Business Names - Who, What, When, Where, Why?

by Kevin
(MO)

Yes, even the elementary teachings come back to haunt you once in a while. This is a very simple approach when trying to determine the name of your business. Brainstorming business names can be painstaking and agonizing, but also fun and a stress suppressor.

When you think about brainstorming keep the who, the what, and why in mind. If you want to come up with a creative name to attract a younger generation if that is your market then that is your obvious objective. However the older generations keep things simpler and your business will have more of a "branded" name.

Once you have brainstormed some options, one could run a S.W.O.T. analysis. Show its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. This will hopefully separate several of your ideas.

Mistakes you want to avoid would be the trendy or inappropriate. For instance one wouldn't want to name a store something which the public would fear of even going into. It should be simple but stands out.

Take 24 Hour Fitness as an example. It shows the who, what, when all in one name. They target the fitness junkies, it is a fitness center, and they are open twenty four hours a day. This is a very simple but effective name of a business.