Naming Your Business
Based on the article from Forbes.com by Richard Harroch, here are a helpful recommendations on how to come up with a winning name for your business.
- Avoid hard-to-spell names
- Don’t pick a name that could be limiting as your business grows
- Conduct a thorough Internet search
- Use a name that conveys some meaning
- Conduct a trademark search
- Conduct a Secretary of State search
- Assess if the name is catchy
- Get feedback on the name
- Make sure the name sounds good when said aloud
- Make sure you are personally happy with the name
Read the full article here.
Next Steps
Once you've decided on the name, we recommend the following:
- Get the domain name and your business email set up. A service we like and use is Google Domains.
- Create a simple website that showcases your business and helps potential leads to contact you.
- Create a business page on Facebook, Google, Yelp, Angi, Thumbtack and Nextdoor. Be sure to include links to your website.
- Reach out to your past customers, friends, family to request a few reviews about you and your business.
- Order signage. Continue to build your brand by using lawn signs, magnets, flyers, business cards, stickers. These are especially important around your work sites and/or when you communicate with potential customers
- Come up with a 30 second sales pitch. Practice. If you are tech savy, create ads on Google Bing or Facebook to refine your value proposition and offers. Track the performance, iterate to improve. You can also practice your sales pitch with neighbors, friends & potential customers.
- Come up with a limited time offer(s). It could be percentage discount, free estimates or consultations.
- Once you've developed your business identity, social presence & a few positive reviews; try sending direct mail to your target neighborhoods.
