Make Your Business Name Memorable (feat. Brad Flowers)

<p>POST WRITTEN BY</p><p>Brad Flowers</p><p>Founding partner at <a href="http://bullhorncreative.com/"><strong>Bullhorn</strong></a>, overseeing all the good work.</p><p>Let’s face it: Even if your company has a bad name, the easiest thing to do is nothing. Simply do not rename the company.</p><p>In fact, there is a track record of companies with bad names doing very well. Consider Microsoft. They have had success despite a name that could be interpreted to mean small and weak. (Well, "soft" doesn’t exactly mean weak, but it certainly doesn’t say international corporate giant either.)</p><p>If you are going through the trouble to start a company or launch a product, you probably aren’t the sort to just pick something out of a hat. And while a bad name can be overcome, a good name is an asset. There are plenty of high-profile and costly renames to suggest their value. Esso to Exxon. Datsun to Nissan and back (in some places). Andersen to Accenture. Philip Morris to Altria. All done for different reasons and to varying degrees of success.</p><p>Here are five and a half considerations when questioning whether to rename your company.</p><p><strong>Are you limiting business opportunities?<br></strong><br></p><p>In some industries, it makes sense to name the company after yourself. You are in a high-trust business and your clients trust you, so you make the closest connection you can. That rationale has its limits. As a wealth management company, you can grow by adding new clients or you can grow by hiring managers who have their own books of business.</p><p>Boardman Financial wanted to grow by attracting great partners. In order to do that, the company needed a more aspirational name that reflected the whole team and not just one person. The core of the team's culture is sitting with people and helping them navigate the ups and downs of their life. We used this navigation image to arrive at the name Ballast, meaning the counterbalance that provides stability in a long voyage.<br><strong><br>Are you limiting r