Your company name and tagline form the foundation of your brand identity.

Is your brand on solid ground?

Your business name and tagline determine how your prospects perceive you. Both must work together to help a prospect decide if your company is worth learning more about. For example, your prospects might wonder…

1. What type of company is this?
2. Is it likely that they offer something I need or want?
3. Is this a company I can trust?
4. Can I picture myself doing business with this company?

What’s in an effective name and tagline?

An effective name and tagline balance one another. For example, your name might be very straight forward and descriptive, such Smith, Jones, Johnson Law Firm. Great. We know you’re a law firm with three partners. But what makes you different from any other law firm? A company like this needs a tagline to define what makes it unique. On the other hand, let’s say your company name is so abstract that it provides no clue as to what you do. For example, if your name is Quest Solutions you will likely need a tagline to describe the type of solutions you offer.

Nowhere is naming and tagline development more important than on the web. When a prospect comes to your website you have 7 seconds to impress. Within the first .5 seconds you’ve got to let them know they’ve come to the right place. If a visitor is looking for a high end architectural firm, they have to immediately know they’ve come to the right place. An effective name and tagline can provide that immediate connection. Furthermore, when naming an online business you’ve got to consider your URL. If your company name or tagline describes what you do and you can use one or the other as your URL, you can help your chances of being found online. (Lots of details here, but trust us on this one.)

So, how do we help you select the right business name and tagline?

Our naming process starts with a discovery of your business, your customers, and your unique value proposition. We consider how your customers find you and the types of words or phrases they may use to describe what you do. We also strive to work these into a name and URL that will help customers find you more easily.

Once we have a clear vision of your business, we begin our brainstorming process. This process happens while driving in our cars, locking ourselves in the ImageWorks conference room, exercising at the gym, you name it, we’re naming you.

We’ll throw all of our name ideas into a list and narrow down to 10-20 of our favorites. That’s what you get. Together, we’ll refine and revise until we have a name you’re 100% happy with.

Once a name is established (maybe yours already is) we move onto taglines. More than likely, we already have some taglines in mind since much of the brainstorming we’ve done in naming your business has been done with an eye toward this next step. If you already have a name, no worries! We’ll create a great tagline to go with it.

The same general process occurs with taglines. Discovery, brainstorming, presentation, refinement, and approval.

Let’s build your brand foundation with a great name and tagline. Get started here!