Naming A Business: Considerations, Legal Requirements, And Marketing Opportunities

You are planning to start a lifelong dream of starting your own business. You have an entrepreneurial spirit and believe you can be successful. This will be the initial assignment and future assignments will build on the name and company you select. Choose a name wisely.

The name you choose for will be important to the success and have marketing opportunities. Research the considerations, legal requirements, regulations, conditions, opportunities, challenges, and any other criteria which need to be considered in selecting a company name.

Describe in your paper the basis for selecting the name and the marketing opportunities it provides for your company. 

Choosing an Effective Business Name

The following report is based on the importance of providing a proper name to an entrepreneurial venture. The report establishes the different types of procedures that are needed for the proper naming of the organization. The report also states the different considerations that are to be kept in mind while the naming of the particular organization. The naming of the business is thus one of the most key factors to its success in the market (Cosimano et al.). The report starts with the introductory part and progresses with the discussion of each of the elements that have been considered during the naming of the organization.

I have been planning to start my own business venture since my college days and had been exploring different opportunities since the last couple of years. Working in a reputed software company of the United States could not dampen my spirit. I was always in search for the perfect opportunity and the perfect resources to start my own venture. Finally I got the opportunity a few days back when I was able to meet up a venture capitalist and explain about my plans to start the business. However there was a problem regarding the selection of the name as I wanted to give a proper and effective name to the business which can be appealing to the customers. As my business will be hardware and software repairing and maintenance for different PC’s and other forms of computer devices I have chosen an appropriate name for the business. The name of my business is “Modern PC Solutions”. The name provides my business with an extra edge that will be helpful for the business to receive an extra competitive advantage in the market.

My company will be based in Brooklyn in New York and will start with just 5 employees including me.  All of us are expert in our own field and are qualified computer engineers with vast experience. Our capital venturist has ushered in a healthy amount to start the business. The company will deal exclusively in the repairing and servicing of different types of personal computers, computer accessories, tablets, laptops and other forms of different computer services.  However the name of the company is of immense significance as the name “Modern PC Solutions” has a contemporary touch in it. The name Modern itself suggests the company’s updated technologies.

The naming of the business is really a stressful process. I was searching for the perfect name that will have a lasting impact on the minds of the customers as well as the market where my company will operate. I believe that the name of the business will embody the values of the company and will provide the customers with different characteristics that are promoted by the business. Naming the firm may raise different types of questions like the culture of the firm, uniqueness, different types of other activities of the firm and some other similar considerations.

Naming Considerations for Entrepreneurs

As my company will be involved in providing computer solutions for different computer peripherals and other computer accessories the name “Modern Pc Solutions” is more than just ideal. The term PC Solutions has been the best as it helps the customers to identify the domain of the company and use the services of the organization accordingly.

There are many companies in the market that have the tendency to change their names very often. They term such change as their policy to rebrand their business (Busch and James). On the other hand the names may also be changed just because the earlier name did not provide the X factor that leads to the success of the business.  According to, Dodds and William one of the most common mistakes that the business owners tend to make are the naming of the business after their name. The business must never be named after a particular person’s name as it may lead to the perception that the business is all about a one man show. Thu8s nit is always important for the business to make sure that the name of the business does not reflect any personal angle. 

The business name of the company must be registered accordingly whatever be the size of the organization (Brockman et al.). The business that I have started has surely the potential to be a national level force in the future. Just because of the nature of today’s market the company it is a much better idea to seek trademark protection for every business name.  Trademark protection is one of the basic requirements to save the name of the business as because it helps the business to protect itself from any legal complexities and also ensures sustainability of the business. Modern PC solutions must trademark itself with the US business trademark to protect it. It will be most important for me to appoint and consult an expert lawyer to look after the legal requirements of the market.

The name of the business provides the business with a number of opportunities;

1. The name Modern PC Solutions will help the management to make the customers aware of the type of business we are in
2. The name will also help my business to segment out my target market and implement the right strategies in the right place
3. As mentioned earlier the name of the business carries the term modern in it which will surely last for long as because the Modern term is applicable for all the generations whether it is present or the future. The customers will have the impression of a updated company with the latest technological skills

The name will also provide a number of different challenges to the organization which are as follows;

1. The name may be used by other companies in a different way like there may be companies having the name Modern Computers or Modern Computer solutions which may lead to legal complexities
2. The customers may feel confused with the same kind of name and they might end up at an altogether different company with the assumption of receiving the service at the presumed company

There are a lot of Do’s and don’ts that must be considered while the selection of the business name. The Do’s of selecting the names of the business are;

1. Making the name descriptive so that the potential customers are immediately informed about the domain or the purpose of the business
2. The description of the business must be kept as general as it can be so that I can expand my business to other products or services in the future
3. The oral and visual impact of the name must be kept into consideration so that the business advertisements and other promotional activities must be constructed in the same way.

Apart from the Do’s of the naming process I must also consider the negatives or the Don’ts of the total process.

1. The name of the business must be kept short and precise. Modern PC Solutions is such an example for the same
2. As mentioned earlier the use of the personal name is a strict no for the organization as because it makes no sense and makes the consumers think the business to be a one man affair.
3. I have tried to avoid similar names of other businesses within the same domain as such a practice can lead to legal hurdles
4. Trendy names of business organizations does not serves the purpose of the business as trends tend to stay for a short time 

References

Brockman, Paul, et al. "It's All in the Name: Evidence of Founder-Firm Endowment Effects." (2017).

Busch, James David. "Systems and methods to determine the name of a physical business location visited by a user of a wireless device and verify the authenticity of reviews of the physical business location." U.S. Patent No. 9,076,165. 7 Jul. 2015.

Cosimano, Christopher, et al. "Business Plan Business Name: Silver Bolt Corporation. Business Idea: A wireless charging pad that utilizes Rezence technology, which allows any number of electronic devices to be charged universally and simultaneously Team Members: Email." (2015).

Dodds, William B. "The Dominant Effects of Brand Name Information: Implications for Consumers’ Product Evaluation." Proceedings of the 1995 Academy of Marketing Science (AMS) Annual Conference. Springer, Cham, 2015.

Holdren, John Luke. "Business name phonetic optimization method." U.S. Patent Application No. 15/229,514.

Klink, Richard R., and Lan Wu. "Creating ethical brands: the role of brand name on consumer perceived ethicality." Marketing Letters 28.3 (2017): 411-422.

McDevitt, Ryan C. "“A” business by any other name: firm name choice as a signal of firm quality." Journal of Political Economy 122.4 (2014): 909-944.

Tsai, Yi-Lin, Chekitan S. Dev, and Pradeep Chintagunta. "What’s in a brand name? Assessing the impact of rebranding in the hospitality industry." Journal of Marketing Research 52.6 (2015): 865-878.