Brand Name

Your Brand Name Versus Your Company Name

Your brand name doesn’t necessarily have to match your company name, but it can. If you have an existing company and are looking to re-brand yourself, but don’t want to go through the headache of forming a new LLC, C-Corp, Sole Proprietorship, etc., then don’t! There is nothing wrong with having a different brand name as long as your cite your company name as the official company who owns the brand. In this way you could actually own and manage a variety of different brands, then report the income under a single entity. Even so, I don’t recommend using the strategy outlined in this book with more than one brand at first; this is a lot of work and will require you to focus.

Brand Name Factors

Your brand name should follow the same rules as your domain name, and ideally they are exactly the same. It’s hard enough to get people to remember a domain name without requiring that they know a different brand name as well. With that in mind, here are a few factors in choosing a brand name.

IS IT RELATED TO YOUR DOMAIN NAME?

If you can’t have your brand name be exactly the same as your domain name, it should be close. Let’s say that your domain name is www.BadassKettlebellExercises.com but you’re worried that that name will limit people’s perception of what your company offers (it won’t, but it’s really hard to convince business owners of that fact). In this instance, you could have a longer brand name that makes your offering sound more broad; something like Badass Kettlebell Training Systems broadens the name while still sounding close enough to the domain name.

IS YOUR BRAND NAME LEGAL?

You need to ensure that someone else isn’t already using your brand name. Even if the related domain name is available, the brand name may have a trademark or some other legal claim to it. Search online for any company that may already own the name.

DOES IT UTILIZE YOUR PRIMARY KEYWORD?

Just like your domain name, your brand name should utilize your Primary Keyword. This is extremely important as you’ll be inputting this name in multiple places across the internet, from your social media accounts to business listings; this is an excellent opportunity to automatically brand yourself with no more effort than you are already putting into setting up your business.

DOES IT SOUND IMPRESSIVE?

While this isn’t a requirement, having an impressive-sounding brand name will give a boost to your business and your confidence, especially as you introduce yourself to potential customers and industry partners. Imagine yourself at a big fitness expo looking for new products for your online store. You want the vendors to take you seriously. If you walked up and said, “Hello, I’m Bill from Bill’s Big Database of Kettlebell No-no’s,” would you garner that vendor’s attention? What if you came up and said, “Hello, I’m Bill from Kettlebell Professionals of America.” Which one sounds more legitimate?