How to Choose a Name for Your Brand

In order to build a powerful brand, you must have a powerful name. But how do you choose the right name? Well in this article we're going to talk about choosing a name for your company or business name; your product or service line.

So what name have you decided upon for your company? You have given a great deal of attention to your company name and believe it speaks to who you are and what you do, right? Great! As far as branding goes, the name is an important part of your business acumen. But what name did you use? Did you decide to use your family name?

Again, great, but did you do your due diligence and research whether you have the right to use your family name for your brand?

That may sound like a strange thing to say, but remember some of the most successful businesses don’t use the owner’s names. For example McDonalds, may have been started by two brothers named McDonald, doesn’t mean they were the ones who turned it into the Golden Arches. In fact they sold their first and only hamburger stand to a man named Ray Crock, who put a patent on the “boy’s family name” and now owns it as a part of the brand. Oops. Great brand option for Ray not so much for the brothers McDonald.

Entertainer Thomas Dolby lost the right to use his family last name due to copyright infringement brought on by a lawsuit from the Dolby Digital Inc. the wonderful makers of the surround sound you hear in movie theatres and now on your own home stereo equipment.

So while it may seem logical to name your company after yourself, you might want to hire an attorney or work with a trademark research firm to do some checking. No need to spend all your time and money building your brand only to have it stripped away from you because someone else owns the patent and rights to your “name”.

The bottom line here when it comes to selecting a name is, that it’s better to spend money up front to keep from losing everything in the back end.

Okay now that you’ve chosen a proper name, you need to wrap a graphic image around that name to carve out a prime piece of real estate in your target customer's mind. That is exactly what a great logo can do. Be sure to read the 7 Elements of Powerful Logos.

This post provided with permission of TuxedoBranding.com

SEO Tips for Small Business Blog Admin