McDonald’s
Coca-Cola
Sprite
Pepsi
Tylenol
Amazon
What do these names have in common?
Sure, they’re recognizable around the world. And they’re all parts of multi-billion dollar companies. And there’s one other thing. They’re also words that tell you nothing about what the company does. Yet, despite this, the average business owner can fret quite a bit about what to call their company. I think this is a mistake for a few reasons.
1. The focus of your business may change several times
A coaching company I worked for had no niche and struggled. Then we focused on fear of public speaking and prospered. We didn’t change our name then. Later, we worked with golfers looking to improve their game.
Then even later we served people with emotional eating. The company never bothered to change its name during any of these forays. But had we chosen a name that suggested a specific purpose such as “Fearless-Speaking” or “End Emotional Eating” we would have had to keep switching our name. No one cared what we called ourselves because …
2. Customers don’t buy a name, they buy a solution to their problem
People go to McDonald’s to get cheap, tasty, fast food (although some disagree about it being tasty). If it had been called Burger King instead, it might have been just as popular. The name Burger King suggests a specific function – serving burgers – but that name has not made it a more popular brand.
The power of the name McDonald’s comes from its history of advertising and successfully delighting customers over many years. And that’s key. It’s McDonald’s activities that have given meaning to the name. The name itself tells us nothing. And more importantly, a functional name also comes with a dysfunctional problem.
3. Functional names for a company can limit you
If you’re starting out and decide to date a niche such as helping stay at home mom’s create a home business you may get a website such as www.work-at-home-mom-business.com But if you switch to professional women who want to create a side gig, that URL won’t do. This is why I think it’s a good idea for many coaches and thought leaders to name their website’s with their own name. For example, ChristianMickelson.com, TonyRobbins.com, StevePavlina.com.
So my suggestion is to use your name as the name of your business or a name that you like and then get something more specific later if you still feel the need to do so. The words you choose will come to mean what you tell your market it means. When you know their problem and have a solution to it, they won’t worry about your name anymore. They’ll be too busy looking for the signup button.
But don’t I need to be a big name to name my business after myself?
I can understand this concern. If no one knows you, then why should they care about your name. And that’s really the point, isn’t it? They don’t care. At least not yet. No matter what you call yourself, you will need to demonstrate your value to people before they will care. So my suggestion is not to put too much time and energy into searching for the best business name. Name the business after yourself. Or give a name that you like but which gives you the flexibility to alter your niche in the future.
Just keep in mind that the next Pepsi, McDonald’s or Uber will probably have a name we’ve never heard before.
