I wasn’t always an ademoiselle. I used to be a travelling shpee and then a Medieval Mel – names of blogs from my writer’s past.  Finding a blog name, and hence my business name, was always a challenge because it was something I couldn’t quite commit to.  Buying a domain and branding myself under one guise was daunting – like choosing wallpaper.  The name had to be good and meaningful to me.

I don’t want to toot my own horn, but I love my blog name.  It achieved everything I was looking to achieve: girliness, industry lingo, a pun, and something original.  When choosing the name for your brand or business, it’s good to have your objectives laid out in front of you. Do you want to be abstract like Amazon or funky like Google?  Do you want a symbol, like Nike, or a legacy, like Bell.  Next, you have to determine your audience.  Who are you trying to reach and who do you want to impress?  How do you catch their attention?  Then it’s on to your marketing.  How can you market your new business to make its name a household thing?

I am quite infantile when it comes to achieving these steps, because it’s only me running ademoiselle and my marketing budget is 0$.  But, coming up with something you can believe in and something that can stand for what you believe in are crucial elements to building your brand.  Here’s a few practical tips for how to start:

1. Determine your industry.  Do a brain dump of any/all imagery or words that come to mind in that industry
2. Get down to literals.  Figure out what makes you unique and repeat the exercise in tip #1 but only for yourself, listing all the aspects of your business and brand that you want to convey. Then try to visualize how it will look (i.e. if you’re straight edged you might want an arrow image, if you want to be cool consider an ice cube image)
3. Hint: Don’t think about colours or fonts yet – those come after
4. Use word tools like more words, wordlab, rhymezone, or take a risk with the random name generator
5. Don’t forget to search for names you like to see if they’re already taken – don’t worry if a small business in a completely different industry uses your name; you’re not a gas station in Iowa!

Afterwards, narrow down your choices and bounce them off friends, partners, and even strangers on Twitter or on sites like Reddit.  A new app called Jelly allows you to crowdsource ideas and questions with strangers.  Voilà! You are either now well on your way to picking a name or you have one in mind already.  Leave your comments below, what name are you close to choosing/did you choose for your blog or business?  Or tweet to @MelanieReiff.