The long and short of business names – how much short should it be
Choosing a business name can be quite a challenging task because to make the name friendly to brand and business you must keep it short and crisp yet providing clarity about its link to the business. There must be enough hint in the name about the business it represents so that consumers can quickly make it out. The name should indicate whether it is a software development company or a jewelry company or sports equipment company but without using too many characters in the name. Maintaining brevity and clarity in business names is a basic requirement because it helps in quick familiarization that helps to build a relationship with consumers and brand development. By choosing Brandroot -unique business names, businesses not only create an identity that gives a face to business and brand but also create consumer engagement.
Communication is the backbone of marketing, and when you are looking for a name for your business or brand, you must be ready to overcome the challenge of describing your business within the restricted space. It is never easy to describe your business by using only a few letters. To succeed in naming the business by maintaining the required briefness, you must know the tricks of limiting the number of letters to eight at the most.
Name length – the available options
Three letter business names are sometimes considered as the gold standard, but this is more of a misconception because it can lead to the creation of an acronym that is taboo in naming most businesses. Remember that you must strike a balance between staying short with names yet maintaining clarity which in most cases is not possible by using only three letters which usually becomes an acronym. The problem with acronyms is that it generates anonymity that drives the business into the crowd without giving it any chance to pop its head above the rest for more visibility. In addition, the message that you are trying to convey gets lost completely.
The ideal business name that doubles up as the domain name too is a single word name with a .com extension. Although other extensions are also effective, some extensions like .biz and .info are often misconstrued as unreliable websites like spam sites or thin affiliates sites and is best avoided. When choosing a name pay attention to the branding aspects that depend on differentiation, visibility, and relevance.
The anatomy of a three-letter business name
It is not a rule that you must stay away from the tactic of using an acronym that helps to stick to the three-letter limit. But the fact is that it is not for all and suits only those businesses that are well established and have a very impressive and high-profile image in the market. For example, CNN, BBC, and IBM are business behemoths that do not need any introduction and can play with the idea of sticking to the acronym as business, brand and domain name. The feasibility of using an acronym for business name depends on how well companies do the groundwork for building a reputation.
Once a brand becomes reputed, it automatically becomes familiar to consumers who are completely aware of what it represents as the name becomes synonymous with the business. For any new brand, the acronym would not make any sense to consumers who would be baffled to decipher it to understand the business that it represents. It merely confuses consumers, and the name becomes counterproductive because instead of engaging consumers it repels them which can be a significant setback for business.
Focus on memorable short names
Business names must be easy to spell and pronounce that help consumer to quickly become familiar with it thereby creating the first step in bringing them closer to the business and brand. In addition, the name should be meaningful in some way so that consumers can relate to it and memorize it quickly while it stays etched in memory almost forever besides enabling quick recall. It will be a mistake to aim for names as short as three letters only for the sake of memorizing it because if it does not convey any meaning, it will backfire. Rather, a more acceptable practice is to go for five-letter names or even eight letters that can conveniently convey the message related to business, brand, and industry.
Too short names can be confusing
The desire to stay unique can lead to catchy names that are just too short, and this can be quite risky because there are chances of consumers confusing it with the name of your competitors or with businesses that do not belong to your industry niche.
Treading the familiar path in choosing names is more sensible because names that are easy to pronounce and spell accurately as well as easy to remember are the ones that can bring business success.