How to choose the best brand name or a trademark for your business

A great brand name is more than just something you can pronounce or something that looks good on your business card. It’s not amazing just because you like it, either. It’s remarkable because it gives customers something. The primary function of a strong trademark or brand name is to set the provider of the good or service apart.

Your name is an extension of who you are; it may either reinforce or detract from the value you place on it. There are several options available to you when cultivating a brand for a company, product, or service. Determining what your name should imply and represent is important. For example, your name is a representation of your job and should be flawless if you are running a company that provides business naming services.

It seems to be obvious. Who wouldn’t want to stand out? Still, some companies—usually those in financial services or counselling—are so concerned about becoming credible in their industry that they risk losing their compelling or exciting brand.

How to select the best brand name for trademark

Let’s examine in detail the process of selecting the ideal “Brand Name”:

When it comes to branding, having a good name has many benefits: customers will probably like and remember it, which will help them get it as well. Even shorter, more straightforward brand names are proven to work better for businesses in studies.

Brand names can be sorted in twelve different ways. To be honest, we’re not sure how useful these are (given that they provide almost little meaningful information), but we’ve included them below for those who want jargon to represent brand names.

• Self-invented names
• Descriptive names
• Founders’ names
• Metaphorical names
• Modern or captivating names

A brand name is versatile and significant. It is possible to reserve words, logos, images, and even tones. The primary difference is that the great within reach cannot be influenced by the brand name. For example, since the colour directly affects the item, you were not able to reserve coloured spectacles.

Why is a strong brand name necessary?

Without a doubt, your company will need a website. Additionally, you will need a space name for that, which is the URL of your website. If at all possible, the names of your space and image should be similar, if not identical. The only inconvenience is that there aren’t many options remaining for .com or .in domains unless you’re prepared to buy the one you require directly from the current owner.

When you find a web host, they should help you find the ideal location for your photo as well as the more subdued, less well-known spots that are essential to preserving the identity of your photo. For example, you might already have a.com, but you also need a.net, a.co, and that’s only the beginning. Your host offers you additional benefits as well; for example, domain names come with free email addresses and one-page websites.

Choosing the appropriate name is crucial because this is the kind of thing you will base your entire image on. Before it left the college campus and entered the wider world, Facebook was known as ‘The Facebook’. Even while you can change your brand name when your firm is well-established, it can be difficult to change your image name without seriously harming your company’s reputation.

A memorable, catchy, or intriguing name draws in customers and entices them to learn more about you. It distinguishes your company from others. On the other hand, being unmemorable can make you disappear into the crowd. All things considered, initial feelings are important.

How to choose the right brand name

1. Make use of distinct, easy-to-remember words

   Yes, you think that people should be able to recall your name, but it doesn’t imply you have to use any strange terms to get attention. It’s crucial to make sure the picture name you choose won’t convey mixed or inappropriate meanings.

   When choosing words, make sure they are appropriately related to your product or service, the values your company upholds, and the impression you want to leave on potential customers.

2. Steer clear of the cliches

   One way to make your image name stand out is to incorporate trendy new terms into it. It is very helpful in obtaining premium and regard from a younger target market. Building your personality around a pattern has the drawback that it is just that—a pattern.

   Since patterns tend to flow in all directions, it doesn’t always seem to be okay to continue. Your image may become less important because what appeals to recent college graduates today probably won’t appeal to younger people tomorrow. Try to choose brand names that you can be proud of and that will stand the test of time; reserve the hip language for easy publicity stunts, please.

3. Verify that the name is consistent with your trademarks, phrases, and logo.

   Development requires a consistent brand, and it all starts with your image name. The name should sound and appear exactly like the rest of your brand, including trademarks, slogans, and logos.

   You can draw inspiration from the successful brands and their slogans that accompany these ideas to put them into perspective.

4. Gather ideas and brainstorm with your partners to create a list of possible names.

   It’s best to have a meeting with your coworkers to discuss the name of your image before moving further. You can combine ideas, phrases, and sentiments to create an image name that may ultimately frame your image.

