In this sixth part of the series of our ‘Navigating the world of entrepreneurship – Are you ready to start a business?’, we look at naming and branding your business.

This step looks at the importance of naming and branding your new business and how that helps you stand out from your competitors.

Before you get started with naming or branding your business you need to ask yourself this one important question – What is in a name and why is your business name so important?

Just like human beings businesses need an identity. How or what you decide to name yours may determine how you position yourself or your business to the public. Hence you must ensure that it’s appropriate and makes it stand out from your competition. You must also ensure that it can easily be remembered and recognised! It’s also important that the name of your business is easily associated with what it does or what you offer customers.

As a business owner you are free to come up with any name that you want as long as it’s within reason and it’s legally right. Therefore you need to do the following:

• Research the name properly and that it’s free or still available to use
• Do a thorough check before you name your business
• Choose a name that gives a clue or an idea of what your business does
• Consider registering it after you come up with the name of your business.

Branding your business

Every business needs a Brand! Branding is one of the crucial ingredient of any business – be it a micro business, start-up, SME, corporate or an organisation. This is why it is important to have an effective brand strategy that provides a competitive edge and makes you stand out from your competitor and other businesses. Not only does branding separates you from the competitors, it also helps your prospective customers about know your business name, story, products and services that you provides.

So what is Branding?

Branding is one way of identifying your business i.e. how your customers recognise and experience your product or service. Branding includes business logo, website, business stationery as well as your marketing materials. Your business logo should reflect your branding and your slogan – the message you are trying to put across to your customers.

The word “brand” refers to the mark or label related to your products or services for people to identify them. It also serves as your business identity or to prove ownership.

We hope you found the above information enjoyable but most of all helpful!

If you’ve missed any of the series of our ’Navigating the world of entrepreneurship – How ready are you to start a business?’, discover them here.