HOW TO NAME YOUR STARTUP

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Beryl Grant
6 years ago
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1 HOW TO NAME YOUR STARTUP

Consider one of 2015 s best named Startups (in our opinion), a mattress company named Loom & Leaf. I dare you to try to forget that.

2 NAMING YOUR BUSINESS IS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT BRANDING DECISIONS YOU LL MAKE. W H Y I S I T S O I M P O R T A N T? Your name can make or break your Startup. You can either discover a golden, memorable, distinctive, fun-to-say name, or you can slowly dissolve into the graveyard of uninspired brands. Consider one of 2015 s best named Startups (in our opinion), a mattress company named Loom & Leaf. I dare you to try to forget that. It s fun to say, it s memorable, and it even has a tiny bit of industry description (which is a fine balance to strike). This free resource includes information we ve compiled over our years of branding experience at Emery Creative, as well as a proprietary process we use when naming businesses and/ or products. Self-guided tools like this can be liberating, but they can also be overwhelming. Take this process slow, and if you ever decide that you d like some expert help we re always here to help!

3 4 O V E R L O O K E D N A M I N G T O O L S 1. DISTINCTIVE Unfortunately, you can t name your new craft-brewery Budweiser. Or Sam Adams. Or even Coca-Cola Beer. Same goes for every other trademarked name. Then how do you stand out in an already saturated market? If it seems like all the good names (and URLs) are taken; don t lose heart. Every other long-lasting brand name was created from scratch. Facebook, perhaps the epitome of house-hold name in 2017, is only 13 years old. That means 14 years ago, no one on earth had ever heard of it. A temptation that some entrepreneurs have is to choose a name that will allow them to slip in unnoticed. Like launching an online shoe company called Zabbos. When naming your Startup, you need to differentiate from your competitors. To what degree you stand out is up to you But you must stand out. Is it pushing the envelope in your space? I d propose that being ten miles down the road from your current industry might not be wise, unless you ve got a platform or product to back it up. Google was an eccentric, untested name for an internet company in 1996, but they ve outlasted their critics and backed it up with two decades of innovation. Do you guys want to fit in? Or do you want to be pioneers? 2. MEMORABLE We ve all been there A victim of trying to remember a boring business name. Steve s Pets & Paws Fish Store or Northern Essex County Real Estate Partners. For fear of standing out (which you just learned about) entrepreneurs choose to go strictly descriptive. What do we do? We sell houses. Where do we live? Northern Essex County. Done! Being memorable is everything. Politicians understand this. Why plaster lawn-signs around your town with your name on them? Because when uninformed voters are in the voting booth, they re going to check-off the name they remember seeing. I S Y O U R B U S I N E S S N A M E M E M O R A B L E? After these finishing this ebook, when you feel like you ve got a few solid name ideas, read them to a trusted colleague, one after another, then ask them to repeat back to you the ones they remember. You might only have a few seconds to grab someone s attention. Help them out by creating a memorable name.

4 DESCRIBING THE CULTURE YOU WANT YOUR BRAND TO CREATE SHOULDN T BE DIFFICULT.

For example, naming a security app Fort Knox works because of the historical association, but also because it s two syllables with short, sharp fricatives. It s stern.

5 C O N T I N U E D 3. PROSODY This is an often overlooked aspect to naming. This element alone can ensure your name is distinctive and memorable. Prosody is the patterns of rhythm and sound used in poetry. The art of excellent prosody is when the meaning of the name is intricately bound to the feeling of saying the name. For example, naming a security app Fort Knox works because of the historical association, but also because it s two syllables with short, sharp fricatives. It s stern. Saying the name itself gives you the feeling the brand wants you to have. Consider Victoria s Secret. Putting the seductive secrecy aside for a moment, the structure of the words themselves beg to be said in a breathy, whispered way. Saying Victoria s Secret in an angry voice sounds ridiculous. Lego sounds fun. Lexus sounds sophisticated. Firefox sounds fast. Pay attention to prosody. Does the actual sound of your name support the feeling/meaning you want to convey to your audience? 4. AUDIO/VISUAL RELATIONSHIP When Amazon launched in 1995, Jeff Bezos had named it Cadabra. Like, the second half of Abracadabra. People didn t get it. They couldn t spell it. It wasn t clear when it was heard audibly. And it lasted all of 10 months before he changed it to Amazon. The final straw was when Bezos lawyer misheard him say the name and wrote it down as Cadaver. If your business name was heard on a radio ad, would someone be able to Google it and find you? Is its spelling intuitive? Does it include words that have other spellings/meanings? (i.e. plane/plain) So much of your business will come from personal referrals, often in natural conversation. Unique spellings like Tumblr or Dribbble work visually, but audibly they re leading your audience to a fruitless Google search. This is especially important when people are tempted to use family names in their business. By naming ourselves Emery Creative, we run the risk of people familiar with Emory University misspelling our name. That s a relatively low-level risk we were willing to take. If your family name is Bourgeois, (pronounced Bouge-wahh ) you might be bumping into some brand confusion down the road. When you consolidate some final options for your name, say them out loud. Say them in different cultural accents. Ask people if it s clear what the name is (and maybe even ask them how they d spell it from hearing it the first time).