   Try to come up with as many names as is reasonable given the situation, mark the majority of them down, and then gradually cross out the bad ones until you are left with the best up-and-comers. As you go, take note of the additional advice listed below.

5. Make sure the brand name is outstanding

   The last thing you should deal with is a brand name suit, so check to see whether other brands are currently using a brand name before committing fully to one.

   Even with a perfect match, there may still be some room for error. Is the company, for example, in the same sector or market? If not, we advised adjusting the name of your photograph (by adding initials or area, for example) to avoid confusion.

Make sure the space name is accessible while you brainstorm brand names. If your group is set on a particular name, you may be able to purchase the space’s rights from the owner, but be sure that’s a realistic option before making the final decision. Nobody should let a bad, invalid name ruin their reputation.

How to choose an excellent brand name for your company and some suggestions

There is no secret or method for selecting a strong brand name. In general, a strong brand name needs to have distinctive, memorable, recognizable, protectable, and visually appealing elements. Thus, I’ve outlined a five-step method in this part for choosing a fantastic brand name for your company.

Step 1: Assess the value of your brand

You must identify who the ideal client is for the goods or services offered by your brand as precisely as you can. Determining brand value requires you to figure out who you are and what you bring to the company.

• • How would you characterize yourself?
  • Why is your company in operation?
  • What motivates your actions?
  • How are you trained to act?

These are the crucial things to think about while creating a brand design.

Step 2: Consider your target market or point of differentiation

Knowing what makes your company unique is the first step in creating a name for it. Make sure that the name of your business sounds natural to prospective clients. To do that, you need to do some research on your specialized market.

At this point, running an application scenario can be useful. At that point, you write a story to describe a fictitious day in the life of your prospective client. The customer’s issue and how the product was resolved it should be mentioned in the product description.

Step 3: Generate ideas

At that point, you must exercise creativity and consider every angle that pertains to your product or service. You should jot down every brand name where you think there might be an excellent one. For professional help, you can connect with us at Enthof.

Keep the name of your brand short: Selecting a concise, straightforward, and easy-to-remember brand name is essential for entrepreneurs, business owners, and startup founders.

Employ word association to: To find the ideal match, list as many words as possible that you believe best describe you or your company. Then, play a straightforward game of word association.

Use internet resources: There are a tonne of free resources accessible to assist in coming up with original brand names.

Employ terms from other languages: You may also employ terms from other languages to create a brand name that is easy, wacky, entertaining, and successful.

Select a brand name type: I’ve included ten different kinds of brand names after this part, so you can pick one to discover the ideal one.

Step 4: Verify brand name availability

It is crucial to confirm that any names you have shortlisted are not currently being used by another business, even if they seem appropriate. Verify that the domain name is available and that it is not already trademarked by another company.

Make use of a domain name search from one of the leading companies, like GoDaddy. If you want to use branded links in your marketing activities, you might want to use Rebrandly, a website that allows you to search by industry to locate the perfect domain. This is an easy and quick approach to find out whether someone else is stealing your ideas for a brand name. Just to be sure, you should also perform a quick Google search.

Look for Twitter accounts and Facebook pages with the same or a similar name. Verify that the startup names you are thinking about don’t already have a trademark. You may use a website like a name check or perform a trademark search.

It is recommended that you seek the help of advocates who specialise in trademark law. They can guide you in verifying whether or not the names you have generated have a good chance of getting registered in the particular class. Enthof has partnered with AM Legal Associates for this purpose.

Step Five: Testing

Make sure you test each name on your shortlist of possible company names to determine which one appeals to your target market the most. For instance, you could use social media or other methods to poll your customers for a different product. When you first start, you can test it amongst friends, coworkers, and relatives. It is included in your study of the market.

When is a trademark considered not a good one, and why?

Brand names without distinctive characteristics, simply means that the names are unable to distinguish between the services and products of one business and therefore that of the other business are ineligible for registration. Encouraging brand differentiation is the main goal of brand name regulation. No trademark will be registered if this purpose is not achieved. Graphic brand names should not be enrolled.

