10 steps to a business name and or tagline you’ll be proud off

You are going to spend a ton of time, effort, and money building up your horse business to become a success you don’t want to make it harder by saddling it with a bad name.

Your business needs a name and tag line that is imaginative and memorable.

Step 1. Gather your herd:

Work with a few friends and mastermind a long list of key words related to your equine business – nouns, verbs, adjectives – corral them all up. If you already have a marketing statement or unique selling statement keep it in front of you as you brainstorm. By the way, what makes you different from your competition? Are there any special words that mean best, master, excellence, top, king, etc…

You want a large herd of words to choose from, so keep the ideas growing until you and your pals slip from your chairs with empty minds.

Step 2. What are the Benefits?

Lasso more words by writing down the benefits that your product or service delivers to your clients. Or what they desire – their wishes. What results are they looking for – speed, ribbons, happiness, chest puffing events? Or what are they looking to get rid of or have less of – unruly horses, manure stains, the expense of stall shavings?

Step 3. Rustle up the stranglers

Now you are going to go to the books and search for more words to add. Open a thesaurus, and a synonym finder or go online. Check for words that relate to your business.

Helpful links:

www.thefreedictionary.com
dictionary.reference.com
Free – Thesaurus Synonyms and Word Suggestions
synonym.com
rhymezone.com

Now look over your milling list of words and see if any have a homonym – another word that sounds the same as the first word, but is spelled differently. Like mane and main.

Also do an Internet search to see what competing companies are using for their name and tagline. No stealing – don’t use anyone’s name or tagline. Nor do you want to one that sounds too close to your competitors’ either. Strive to be different and better.

Step 4. Common sayings?

In your now huge herd of keywords do you see any thing that brings to mine any mottoes, cliches, or common sayings – new or old? Now is not the time to judge – you want to try out all possibilities. Like, Horse sense, Horse feathers, Charley horse, Horse and Buggy, Look a gift horse in the mouth, etc…

Step 5. Customer Character

What character qualities do your clients have. Words like maybe – private, local, urban, wealthy, healthy, active, the old west, independent, family, home bodies, etc… Or what emotions do you want to evoke in your customers – joy, fun, bless?

Step 6. Get personal

Add your name if your the sole business owner – first is it easy to say or spell? How long is it?. OK, now does your name suggest any pun or homonym?

Step 7. Rhythm and Rhymes

See if you can combine word that start with the same letter or sound. Or end with the same sound. This can help make the name roll of the tongue. Like: Tiny Trotters, Stan’s Stable, Mane Matters, The Stallion Station, Sal’s Saddle -n- Paddle, Mesa Mules, Magic Minis. But watch out for tongue tieing problems like in Randy’s Ripple River Ranch.

Step 8. Try contrary ideas or contrasting word images

Maybe words that almost contradict each other: Flowing Rock Ranch. Opposites can be attractive in that they spark the mind.

Step 9. Pull out the post-its

Write all the words out on post-its and stick them on the wall. Now the fun begins! Move around the post-it papers and try all kinds of word combos. When you hit some that sound good write that word combination on a new post-it and paste it above the others.

Step 10. Your best name or tagline ideas should now be at the top of the pile – so take them for a test ride

• Is it distinctive? Don’t use over-used words like, Quality or top quality.
• Keep it short, easy to say, and easy to remember. Tell it to a six year old and see if they remember it ten minutes later. Now can they pronounceable it right? Don’t ask them to spell it, but can your friends spell it without stumbling?
• Is it a good fit for your business? Does it help people know more about your products or service?
• Does it make a pleasant sound when read out loud? Repeating sounds can add to the appeal. But you want to make sure your name is not confused with similar words that have meanings that you don’t want to be connected with.
• Can you be proud of and uphold your new company name or tag line? Don’t guarantee anything in words you cannot deliver.
• Check and see if you can buy the same name or part of it as a domain name for your website.
• Gather feedback – don’t be in a rush to commit yourself to your final name choice – conduct informal research. Talk to people could be your future customers. What are their thoughts on your name choice? Are they just luke warm about it, just don’t get it, hate it, or what? Take the survey through your website or do a professional survey online. Also take note to see if find yourself a bit uncomfortable or embarrassed whenever you say your chosen company name. You don’t want to end up with a name you cannot invest your heart into.

If your business name doesn’t make it perfectly clear what you do you might want to add a tagline. A tag line or company slogan should have attitude, personality, be unique, and issue a call to action. And many memorable tag lines connect on an emotional level.

Concise and catchy taglines:

Put a Tiger in Your Tank
Milk. It does a body good.
Reach out and touch someone
Snap, Crackle, Pop!
You deserve a break today.

Advertising slogans – Wikiquote This is a list of famous advertising slogans and taglines.

Use it!

After you have brainstormed and found the best business name and company tag line use it on all your business items from: website, business and post cards, brochures, email signatures, newsletters, ads, etc… And don’t forget your phone answering machine message.

Branding Tip: Don’t just put your logo, company name, and tagline on your home page of your website – post it on all your site’s pages! The more times your site visitors sees them the best and you never know when they will print out a web page.

Hey, did I miss any good ideas about designing your business name and tag line? Let me know about it in the comments. Thanks!

Here are some other articles you might want to check out…

Naming a horse business: What to put on the shingle http://ow.ly/3CUkt

Initials in Business and Brand Names By Susan Purcell Platinum Quality Author http://snipurl.com/vkdzr

What makes a Good Business Name http://snipurl.com/vke0x

8 Mistakes To Avoid When Naming Your Business
When choosing a name for your new company, keep these tips in mind to help you find one that will work now–and in the future. http://snipurl.com/vkdon

Six Mistakes to Avoid When Choosing a Business Name http://snipurl.com/vkdr7

7 Mistakes to Avoid When Naming a Business http://snipurl.com/vkdsm

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