Choosing a business name is either ridiculously easy, or the most long-winded brainstorming session OF YOUR LIFE.
For six weeks after making the decision to launch our own business we threw around names, names and more names.
We almost set Google on fire to find and devour how-to stories with tips and tricks for the best way to come up with the perfect one.
And we learned that there are endless so-called essential criteria.
Your business name had to define the type of business you were running, the industry you’re in and say something about the type of clients you want to attract. It had to be quirky, memorable and easily digestible. It could not have a weird spelling or be boring, and it absolutely must tell a story.
And, after all that, it had to be succinct.
So we workshopped it, day after day after day after day (after day after day) and had a rather long shortlist before we settled on Ginger Brown.
Here’s some of the “gold” we came up with.
- Mixtape Media (retro cool with a digital edge)
- Monster Media (A nod to lovers of Halloween — which Andrea has watched 205 times)
- SKYNET Media (“Fire us, and we’ll be back” — the whole redundancy thing was still stinging a little around this time)
- Take Two (Here we go again!)
- Two Scribes (Who DON’T go to war)
- Lemon Tree (We have one in the backyard so at this stage we were doing a rather good Hannibal Lecter impression and coveting what we see)
- EightyEight (In honour of two slightly chubby ladies)
- Two Phat Ladies (Clearly a similar vein of thought happened here. Both were vetoed pretty early.)
- Ignite (The whole fire thing was a theme there for a while)
- Ripple (You know, cause and effect my dear Trinity)
- Yapper Digital Content (Andrea says this was inspired by me — still not sure it’s a compliment)
- Quirk Digital Content (We thought we would have quirked it out by this stage)
- Bubbler Digital Content (Eight glasses of water a day makes your brain function better, right?)
- Banter Digital Content (This was a winner for a good hour until we realised banter was actually a very uncool word)
For inspiration, we searched for common interests, stuff that would apply to both of us.
But Andrea is obsessed with horror films, I adore a Jane Austen drama.
While she would prefer a tree change in the hills kind of holiday, the beach is my happy place.
In a room full of strangers I’ll happily chat about anything to everyone while Andrea makes a beeline for the bar and then to the corner of the room to hang with all the other introverts.
While she find thrills in roller coasters all over the world, I prefer to get my kicks exploring underwater wrecks in my scuba gear.
In the end it was inevitable that we should celebrate our differences — and while you could say that naming a company after the colours of our respective locks is a little simplistic, we think it works a treat.
It gives us wonderful colours to play with, reflects our personalities and reminds us of ginger beer and chocolate brownies. Winning. All. The. Way.
Our top tips for naming your business
- Choose something fun – you have to live with it for a long time!
- Don’t be boring – a bland name is never going to stand out
- Be succinct – long company names are harder to design a logo around and people inevitably shorten it and you’ll lose your effectiveness
- Avoid using a location in the name ie Footscray Copywriting Services – unless you plan to live there forever
- Choose something that isn’t too common and will get lost on Google
- Make it personal – that might not work for everyone, but if you have a personality-based business then it works a treat
- Have fun with the process – it’s an exciting adventure!