The process of choosing a craft business name comes after you have decided what kind of business you are getting into. Keeping that in mind choose the appropriate name.
Remember to keep future expansions and diversification in mind. Putting a particular ‘craft’ such as ‘cakes, quilts, lamps, bags’ etc. in the business name can make things confusing for the customer if in the future you decide to expand your line of products.
While we know that you can get online and start selling real quick, we strongly advise against doing it without choosing a business name first. Right from the first thing you sell, you want people to associate your product with you, your business and your brand.
One of the first steps we recommend to sell better on Etsy and eBay is to create a business name that you can use for your listing.
“Products with brand image sell MUCH better and for a better price. We will talk a lot more about branding on the blog as well.”
Having a business name allows you to do many wonderful things for your business. You can put it on business stationery, make a logo for it, put it on your packaging, use it for your social media publicity on Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter and create business signs.
“Do not put off naming a business because you are starting small and do not have the need for the above mentioned things. There is no such things as a nameless business.”
Going Eponymous
The simplest approach that crafters take to naming their business is calling it with their own name. It is a very effective approach, as long as it works for your business and craft.
At the end of the day the name of the business has to represent what you do and sell. It should be easy on the young and attractive. Naming a business after oneself creates a strong association in the customer’s mind about the craft with the crafter. Which is a good thing.
Remember, your name probably does not say anything about the craft you make. However, with the time and increasing popularity, people will learn to associate your business name with what you do. With this method you can build an identity for yourself and your crafts at the same time. Many designers take this route.
Different crafters feel differently about putting their own name on the business side. Some love the idea of it where as others prefer to choose to be more inconspicuous or, go with a name that the field represents their craft better.
But hang on. We’re not done yet. There are many ways, methods and tactics you can use the choose and effective brand name for a business.
Choosing a creative business name or a humourless one works just as well.
Remember that all point of time like we are trying to create a lasting impression on the buyers mind and giving them a business name with a strong association and recall value.
The association does not have to be direct. For example Mr Brown can be the name of a bakery. If you hear the name for the first time you will probably not guess which business it belongs to. But when you find out, you will probably agree that it sounds right.
A good business name creates an image for your business and your crafts. A good business name looks good on letterheads, business signs, packaging although a business logo plays a large part in these matters as well. Many times the logo of the business can be the business name itself.
“By all means go with the original, catchy and new. But do not to get too carried away in picking up something original that you end up with something weird.” How to brainstorm a business name.
The first thing is to spend time with it. Think about it and keep taking down concept and notes. Jot down complete ideas. Then you can start looking for words for those ideas and concepts. Sit down with a dictionary and thesaurus and discover new words.
Coining a business name.
Coining a business name means creating a word that does not really exist in the dictionary. You come up with a word that sounds great, says something about your business and is most often and derivative of the unknown word. This could be the way to be the most original and creative. Example, “Microsoft”, one of the world’s largest company.
Register the business name.
We highly recommend this step.
As a sole proprietor you will not have to do much. Registering a business name will usually cost you between $50 and $100. The main agenda here is to ensure that your business name is unique and no one else already has it.
A conflict with another business could lead to confusion and complication in the future.
Ideally your business name should also be available as a domain name. Every business should have a website, albeit a simple one. And the domain name should match actual business name.
