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Hi there.
Speaker:It's Sue.
Speaker:And thanks for joining me for tips and talk day.
Speaker:These are bite-sized topics that I pull from community questions and
Speaker:things that I'm observing in the world of handmade small business.
Speaker:If you'd like to submit a topic,
Speaker:DME, over on Instagram at gift biz unwrapped Today,
Speaker:I'm going to give you a number of things to consider
Speaker:while you're brainstorming the name for your business.
Speaker:But I would be doing you a disservice.
Speaker:If I didn't remind you that this is not the first
Speaker:thing you should do,
Speaker:when thinking about starting your business,
Speaker:although it's naturally what you'd think you should do and what
Speaker:most do.
Speaker:Nope. The very first thing when considering starting your business is
Speaker:to validate your product.
Speaker:You can hear more about this in the tips and talk
Speaker:66 episode.
Speaker:And I walk you through how to do this in detail.
Speaker:In my start with confidence program,
Speaker:you can see more about that on my website.
Speaker:Once you validated that there's a market for your product,
Speaker:you're ready to start your business in earnest.
Speaker:Now it's the time to decide on the name and register
Speaker:it officially.
Speaker:So how do you decide on that all important name?
Speaker:There may be a name that you've been thinking about all
Speaker:along, or you may be starting fresh by brainstorming all the
Speaker:possibilities. Your business name is an important consideration,
Speaker:but can also be a stalling point.
Speaker:I've seen too many people spend weeks if not months with
Speaker:their business on hold because they can't decide on the perfect
Speaker:name. So my intent here is to help you along with
Speaker:making a great choice,
Speaker:or if you're wondering if the name you currently have could
Speaker:use a refresh,
Speaker:stay to the end,
Speaker:to hear a story about just that to start with.
Speaker:I want you to consider four things as you look at
Speaker:your list of possible names.
Speaker:First off,
Speaker:is it SEO worthy?
Speaker:If you have a name that strong for search engine optimization,
Speaker:you can get found organically online more often.
Speaker:That's a huge benefit to do this.
Speaker:Make sure to add into your name at least one key
Speaker:word that people will search for more on this later.
Speaker:Second, confirm that you can acquire all the social media platforms
Speaker:of the same name while not a must have.
Speaker:It certainly makes life easier and presents you as a more
Speaker:professional and stronger business.
Speaker:Credibility and presentation is everything.
Speaker:When someone finds you for the first time,
Speaker:it's also best.
Speaker:If your name doesn't need dashes dots or underscores,
Speaker:it's much too hard to direct people with those hard to
Speaker:describe and remember details,
Speaker:which leads to 0.3
Speaker:is the name of memorable.
Speaker:This doesn't mean it has to be fancy or even unique,
Speaker:but if someone has seen you online or been at your
Speaker:craft show booth,
Speaker:can they easily recall the name of your business later?
Speaker:Sometimes simple can do the trick like Joyce's gift baskets.
Speaker:Sometimes a little flare is just right,
Speaker:like love that spice and 0.4.
Speaker:Are you using the common spelling of the words?
Speaker:This should be the general rule and a preferred option,
Speaker:especially if there's another company selling the same thing as you
Speaker:are, and has the commonly spelled words for their name.
Speaker:If you add your own spelling,
Speaker:twist, not everyone is going to remember that.
Speaker:And you'll be driving a portion of your hard earned prospects
Speaker:directly over to that other business.
Speaker:Now rules are meant to be broken.
Speaker:If you do want to add some spelling pazazz to your
Speaker:name, make sure you can also get the domain of the
Speaker:common spelling and then redirect it to the creative URL site.
Speaker:This you can do only if someone else doesn't have it
Speaker:already. Of course,
Speaker:but if you're set on creative wording,
Speaker:this will ensure that people end up on your website,
Speaker:even if they enter the general spelling.
Speaker:Okay? Now that we've got this initial checklist out of the
Speaker:way, let's move on to some ideas to help you brainstorm
Speaker:names. The first two are specifically strong to boost your SEO
Speaker:potential location.
Speaker:How about adding the name of your hometown to your company
Speaker:name? This works particularly well.
Speaker:If you live in a tourist area or your location as
Speaker:well known for something people search location names all the time.
Speaker:Bailey bill bake,
Speaker:shop Santa Barbara,
Speaker:gift baskets,
Speaker:the Hershey gifting company.
Speaker:These are all great examples.
Speaker:The only reason I wouldn't add a location to your name
Speaker:is if you think at some point in the future,
Speaker:you'll be moving and taking the business with you.
Speaker:On the other hand,
Speaker:a strong location name could add significant value.
Speaker:If you're looking to sell your company down the road to
Speaker:product category,
Speaker:think about including the name of your product.
Speaker:Specifically Yankee candles.
Speaker:Doesn't leave much doubt about what they sell yet.
Speaker:It does add additional personality with the word Yankee.
Speaker:The more general here,
Speaker:the better,
Speaker:although the popular general names,
Speaker:aren't going to put you at the top of search.