Brand names may portray the services and products and provide the audience with information about the services’ or products’ quality, quantity, or place of origin.

Marks are now a standard in the language used today. For example, a patron links a restaurant with a chef. Aside from this, anything that is dishonest, offends people, is dirty, or represents the great state of affairs cannot be enrolled.

Identifiable Brand names: Regardless of whether the items are similar, recognizable brand names cannot be enrolled since doing so would damage the reputation of the owner of the famous brand name.

Errors to avoid when choosing a your trademark or brand name

1. You haven’t looked up the names of competitors

Many companies lack the understanding of the power of memorability and, especially in the same industry, will have a name that is almost exactly the same as another company. The name should be creative and significant, set you apart from the competition, and encapsulate the work that the company accomplishes.

2. You think too much about your name

The problem with organization names is that people tend to overthink them. Your organization doesn’t gain respect from your name. In the other direction, people’s perceptions of your organization and yourself elevate your reputation. A name (or logo, or literary style, or variety, as far as that is concerned) is significantly less than your image. Don’t let your name do the heavy lifting; it’s merely a brief, well-placed statement about who you are.

3. You haven’t put your name to the test among your intended audience

Choosing an organization’s name may be the most important decision it makes. Once you have the name or names you are considering, take the further step and give it a test run to make sure it appropriately reverberates and paints the picture you require. Moreover, make certain that the goal can clearly express the name; this will eliminate market confusion.

4. You did not perform a trademark search

The worst thing that can happen to a firm is probably when its owners spend time and money promoting a certain name only to discover that someone else has been using it. Someone could claim the liberties essentially because they were using it first, even if they haven’t registered a brand name. A quick Google search is a need, and you may need to supplement it with a professional brand name search.

5. The target audience is clueless about what you do

Getting overly creative with your name is the most common mistake I see in the creative realm. When you hear the name of this group, you shouldn’t be forced to think, “I can’t help thinking about what this organization does.” The name should indicate to people, either directly or indirectly, the kinds of services or products you provide.

6. You’re following a temporary trend

Make a great effort to select a name that will be relevant for a considerable amount of time. Since many expressions are contagious, they are quickly abused and become annoying. Organizations have some influence over patterns, but not absolute control. Drifts frequently help people form relationships with particular groups or stereotypes, but those stereotypes might not include your target audience.

7. You didn’t think about timing and branding

Even while the company name matters, the impression you provide that name is what matters most. Most of the time, executives’ judgment during the first six to a year determines if a name is well-known. Furthermore, a company name can be modified and is rarely securely established, so if you’re hoping the ideal name will come to mind—don’t. Starting now is a wiser move than pausing and losing momentum.

Things to stay away from while picking a trademark

Making the right trademark choice is crucial as it can have an impact on your business’s success. Here are several errors to stay away from. Since trademark law is always changing, failing to conduct a sufficient examination to determine whether a trademark exists that is deceptive or has a sound and appearance strikingly similar to yours.

• Trademarks are difficult to say, comprehend, recognize, and use.
• Not checking frequently enough with relevant search engines and databases to make sure that since your first search, no one else has registered a trademark on a similar product.
• Believing that the only things that can be trademarked are words—this is completely untrue! If they are sufficiently unique, you can even register sounds, fragrances, and even colors as trademarks.
• Using someone else’s trademark without their consent will confuse customers into believing that you are connected to them in some kind. This is especially true if you haven’t received their express consent to do so.
• A well-known family’s surname should not be used. for instance: Ambani, Kapoor, Malhotra, etc.
• Selecting a trademark that accurately describes the function of your product as opposed to going with something more distinctive and creative
• Steer clear of choosing a trademark that someone else has registered in a foreign nation. Consider ‘John Deere’, ‘Banana Republic’ and ‘Target’
• Geographical names should not be used since no one has the exclusive right to use them. “Jodhpuri suit to sell suit, Banaras Silk” to sell sarees