Why Not To Use A Name Generator For Business Names

Recently I was approached by a client to help with developing a new business name. The firm had been brainstorming for a while but hadn’t hit the nail on the head, yet. This isn’t something I get to do that often, and only twice before have I been approached by a company to research and develop a highly brandable, highly marketable name. Both times the budget was generous, and as you may know, businesses often spend thousands of pounds developing a name for a subsidiary company. But this was a start-up company with a small budget, although nevertheless they wanted to create a powerful name, something memorable, adaptable to multiple products with their industry; something ageless, upmarket yet at the same time contemporary and cool.

They had initially tried using a name generator for business names, but if you’ve ever tried one of those online gadgets you will know they are pretty naff, rather like trying to put up a picture in a dark room; it will be inappropriately lob-sided at best. Name generators aren’t humans, and although they might be programmed by humans, they have no idea of your vision, passion, intention, objectives, short and long term goals.

And so they came to me. I asked for a good few days to let my creative juices flow; the last thing you should ever do with creating brand names is rush the job or allocate strict working times to the task. This only seeks to suffocate the creative mind. Of course, I researched the market and studied competitors, looked at the demographic and requirements involved, but for the most part I waited for the evenings, fairly close to bedtime when ideas always seem to flow like an Alaskan ice dam melting in the summer sun. And alas, after submitting two rounds of names, I hit the jackpot and everyone was happy.

The relaxed approach to the creative process, and the fact that the company didn’t require laborious, time consuming market cases studies, meant I was able to  charge a fee that wouldn’t hurt finances before the company had even begun. A enjoyable job well done!