Speaker:When they're combined with other terms like candles,
Speaker:Austin, Texas,
Speaker:soy wax,
Speaker:it can lead people directly to you.
Speaker:These next three name brainstorming ideas.
Speaker:Don't give you a lot of SEO,
Speaker:but can be reviewed as options.
Speaker:Adding your name as the maker.
Speaker:This could be a great idea and definitely positioned to you
Speaker:as the creator of your products.
Speaker:However, if you do this plan to be front and center
Speaker:and show yourself in video and images of the business,
Speaker:having a name attached means nothing.
Speaker:If I can't relate it to you,
Speaker:Cassie from Cassie's country,
Speaker:cupboard is an excellent example.
Speaker:Here. You can also name your business after a late relative.
Speaker:And if you do that,
Speaker:make sure it's clearly understood with pictures and explanation of the
Speaker:inspiration they provided that has resulted in the name.
Speaker:Another idea is originality.
Speaker:How about those businesses whose names have no correlation to what
Speaker:they make at all?
Speaker:They're just random interesting combinations.
Speaker:I love these because they're so unique,
Speaker:but be prepared to do a lot of informative marketing,
Speaker:explaining what your business is since it won't be immediately apparent.
Speaker:One thing that can help here is to add an image
Speaker:along with the name as your official logo.
Speaker:And finally,
Speaker:what about an aspirational name by this?
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:including in your name,
Speaker:what the results are from using your products?
Speaker:An example that comes to mind here is thrive.
Speaker:The makeup line that gives back to various organizations to help
Speaker:women do just that thrive.
Speaker:Go read their story over at thrive,
Speaker:cosmetics.com, so inspirational and a great example of an about us
Speaker:page. By the way to summarize,
Speaker:I've given you four guidelines and five idea generators around selecting
Speaker:your business name.
Speaker:What if you already have a name,
Speaker:but it doesn't follow what I've been talking about here,
Speaker:or you've been questioning for a while,
Speaker:whether it's time for a name change,
Speaker:perhaps you did what I cautioned about in the beginning.
Speaker:And you have a name that no longer aligns with what
Speaker:you sell.
Speaker:Maybe you should change your name.
Speaker:I know,
Speaker:I know it's a major pain and you'll incur some costs
Speaker:with a name change,
Speaker:but the results may very well be worth it.
Speaker:Within this last year,
Speaker:I need a Houseman has seen the positive result of changing
Speaker:her name for over 10 years,
Speaker:her company was called treasured touch.
Speaker:She's gone through her share of product validations adjustments and ideal
Speaker:customer focuses.
Speaker:And our business was steadily chugging along.
Speaker:She was emotionally tied to the name and felt she put
Speaker:in so much time into getting people familiar with it,
Speaker:that she was way too far down the road to make
Speaker:a change.
Speaker:But deep inside,
Speaker:she knew it wasn't a fit.
Speaker:People didn't immediately know what she did,
Speaker:which then required a lot of explanation.
Speaker:Some people even thought she was a massage parlor.
Speaker:I've been on her about her name for years,
Speaker:and finally resigned myself to the fact that treasured touch was
Speaker:here to stay.
Speaker:I'm not sure exactly what prompted her to decide to make
Speaker:a change,
Speaker:but hurray,
Speaker:it's now done.
Speaker:Her company is now called the Hershey gifting company.
Speaker:She lives in Hershey,
Speaker:Pennsylvania, by the way,
Speaker:her product focus has switched only slightly,
Speaker:but the results have been dramatic.
Speaker:I've observed an obvious change in the confidence and optimism as
Speaker:she speaks about her company.
Speaker:Now you can hear this for yourself because she shows up
Speaker:regularly in the bashes.
Speaker:She's also gotten a lot more visibility in online search,
Speaker:which has led to significant new business.
Speaker:And it goes without saying website,
Speaker:traffic is up and all signs lead to more and more
Speaker:growth. Anita still works really hard in her business,
Speaker:but sales are coming easier.
Speaker:And the way she presents her business feels in line and
Speaker:powerful. This no doubt has helped with sales as well.
Speaker:And her overall pride in her business,
Speaker:whether you're choosing a business name for the first time or
Speaker:thinking about making a switch,
Speaker:review these points against your brainstorming list.
Speaker:And I'm sure you'll land on the perfect one to add
Speaker:some fun to the process.
Speaker:I want to offer you a special gift.
Speaker:It's an exercise that I'm pulling out of my makers MBA
Speaker:program and is a fun lighthearted exercise.
Speaker:You can even do with a few friends that can result
Speaker:in a whole list of fun,
Speaker:creative name options that most importantly reflect you to download your
Speaker:copy, go to gift biz,
Speaker:unwrapped.com forward slash name generator,
Speaker:happy name,
Speaker:creating. That's a wrap.
Speaker:I'm a get to the point kind of girl.
Speaker:And this is what you can expect from these quick midweek
Speaker:sessions. Now it's your turn go out and fulfill that dream
Speaker:of yours.
Speaker:Share your handmade products with us.
