicos. Algunos eran demasiado abstractos o difíciles de pronunciar. A modo de recomendación. Es crucial dedicar tiempo a madurarla idea. Que no nos de miedo pedir opiniones, escuchar a los grupos de interes. Investiguemos todo lo posible para basar las decisiones en datos.

Once you have a list of potential names, evaluate their relevance to your brand and industry. A great brand name should be meaningful and reflect your business's core offering or value proposition. It should resonate with your target audience and give them a clue about what you do or stand for. This step might require you to narrow down your list significantly, but clarity and relevance are more important than quantity.

A name is arguably the most crucial asset of a company and serves as the primary touchpoint with the highest level of awareness, namely brand recognition. Various theories facilitate the process of finding a name, but in most cases, it is chosen subjectively without considering the potential impact on the audience. A good name spares brands from significant investments in creating associations and becomes memorable if chosen appropriately. It's not an easy process and, in fact, sits at the core of an entire branding strategy, not at the beginning. It involves a blend of creativity and associations with brand potential, in a brainstorming process extended over time.

Very, very important step is to do a thorough check on the availability of you brand name. Make sure you check domainnames and social media profile names. This can easily been done by searching the internet. Next step would be to check the trademark status. If no problem arise, make sure you apply for a trademark status of your own after finalizing your brand. If problems arise, the best thing is to asses the impact of the problem. Finding a brandname that has never been used is highly unlikely. More likely, someone has used the brandname before. If you run into problems, asses the impact (region, brandvalue, etc.) and if you can afford it, make an offer. If not, scratch the name of your list.

Of course you can have chosen the best name ever, but then if the domain is not available it's a problem. I suggest to create a list of brands names that you consider to fit your brand and its purposes and before getting to excited, check the availability of the domain and social media profile.

Testing your shortlisted names with your target audience can provide invaluable insights. Create surveys or focus groups to gauge reactions to different names. Pay attention to the emotions and associations they evoke, as well as the ease with which people can pronounce and remember the names. This feedback can help you understand the potential impact of your brand name from an outsider’s perspective.

Run the potential names through ChatGPT or another AI. Prompt: ?Check if the word has any meaning in any other language of the world; include phonetic considerations as well.“

storytelling potential behind each option. Ask yourself questions such as: Does the name evoke the desired emotions and associations? Does it align with the essence and personality of the brand? Is it memorable and distinctive? Does it have the potential to evolve and grow with the brand over time?

Sometimes, seeing a name in a visual context can make a big difference in how it's perceived. Work with a designer to create mock-ups of your brand name in various fonts and color schemes, applied to business cards, websites, or product packaging. This can help you envision how the name works in real-world applications and whether it aligns with your brand’s visual identity.

Just saying you brandname out loud gives you an idea whether the feeling is right. But, most people wil just see you brandname at first. In my experience, it can also happen that a brand name is pronounced very nice, but visualised very poor, or the other way around. Start with the finding the right font for your brandname. Make sure the font, as well as the brandname, are in line with your organisations' core value. When you've found one or more fonts (more fonts are advised), try different letter spacing and font weights. Then, start mixing-in your brand colours. If you don't have any, this is the moment to start experimenting. Again, make sure you align with your core value's. Then, it's feedback time.

Before making any visual design proposals, I would first discuss the brand's main touchpoints. Is it primarily an e-commerce business or a retail one? Do they plan to expand in the future to both stores and digital? Based on that I would create their branding as different touchpoints have different needs. I've had clients who requested heavily embellished logos that would cause issues for certain printed materials. I've explained to them those limitations and they chose to continue as their brand was primarily digital. Thus, it's best to figure out their needs and create accordingly. The standard business card mock-ups are not always relevant. There are more and more brands that are digital only.

Choose a brand name that tells a story or gives emotion to make it memorable and unique. ? For instance, if you’re creating a sustainable fashion brand, a name like “Ecochic” communicates eco-friendliness and style. Or for a fitness app focused on empowerment, “EmpowerFit” conveys strength and motivation. A name that goes beyond description to evoke emotion stands out and resonates with customers.

Too many entrepreneurs overthink their choice of brand-name to the point of procrastination. My advice is to spend a given amount of time in the brainstorming and research phase, and to make a decision based on feedback and your own intuition, and then go for it! Making a decision with certainty and energy is the key to developing a good-to brand.

Think of unique and easy to remember words. Like how "Google" became big for being different, your name should be special but simple. Check the name isn't taken, especially online. Your name should show what your business is about and stick in people's minds

Best thing to consider is that a brandname is not famous because of the simple combination of letters or what the word/words actually mean. A brand is build by consistency. Communicate your brand and its value's over and over again. That is the way to build a brand. So, don't overestimate the value of just the brand name. Focus on how you can bring this brandname to life. What it should look like, how does it feel, what kind of person would it be, what communication channels should be used, what should be the main thing the brand is communicating, etc. This is the way to print you brandname into peoples mind. Good luck!