What's in a Name?

Finding a catchy name for your product or business can make the difference between success or failure, especially if you have limited resources to promote it in the early stages.

So how should you choose a name?

For some people, ideas come easily, but other people need to be more systematic about it. Of course, you can ask around and even seek professional help, but one system is to look carefully at the benefits your product or business brings and reduce that to as few words as possible, even if that means you're reduced to naming features.

As an example: yesterday I heard someone speaking on the radio. The subject is not relevant (and I had to think hard to remember it was the credit crunch). What stuck with me, after hearing it just once, was the name of his company, 'Content and Code'. If that doesn't tell you he's in the website business, I don't know what would.

'Google', on the other hand, tells you nothing, but we all know what Google does, or we think we do. Certainly, we know their public face.

Here's another: 'Betfair'. You know straight away that Betfair is probably in the betting/gaming business. You might also gather that they like to think of themselves as fair, or honest. But fair has several meanings besides 'honest'. A fair might be a fun fair, a market, a carnival, a trade show or a host of places where trading might be done.

And that's what Betfair is: a place where you don't so much place bets, as with a bookie, but where you trade them with fellow gamblers. Fair and square, as it were.

Find out more about Betfair and how it works, here.

Roy