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Reminder to Lance Armstrong: Don’t start in first gear OR Why you shouldn’t give your business a literal or descriptive name if you want to brand your company for future growth and success

By Launch Wizards | September 11, 2008

BUSINESS STARTUP: NAMING A BUSINESS

The Launch Wizards Interview Phil Davis of Tungsten Branding*

Launch Wizards: Phil, thanks so much for being here with us today.  Let’s start with some basics of naming a business.

Business names actually fall into several categories that most of us are familiar with.  For example, Ask is the name of a Search Engine, so that’s an example of a name in the descriptive category, while Google is an example of a search engine with a made-up name.

Phil, can you tell us about the different categories that business names fall into?

Phil Davis: Well, I think every naming and branding firm probably develops its own set of criteria.  It’s like a lot of things, like how many steps are there to success?  Some people would say 3; others say 50 or 10.

At Tungsten, we’ve identified a handful of categories that business names most commonly fall into.  Of course, there are always exceptions.  There’s always that name that really defies convention, you can’t put it anywhere.

The most basic ones, though, usually do fall into a category and let me run them down for you.

Literal or descriptive business names are the most common.  They’re the ones that just basically call the name by what it is.  Bed Bath and Beyond would be an example.  ToysRUs.   There’s not a lot of imagination to them.  They’re very much product identified.

So if I were to make an analogy to Maslow’s Hierarch of Needs, where we go from the most basic human needs to the most highly actualized, with literal or descriptive names we’re starting at the bottom.

A literal or descriptive name provides the lowest level of branding.  It does get you traction right away and this is why a lot of entrepreneurs and startup businesses make the mistake of choosing one.

In an effort to go to market and also out of a fear that people won’t know what they’re doing, entrepreneurs get real literal and real descriptive.

But I tell clients: it’s like getting on a bike when you’re so eager to get going that you put the bike in first gear. And you start pedaling and, sure enough, you take off.  But soon you see you’re not getting very far and you wish you were in 5th gear.  Or 10th.  But you’re not.

And you’ll always be peddling hard because you have this really generic name.

Also, that type of name is going to make you sound like a commodity rather than a brand.

That’s probably a pretty good summary of that category.

LW: So what’s the next category up from there?

PD: Well, it’s hardly a step up.  The next category is not up by very much, it’s also at the bottom of the pool.

You definitely want to avoid this category . . .

(Look for the category to avoid in our next post - the Launch Wizards)

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*Phil Davis is President of Tungsten Branding.  Phil’s life goal of “creating environments where people thrive” reflects his desire to assist in personal, professional and business growth.  Phil founded and ran a full-service ad agency for over 17 years and now works as a business naming and branding consultant.  Phil resides with his wife, Michelle, and their four energetic offspring outside Asheville, North Carolina.

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Topics: branding, business identity, business startup, launch wizards, naming a business |