It can be really tough to name your creative business successfully!
Some creatives have identified a business name months or years even before they are ready to launch, but then find that ‘their’ business name has been taken already …
Other creatives simply decide to use their own name as their business name. It is the easiest and often a default option, especially if you are already ‘known’ under your own name prior to leaving art school.
Using your own name gives your business a more arty and personal touch. (It can get a little tricky if you use your maiden name and marry later on, but that’s another story!)
Some designers use their initials or attach their discipline to add some clarity to what they do, such as Jo Jones Design, AAJewellery or Studio Dumbar.
Others prefer a ‘professional’ business name or brand so that it is less personal and not so focused on an individual. This option comes across as more professional and allows your creative business to grow beyond you as an individual (also good if you wish to build a business that you can sell later on).
Some people use both: their own surname for artistic one-off work, and a business name or brand name if they want to have a bit more distance, privacy or work with others. In fact, you can be self-employed (using your own name) and run a limited company (using a business name) at the same time.
Naming your business is often one of the most exciting parts of starting your business!
Although identifying a business name is important (and fun!), don’t waste too much time.
Just like any child ‘grows’ into their name, your business will have to grow into its!
I have come across people who had a business name in mind years before starting their own creative business. But how to name your creative business (or even just a new collection!) can be tricky.
Here are 5 practical steps to help you in the process. Get a piece of paper and start answering the practical questions below:
Step 1: What are your business vision, values & passions?
Your business name should reflect your creative business vision, values, and passions.
- Why do you do what you do? Why did you become a knitwear designer, ceramicist or cartoonist? Did you choose your craft or did your craft choose you? What’s the bigger picture?
- What do YOU want to be known for? What makes you different and stand out in the market?
- What is your vision of the future? What is the legacy you want to leave behind? What are you really creating – not just with your creative products or service, but with your business? Is this to create a job for yourself, do you want a business employing others, or do you want to create something bigger than that?
- What are your values? What is really important to you in your work and how you work with others? Is it about your expertise and professionalism, quality of the materials, innovative solutions, playfulness, affordability, sustainability, made by hand, working in partnership, …?
- What are you passionate about? A little bit geeky? What can you not stop talking about? What inspires you?
- What are your recurring creative themes? What are the stories you want to tell?
- Who or what inspires you?
GET INTO ACTION: Take your time to answer the questions above. Don’t overthink it too much – use your gut feeling. Then try to get your answers down to 8 key descriptive words about your vision, values and passions, and use this as a starting point to brainstorm your business name. To find the perfect descriptive words to name your creative business might take a while, and you might need to dig a little deeper with the help of others.
But looking at your bigger picture as an inspiration for your business name will ensure that your business name is more likely to be future proof, as your vision, values and passions are unlikely to change dramatically over the years.
Step 2: Does your business name reflect you and your niche market?
A good business name reflects who you are and who your ideal clients are. Why they are attracted to you and your work.
Your business name is the introduction to your business. Before people meet you in person they will see or hear your business name.
What will your business name say about you?
Brainstorm the following questions:
- What do you do and for whom? Don’t just think about what (your products or services, your materials or techniques) but what your work really means to your clients.
- Who do you want to attract? Get into detail! Saying that your clients will be ‘women between 25 – 45’ isn’t detailed enough. Think about their values and creative style especially.
- What images does your business name create in their head about your business? Will it be clear to your potential clients what you do or for whom? Or would you prefer to be a little more intriguing and not reveal too much? Are you using words and language that will really attract your ideal clients?
GET INTO ACTION: Identify your niche market and define what you do and for whom. Identify your specialism and unique talent. What do you really want to be known for? Who are your ideal clients (in detail)? What makes you stand out? Are you attracting the right clients or are you trying to please ‘everybody’?
Step 3: Get more inspiration to name your creative business
When I did a little research on how to name a creative business it was really interesting to see how many people had named their creative business after their gran, pets or children! There were lots of references to favourite songs and fairy tales too.
GET INTO ACTION:
- Brainstorm (ideally with others) loads of business names around your values, vision, passions, your specialism, your ideal clients. Think about feelings and emotions as much as concrete words.
- Check out what business names your competitors or role models use. Which ones work? Which ones don’t? What’s the image they conjure up?
- Write down words but also use images. Create a collage, mood board or mind map around your values, vision and ideal clients. Very often the creation of the business name goes hand in hand with creating a brand and doing these creative exercises can help you with that too.
- Make sure that at the end of this stage you have got around 5 potential creative business names.
Step 4: Reality check to name your creative business
You need to take a couple of things into consideration when naming your creative business:
- Is the name easy to spell? This is especially important now as people want to be able to find you quickly online. Avoid quirky spellings such as ‘gr8’. Although it is often the most common names that can be hard to spell like Johnson, Jonson, Johnsson! And if you use ‘and’ how will you spell that; and, & or +? Avoid any potential confusion.
- Is the name easy to remember? If you have a memorable name it will be far easier to remember and for people to find you again online.
- How does it translate? If you work internationally (and that is everybody with a potential online business!) then make sure that your business name doesn’t mean something offensive in another language … There are some really funny stories in the advertising and branding world of big businesses that got this one wrong!
- Your creative business name should also be future proof as it is difficult to change your name later if you have built up a profile. Naming your business is a bit like naming your kids … does it still sound right 20 years from now? And what if you want to change your maiden name? See this interesting article by well-known small business guru Tara Gentile who created a very strong personal brand and then decided to change her business name.
- Are there any restrictions on the business name? Certain words are not allowed or are protected. You can find a list of sensitive words on the Companies House/gov.uk website.
- Has anybody got a registered trademark under this business name? You can find more information about registered trade marks on the gov.uk website. A specialist intellectual property lawyer can help you with an in-depth search on trademarks.
- Is the name still available? Check out if anybody else is using the name through a Google search and also check the Companies House website for a detailed business name search. Check if ‘your’ business name is still available for a web address or social media account on this handy online business name checker.
- Can you protect it by trademarking your business name? Check out this handy post by The British Library on how to trademark a business name.
Step 5: Make your business name legal
This is the step most creatives like to avoid, but it is essential. To register or use your creative business name there are a couple of legal implications.
Firstly, you need to make sure that nobody else is using your proposed business name as you might be legally required to stop using or publishing the name.
In fact, this happened to my sister’s business which had done some name research in The Netherlands where she lives, then launched her business with a new website, business cards, and other promotional material and within 2 days of opening received a letter from a solicitor to inform her that she had to change her business name and destroy all promotional material as the name was trademarked. This to a great financial (and at that stage also emotional) cost.
One of the easiest ways to check if the name is already in existence is to check this online business name checker where you can conveniently check business names, trademarks and web domain names that have been taken already.
GET INTO ACTION: At last! You are now ready to register your business!
How you register your business and business name depends on which legal structure you choose. If you are a sole trader or partnership you register your business through HMRC. As a limited company in the UK, you have to register your business and business name with Companies House.
Please note that registering your business name with either HMRC or Companies House does NOT give you any legal protection against other people using your business name. If you want to do that then you will need to trademark your name. Also, this doesn’t give you any protection online with other people purchasing your business web address.
And … although identifying a business name is important, don’t waste too much time on it. It is far more important how you use your business name consistently over time, the way your logo and corporate identity works, your branding, images, and packaging etc. It is all those elements together with your work and behaviour that will make your business name recognised and remembered by the right people, rather than what your actual business name is.
Did you find this article on how to name your creative business useful? Then tell us in the comments box below. Or tell us why you gave your business name it has. These always make for interesting stories too.
Thiught provoking insights to naming your business – highly recommended!