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How Should You Approach Corporate Naming?

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MM Brand Agency
MM Brand Agency

Whether you're going through a rebrand or hitting the marketplace with a new business venture—a solid name that tells a story and supports your brand strategy is critical. Read up on how to best approaching corporate naming in order to top your market.

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A Strategic Approach to Corporate Naming SHAPE
What’s In A Name? Naming A New Business Venture Renaming An Existing Business A Strategic Approach To Naming 01 02 03 04
What’s In A Name? 01
Google, Apple, Nike—these single words, though meaningless without the companies they are attached to, evoke a spectrum of experiences and relationships that are held between the corporate brand and their customers. Whether you’re an entrepreneur with a newly-founded business plan looking to build something from the ground up, or a seasoned corporation that is taking your business to the next level—a strategic approach to corporate naming should be considered. 1 2 3
A corporate name is a critical component of a brand identity—the value of a name that can build brand equity and customer recognition is infinite and should scale alongside your business. Crissy Saint, Sr. Brand Strategist
Naming A New Business 02
With a business plan in-hand, most entrepreneurs are eager to dive right into to crafting their vision and bringing their ideas to life sooner than later; however, the art of crafting a business foundation entails much more than slapping a name on it. Instead, we recommend taking the time to do a bit of research to understand your brand strategy and goals, your brand personality, and how all of those components work in tandem with a company name to promote growth and success.
Invest the time to craft a well thought-out business plan that clearly outlines the goals of your business, you to-market timelines, and includes some financial information regarding costs and budgets for getting your new venture up and running. Are you self-funding? Going in with a partner? Looking for institutional funding? Knowing your financial situation will help you understand the time and speed at which you can begin to build the foundation of your business. With a solid business plan in place, we generally work with clients to better understand their industry and the marketplace for their new venture. As a new venture, there’s no way to compare data/metrics or survey existing customers—but there are ways we can gain insight regarding your competitors, the landscape, your differentiators, and how potential customers might perceive your business plan. Armed with a business plan and a deeper understanding of your marketplace and the viability of your idea, we can delve in to crafting your core messaging. This messaging, which consists of Vision, Mission, Values, and Positioning statements, serves as the foundation for your brand’s voice and informs the next step: Naming. COMPLETE YOUR BUSINESS PLAN KNOW YOUR MARKET CRAFT YOUR BRAND STRATEGY
Renaming An Existing Business 03
While similar in some ways, naming an existing business can call for a bit more work. We’ve worked with clients from a wide range of industries and geographical markets to rename their ventures. Often the need for renaming is the result of business growth and maturity, but may also be due to negative public relations or a shift in strategy. Either way, a strategic approach to naming is the right route to take in evolving your company.
Gaining consensus could mean conducting private interviews with your various stakeholders (i.e. employees, leadership, board, shareholders) and could even include some customer input. The goal? Understand the gaps and opportunities that exist within your brand and ensure everyone has a voice. With everyone on the same page, and the gaps and opportunities for your brand analyzed—it’s time to craft your core messaging, also known as your Brand Strategy. This strategy document is most likely an evolution of core messaging due to your need to shift your company’s image in the marketplace and consists of Vision, Mission, Values, and Positioning Statements that will work in tandem with your new goals and will support your new name. While the naming process we follow for new ventures and existing businesses can be similar, depending on their goals and timelines—naming an existing business can be a more expensive process when it comes to updating existing marketing materials, digital plaforms, business and accounting forms etc. When budgeting for a rename, it’s important to keep this in mind. GAIN CONSENSUS CRAFT YOUR BRAND STRATEGY NAMING CONSIDERATIONS
A Strategic Approach To Naming 04
There are numerous approaches to naming or renaming a business based on their unique goals, marketplace, and the competition at hand. Generally, naming exploration and research can take anywhere from three weeks to a few months depending on the challenges at hand and the scope of the project. Either way, investing in a strategic naming process will payoff tenfold when done right and will breathe life into your business. ?
Based on your Brand Strategy and naming goals—we’re able to outline an approach to naming that makes sense for the particular needs of your business. Is the market- place over-saturated? Are you open to an agnostic name that ties into your brand story but may not spell out what you do? Once these parameters are outlined, we can get to work. Armed with key information about your brand and your business, we conduct a variety of naming exploration methods that could include: word etymology research, creative brainstorming and naming exercises, morpheme and cognate research, industry research and naming comparisons, surveys, and more. Our main goal here being to develop a set of initial name recommendations that authentically represent your business and brand in the right ways and will scale with your company over time. Once a final name recommendation is decided upon, it’s now up to your legal team to conduct in-depth reviews of the name availability with the United States Patent and Trademark Office before locking it in and beginning brand identity. Additionally, a search for available domains on the web is always a good idea for future steps. IDENTIFYING THE RIGHT APPROACH KNOW YOUR WORDS SECURING YOUR NAME
Connect With MM Brand Agency For Additional Insight On A Strategic Approach to Corporate Naming MMBRANDAGENCY.COM HELLO@MMBRANDAGENCY.COM TEL 917 626 8270 Phoenix | Los Angeles | New York

More Related Content

How Should You Approach Corporate Naming?

