This document provides tips for entrepreneurs on designing an ideal corporate name. It recommends that the ideal name be relevant, positive, memorable, distinctive, different, powerful and witty. It outlines a process for corporate naming that involves analyzing competitors, developing a naming strategy and positioning, brainstorming names, filtering through key criteria, and selecting and implementing the name. It provides some basic rules such as avoiding generic, descriptive or ordinary names, focusing on names that are easy to remember and self-explanatory, and ensuring domain name availability and lack of prior use on social media.

1. Corporate Naming tips
for Entrepreneurs
Barcelona, April 2012
IGNOVA

2. How to design the ideal name for your business
Hey wait, what is an ideal name?
Good question. The ideal name is…
 Relevant
 Positive
 Memorable
 Distinctive
 Different
 Powerful
 Witty
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3. How to design the ideal name for your business
The process
Market Naming Creativity Implementation
Strategy
Create
Analyze your Identify Filtration complementary
Name
competitors positioning through key Selection verbal
brainstorming
names criteria elements
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4. Some rules
Before getting into it
Evaluate the real importance of your company’s
name
Think of where your company wants to be in the
long term
Remember that there is no perfect corporate
name, and that no name will be capable to
match every filtration criteria.
You will have to Be flexible…
Let’s go!
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5. Some rules
The Basics
First: Do not…
 Be too generic
 Be too descriptive
 Try to be too creative
 Tie your business’ name to a location
 Be ordinary or offensive
 Use numbers
 Use acronyms
 Create spaceless names
 Focus too much on the etymological origin
 Make references about technology (overused)
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6. Some rules
Communication-wise
Try to design an easy-to-remember name (for
your target customers) that…
 Facilitates association to your core business
 Is short
 Is creative
 Is unique
 Is self-explanatory
 Looks good
 Is original
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7. Some rules
Internet-wise
Make sure…
 The domain you need is available
 That Google does not have too much
references on the name you pretend to use
 Nobody else is using it in Social Networks
such as Twitter or Facebook
 You are not using a Nickname: people in
Social Networks tend to dislike them
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