Naming A Store: The Definitive Guide
Google, Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft are some great names that linger on a customer’s mind. Naming a store often is one of the most difficult decisions when you are just starting. Many people can find choosing a name for their store very difficult. The name of a store represents the characteristics of a business. It also transmits culture and a determined image. This is exactly why selecting an appropriate name for your business is an extremely important step in the business development process. Here comes the use of a proper store name generator service provider.
Why Store name Generators are Important?
You are already aware that a cool and powerful company name can, at times, prove to be an important aspect of your success in branding and marketing terms. There are various tools available in the market such as a store name generator that can provide you with great store name ideas. For example, one such tool is Namify which is different from most name generators.
With the latest machine learning technology, Namify constantly studies user behaviour and suggests brandable names that you will love.
Branding experts suggest that a store name should be easy to spell, easy to pronounce, easy to remember, and should grab the attention of your target audience and potential customers. For both large and small businesses alike, it is a good idea to formulate a strategy to come up with a good name, which can go well with their product or service.
To guide you through the process of choosing a name for your store and prevent you from spending countless hours of your valuable time, we have come up with a definitive guide for naming a store. So instead of trying out ineffective easy name generators and taking stress, give this guide a read. By the end of this, you will be able to come up with good store name ideas.
Step 1: Know the Psyche Behind a Name
The name of your store will represent your business, even when you are not around. Hence, it matters as to what people think of your store’s name, and how they perceive it. You should try and gauge the kind of feelings or emotions that are aroused in customers by your store’s name, their thought process regarding your business, and how they associate your product or service with the name.
It is hence a good idea, to learn about the psyche of your target audience or potential customers, before arriving at a store name.
Step 2: Know What to Avoid
As important as it is to know what you should do, it is also important to understand what you should avoid. Here are 3 points to help you understand what to avoid.
- Difficult Names
Branding experts across industries have suggested that new businesses should come up with store names that are easy to spell, easy to pronounce, and easy to remember. - Common Names
Whether you are running a large or a small business, it is always essential to come with a unique name for your store. It should inform your target audience or potential customers, regarding your product or service, and at the same time, not be boring. - Long Names
Long names often cause customers to turn away from the brand, and look for other options. It also leads to longer domain names.
Step 3: Get Clarity on Your Purpose
Getting clarity on the purpose of your store will help you to come up with a good store name ideas list, in a much better fashion. If you haven’t accomplished this task, you can consider spending some time understanding the aims and goals of your company and correlate it to your company’s business promise to customers.
Step 4: Understand your Buyer Persona
Knowing your buyer persona can help you immensely in understanding your client, and thus assist you in coming up with cute store name ideas. Branding experts suggest that this is extremely crucial while framing up a social media campaign, email newsletter campaign, or a content marketing strategy. It is hence a good idea, to write down the following characteristics of your ideal client:
- Demographics and background – Income, company, role, age, and sex
- Interests and hobbies
- Elevator pitch
- Ambitions – Long, medium, and short term
- Day-to-day hurdles or challenges
- Biggest fears and common objectives
- Marketing messaging
Step 5: Brainstorm Keywords
It is advisable to brainstorm a few keywords which can suit your store, and write them down as you go through the process. You can consider experimenting with the store names by unifying two of them, transform a few, and make variations to come up with easy store name ideas.
It is advisable to limit your store name to 2 syllables so that your store name is easy to spell, easy to pronounce, and easy to remember. We can have a look at some of the biggest companies across the globe, to understand this:
- Uber
- Apple
- Amazon
Unifying two names can help you arrive at an implicit or explicit name. An explicit name is one wherein the purpose of the company is clearly expressed. The aptest example of this is Facebook, which is formed by unifying two words, ‘Face’ and ‘Book’. Implicit name, on the other hand, is one wherein people cannot gauge the company’s business from its name. The aptest example for this is ‘Tesla’. A shot name at times can be cute but can lead to issues while purchasing a domain.
Step 6: Shortlist Names
Once you have zeroed down on a few names you like, it is time to select one which best suits your store. To accomplish this, you can choose to rate the names on the following 4 criteria:
- Intuitive: This refers to whether the name is in line with your business or not
- Visual: This addresses the visual appeal of your name
- Sound: This refers to whether the name sounds good or not
- Emotional value: This addresses the emotional value people associate with the store name
You should have a look at linguistics before arriving at a store name. There have been many cases wherein, a company has initiated its operations, and when their company goes international, they learn that their name is offensive to certain communities or is prohibited entirely in a nation.
Step 7: Legal Validation
Once you have arrived at a name, you will need to register your company under a corporation or an LLC. It will be a good idea to search for your name in the secretary of state records, to be sure that your name is not already taken by someone else. You can check all the patents as well to conduct a trademark search. The secretary of state might not allow the registration of your name if in case it is too similar to another name already in use.
It is recommended to hire a professional to conduct legal validation of your name. Today, literature regarding trademark search is available on the internet in abundance. However, hiring a professional will provide you with in-depth information, and prevent you from the hassle of scanning through millions of learning material.
Step 8: Register A Great Domain Name
Choose a domain name that resembles your business name. It will ensure consistent branding across multiple channels. For example, you operate a business called Naturo that sells cold-press juices. You can register www.naturo.store or www.naturojuice.store as a domain name for your eCommerce store. This way you highlight your brand name and with a .store domain extension, you establish that it’s an eCommerce store.
Step 9: Ask your Family, Friends, and Audience
You should consider taking the opinion of your audience on the name of your store, as they will give you fair and critical feedback. An excellent way to accomplish this task is via an online survey.
It is a bit difficult to test store names with your friends and family, as you cannot be sure whether they will be critical about it or not. However, if you do consider to ask them, make sure you make them understand the importance of their feedback.
Conclusion
Coming up with an excellent store name can be a daunting task. You have to overcome a series of challenges to arrive at an impeccable store name. Once you have zeroed in on a name, the rest of the processes will seem natural, since you will now have a name you can be proud of. A name, which hopefully will be easy to remember and will cause a good impression in your industry.
Availing the information in this guide, the time consuming and exhausting task of naming your store can now be accomplished in just a few steps.