  • 1. A Strategic Approach to Corporate Naming SHAPE
  • 2. What’s In A Name? Naming A New Business Venture Renaming An Existing Business A Strategic Approach To Naming 01 02 03 04
  • 3. What’s In A Name? 01
  • 4. Google, Apple, Nike—these single words, though meaningless without the companies they are attached to, evoke a spectrum of experiences and relationships that are held between the corporate brand and their customers. Whether you’re an entrepreneur with a newly-founded business plan looking to build something from the ground up, or a seasoned corporation that is taking your business to the next level—a strategic approach to corporate naming should be considered. 1 2 3
  • 5. A corporate name is a critical component of a brand identity—the value of a name that can build brand equity and customer recognition is infinite and should scale alongside your business. Crissy Saint, Sr. Brand Strategist
  • 6. Naming A New Business 02
  • 7. With a business plan in-hand, most entrepreneurs are eager to dive right into to crafting their vision and bringing their ideas to life sooner than later; however, the art of crafting a business foundation entails much more than slapping a name on it. Instead, we recommend taking the time to do a bit of research to understand your brand strategy and goals, your brand personality, and how all of those components work in tandem with a company name to promote growth and success.
  • 8. Invest the time to craft a well thought-out business plan that clearly outlines the goals of your business, you to-market timelines, and includes some financial information regarding costs and budgets for getting your new venture up and running. Are you self-funding? Going in with a partner? Looking for institutional funding? Knowing your financial situation will help you understand the time and speed at which you can begin to build the foundation of your business. With a solid business plan in place, we generally work with clients to better understand their industry and the marketplace for their new venture. As a new venture, there’s no way to compare data/metrics or survey existing customers—but there are ways we can gain insight regarding your competitors, the landscape, your differentiators, and how potential customers might perceive your business plan. Armed with a business plan and a deeper understanding of your marketplace and the viability of your idea, we can delve in to crafting your core messaging. This messaging, which consists of Vision, Mission, Values, and Positioning statements, serves as the foundation for your brand’s voice and informs the next step: Naming. COMPLETE YOUR BUSINESS PLAN KNOW YOUR MARKET CRAFT YOUR BRAND STRATEGY
  • 9. Renaming An Existing Business 03
  • 10. While similar in some ways, naming an existing business can call for a bit more work. We’ve worked with clients from a wide range of industries and geographical markets to rename their ventures. Often the need for renaming is the result of business growth and maturity, but may also be due to negative public relations or a shift in strategy. Either way, a strategic approach to naming is the right route to take in evolving your company.
  • 11. Gaining consensus could mean conducting private interviews with your various stakeholders (i.e. employees, leadership, board, shareholders) and could even include some customer input. The goal? Understand the gaps and opportunities that exist within your brand and ensure everyone has a voice. With everyone on the same page, and the gaps and opportunities for your brand analyzed—it’s time to craft your core messaging, also known as your Brand Strategy. This strategy document is most likely an evolution of core messaging due to your need to shift your company’s image in the marketplace and consists of Vision, Mission, Values, and Positioning Statements that will work in tandem with your new goals and will support your new name. While the naming process we follow for new ventures and existing businesses can be similar, depending on their goals and timelines—naming an existing business can be a more expensive process when it comes to updating existing marketing materials, digital plaforms, business and accounting forms etc. When budgeting for a rename, it’s important to keep this in mind. GAIN CONSENSUS CRAFT YOUR BRAND STRATEGY NAMING CONSIDERATIONS
  • 13. There are numerous approaches to naming or renaming a business based on their unique goals, marketplace, and the competition at hand. Generally, naming exploration and research can take anywhere from three weeks to a few months depending on the challenges at hand and the scope of the project. Either way, investing in a strategic naming process will payoff tenfold when done right and will breathe life into your business. ?
  • 14. Based on your Brand Strategy and naming goals—we’re able to outline an approach to naming that makes sense for the particular needs of your business. Is the market- place over-saturated? Are you open to an agnostic name that ties into your brand story but may not spell out what you do? Once these parameters are outlined, we can get to work. Armed with key information about your brand and your business, we conduct a variety of naming exploration methods that could include: word etymology research, creative brainstorming and naming exercises, morpheme and cognate research, industry research and naming comparisons, surveys, and more. Our main goal here being to develop a set of initial name recommendations that authentically represent your business and brand in the right ways and will scale with your company over time. Once a final name recommendation is decided upon, it’s now up to your legal team to conduct in-depth reviews of the name availability with the United States Patent and Trademark Office before locking it in and beginning brand identity. Additionally, a search for available domains on the web is always a good idea for future steps. IDENTIFYING THE RIGHT APPROACH KNOW YOUR WORDS SECURING YOUR NAME
  • 15. Connect With MM Brand Agency For Additional Insight On A Strategic Approach to Corporate Naming MMBRANDAGENCY.COM HELLO@MMBRANDAGENCY.COM TEL 917 626 8270 Phoenix | Los Angeles | New York