Should You Change The Name of Your Company?

Some argue that you should never change the name of your company because you are destroying the brand that you invested so much time and energy into. I agree, but in my opinion, this only applies to companies that are already profitable and actually have brand recognition.

However, for companies that have never reached profitability and have no real brand awareness, changing the name may be an extremely wise thing to do.

Why? Because using the wrong name can easily be the very thing that is holding your company back from profitability. For instance, having a company name that is too hard to pronounce, spell or remember will hurt you. Even worse is a company name that is overly used, such as "Smith & Associates" or "Mike's Hardware Shop". People will confuse your brand, and it won't be easy to find you when searching online.

The key is to use a company name that sounds unique, and will encourage people to do business with you - not cause people to be confused or lost.

Here are three tips for naming or re-naming your company:

1) Officialize It.
It is perfectly legal to name your company in a way in which it sounds more official, and thus bigger than it really is. This will help customers to respond faster and in greater numbers. For instance, if you are selling alternative medicine, you could go with "The Global Institute of Alternative Medicine" or "The Alternative Medicine Warehouse" or even "The National Association of Alternative Medicine Specialists". Small companies use such names all the time.

2) Localize It.
Many local businesses find that customers respond better to a name that sounds...well, local. Having a name such as "Atlanta Car Parts" or "Franklin County Computer Services" or even "California Furniture" can make people subconsciously assume that your company is endorsed by a local government. This leads to another assumption that your company is legit to do business with, and that you will offer a more personalized service especially for people in that area. Fortunately, you are not infringing on any trademarks by utilizing a city, state, county or even street within your business name.

3) Simplify It.
If you don't want to officialize it or localize it, you should at least simplify it. Try to be as descriptive as possible in your name, so that people don't have to guess what you do. For instance, if you own a print shop, consider calling it "The Print Shop". If you sell discounted tires, why not go with "Discounted Tires" or "The Discounted Tire Shop"? Keeping it simple like this will enable people to automatically know what your company does, and it will pay off in a huge way because less marketing will be required.

There are no rules. Play around with it and see what you can come up with!