6 A C T I V I T Y : M E T A P H O R D I S C O V E R Y Describing the culture you want your brand to create shouldn t be difficult. If it is, spend some time back in that dreaming phase before ever putting pen to paper on a name. Your business name shouldn t dictate the course of your brand s personality, it should illuminate what s already there (or what you re dreaming of for the future). In this first step, we re going to circle 5 adjectives you feel accurately describe your brand s intended personality. To help you out, on the following page we ve included a list of prompting adjectives. agreeable alert alluring ambitious amused boundless brave bright calm capable charming cheerful coherent comfortable confident cooperative courageous credible cultured dashing dazzling debonair decisive decorous delightful detailed determined diligent discreet dynamic eager efficient elated eminent enchanting encouraging endurable energetic entertaining enthusiastic excellent excited exclusive exuberant fabulous fair faithful fantastic fearless fine frank friendly funny generous gentle glorious good happy harmonious helpful hilarious honorable impartial industrious instinctive jolly joyous kind kind-hearted knowledgeable level likeable lively lovely loving lucky mature modern nice obedient painstaking peaceful perfect plausible pleasant plucky productive protective proud punctual quiet receptive reflective relieved resolute responsible rhetorical righteous romantic selective self-assured sensitive shrewd silly sincere skillful smiling splendid steadfast stimulating successful succinct talented thoughtful thrifty tough trustworthy unbiased unusual upbeat vigorous vivacious warm willing wise witty wonderful

AFTER LANDING ON 5 ADJECTIVES, WE LL MOVE TO THE NEXT STEP M A K I N G M A K I N G T H E T H E C O N N E C T I O N C O N N E C T I O N In this step, we ll brainstorm 3 different nouns (people,

Now you have three previously disconnected nouns (and names!) that resonate with the culture you re trying to create.

7 AFTER LANDING ON 5 ADJECTIVES, WE LL MOVE TO THE NEXT STEP M A K I N G M A K I N G T H E T H E C O N N E C T I O N C O N N E C T I O N In this step, we ll brainstorm 3 different nouns (people, places, things) that share this same description. For example, if your adjective is self-assured, you might write down Hercules, tempered steel, and redwood trees. Now you have three previously disconnected nouns (and names!) that resonate with the culture you re trying to create. Instead of naming your business Self-Assured Hammers, you might experiment with Hercules Hammers (or other Greek gods), or simply calling it Redwood Tools. Allow yourself to be creative and draw connections that are seemingly ridiculous. 20 years ago, naming your business using strictly onomatopoeia was ridiculous, but here we are with Yahoo! If, in your exploration, you hit a dead-end, don t give up. Turn back to the list of adjectives and try a different one. Or bring a new person into the process.

C O N C L U S I O N Naming something is an

We hope this resource is a blessing to you

Your Startup s Best Friend If you have any

8 C O N C L U S I O N Naming something is an art. If Just ask any expecting parent. This activity is not magic, but it is helpful. Very helpful. We hope this resource is a blessing to you and your team. Your Startup s Best Friend If you have any questions about the branding process, or if you re interested in our 30-Day Branding Bootcamp, visit to schedule a call with one of our Brand Strategists.

9 HAPPY EXPLORING

Key Ideas and Details LITERATURE 1. DRAWING INFERENCES

Key Ideas and Details LITERATURE 1. DRAWING INFERENCES LITERATURE Key Ideas and Details I can identify the key ideas explicitly stated in the text and evidence in the text that strongly supports the key ideas. (1,2,3) I can recognize the difference between