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“Sandra” has a killer concept for a business. After building a solid business plan, she’s been busily implementing it for the last few months.
There’s just one problem: the name she had in mind is taken—she can’t get the (easy) URL, probably can’t trademark it and will be limited in her ability to franchise the idea when it takes off.
Thinking a new name would come to her if she just kept moving forward, she decided to dive instead into getting everything else done for her launch.
But here’s the thing. She was so emotionally attached to her original name that she never put any real effort into considering alternatives.
And now here she is, at that do-or-die moment where she must commit to a name.
Because she never did the deep work to clarify her brand—what it means, what she stands for, where she wants to take it—she’s about to choose a name that limits her potential right from the get-go.
Magical thinking doesn’t happen in a vacuum. That jolt of creativity that results in the perfect name is grounded in good old-fashioned research and strategic work on your brand.
The best names—whether it’s your firm or a tagline or a cool new service—spring from a clearly articulated brief about what makes it unique in its market space.
Doing it right is HARD.
But the process of naming your “baby” is worth every bit of the energy it takes to land on the right one.
Sandra is a truly stellar, hard-working pro and I have great confidence in her ability to make her business wildly successful.
And I have equal confidence that once she does that and is ready to expand, she will regret her name choice.
Naming your baby well isn’t limited to those with plenty of cash or giant chunks of free time.
It’s the province of those who are willing to do the work—to push past easy and keep digging until you find just the right name for you and your vision.