Tips on choosing a good brand name for your company

With China and India both gaining traction in the ever growing global economy, a brand name can make or brake a company. However, while the economy has become more agile than it was 50 years ago, the process of choosing a brand name is largely unchanged. It is hard to blame business owners for this, because most of them are not aware the endless uses the Internet provides as a resource. That said, the beginning steps in choosing a good brand name for your company are still applicable.

Step 1: Brainstorm 1- What is the company's product/service?; What sets this company apart from its competitors? What is the company's attitude?

Step 2: Brainstorm 2- Find the words that fit the answers from Step 1. The more choices, the better the brand name will turn out. Many people stop this process too early, and fail to find the best brand name available to them.

Step 3: Construct Brand Names- With the words that you now have, pick brand names. These should only be one to two words long, and they should represent your company well. Come up with as many combination as you can.

Step 4: Rank the choices

This is where the similarities with the old way of choosing brand names stops. Previously, companies might hire focus groups to listen to the proposed brand names and pick which one they liked best, or the CEO might have just picked the one that he liked best. However, marketers must now contend with the Internet and domain names, better known as web addresses.

New Step 5: Try registering for the domain name of your possible brand names- If the brand name is, "Company A", attempt to secure http://www.companya.com. This will make the company much easier to find on the Internet.

New Step 6: If there are multiple available domain names check to see how many searches were done for each word. This should help narrow down the choices, and increase the opportunities potential customers have to stumble upon the company website

Step 7: Hire a focus group to work through the final choices.

Step 8: Celebrate a new brand name- This is usually best done with a victory lap around the office, but any amount of excitement will do.

Step 9: Immediately register the domain name.

In the end, always remember the goal. A brand name that represents the company, and a brand name that customers will remember.