How did you choose your business name?
 

I apologize if this has been asked numerous times... The search feature and I are not really getting along at the moment.

I was just wondering if some of you could tell me what you've named your wedding/event videography business and why. (Perhaps this belongs in the "Taking Care of Business" forum but I'm asking here because this is the type of business I hope to launch.) I am trying to come up with something and it's like because I'm actually thinking about it, I'm getting nowhere. If I weren't focusing on it, it would prolly just come to me.

The name just feels so important to me. It has to be good. Any thoughts/ideas/insight?

Well lets see, 35 years ago as a still photog I used my name with the title 'photography' after it. when I switched over to video 23 years ago, I figured why change? So I've always used my name but now it says 'video services' after it. I like simple and since I do other things besides weddings it keeps it all in the same name. I didn't want a 'wedding name' when I'm doing a 2 day seminar or training video for a corporation/company.

Don

like Don, i do more than just weddings, so for me, the name needed to convey an artistic element within a technical profession, which deals with the elementals of what i do.

Names are difficult..,

What Peter said,

We get asked what our name really means.

My response is that we take a drop of your desire and design dreams. It's a focus on our strength which is our creativity and unique and personal approach to providing services for our clients.

We are about dreams...

I'm actually in the process of a name change. Currently I'm using my name but it's too many syllables and difficult to spell for some. I'm going for a single syllable, easy to pronounce, easy to remember and someone poignant to the genre (even if it's simply on a metaphorical level) name.

Yes...it's that difficult. I've been brainstorming for over a year.

You could do GE Video, and spin it at GE, we bring good things to life. But you might get sued by that big electronic company.

By the way Glen, let me know if you're ever this way.

Well, I'm part of a group of people that goes by the name Paradox Dimensions.

We mostly do musicvideos and documentaries of all kinds.

We came up with the name when we were around 13 years old, We thought it sounded cool =) Not the best of reasons I know but we're too used to the name now to change it hehe.

My wife and I combined our 1st names and came up with Shark Video Productions, Sharon & Mark. It's catchy and easy to remember, Plus clients ask us all the time how we came up with it and when we tell them they always like the story and remember us. We listed a bunch of ideas before we came up with this. It took us some time but it has worked well for us so far.
My advice is to find something that's easy to remember and sticks with the clients.

That's close to mine, My name is Sharp Video Productions, I thought it was simple and also implies quality.

Yeah, I'm in the same boat Glen. I'm splitting up my partnership and I've got to find a new name. My current company name is too long. People can't remember it (Silent Mountain Studios). I like the name but I'm going for something shorter and easier to remember. And you're too right about how difficult it is. I've only been at it for a couple of weeks, but it sure is hard.

Your biz name is important. It took me seemingly forever to come up with something. In my case it was Cutlass Film & Video Productions. I specifically didn't want to be connected with video first. (It's an aversion to wedding videos thing. I had a couple of bad experiences years ago... a couple of more years of counselling and I should be OK).

The name comes from the street name of a house we own on a small island (all the streets names are pirate themed). It's a tribute to the house because I mortgaged it to get back into the biz.

If the name doesn't scare brides off, then my pirate flag/film strip logo should do the trick.

http://clients.webacom.com/cuttlass_...iness_card.pdf

What's in a nae
 

I operated just using my name because it is the easiest legal way to do business. Then I decided that no one cared abotu my name so I needed to find something else. I came up with Idaho Digital Productions because it can include still photography (my partner) and many types of video besides just weddings, which I hope to grow into as well.

jason

I was going through Greek goddesses...
 

I really liked the name Nyx (which is the Goddess of the Night) but of course, "nix" means "no" and I didn't want attached to my business. I was toying with Castaic (a fountain goddess) because I liked the whole Jungian water thing. And then my husband popped out with "lightsong films". He said he was trying to think of something I would like.

We just got our business license today. it's nice.

I think I'm going to have my own division which will be Lightsong Weddings and I'm going to have different logos for.

I'd encourage you to spend some time with a thesaurus. A friend of mine who is quite successful and owns several businesses has named almost all of his with the help of the thesaurus.

Mine's "MSProductions" I just used my initial "M" & "S" and added "productions" onto it...it had a nice ring to it so I kept it.

I used my name with Video Productions, so its MVP..which has a nice connotation, unfortunately some other guys have mvp.com when I went to get a domain... I don't think they have the $$ to sue though..LOL if they still have it, but I have moved more to focusing on my voice over services and produce select projects for myself. the state pays me to do video M thru F.

i would sear anyone against trying for an affiliated name.. biased opinion and website confusion... too much..

try for something simple, basic and yet.. can also stand out..

I created my business name with no actual sub title.. being digital video or whatever..

When i start offering photographic services, i will change the sub title, but the main name wont change. Noone has used the word "Studio" here in aus (not many to make an impact on my own presence anyway) so it works really wel as the word conveys a touch of class, intimacy as well as technology...
Also with the font im using, and the initial after the Studio are asthetically pleasing to look at.
Its easy to remember

Peter, what's your url?

My approach to finding a new name for myself:

I wanted to offer differing video packages and not let my business name focus in on just one aspect of what I want to offer.

I started with pen and paper. For about two weeks I simply placed keywords on paper, jumbled, sorted, weeded out, and ultimately came up with my new name.

Then it was off designing my name into a logo, this took another 3 weeks.

Did some Qa with other folks for readability purposes to make sure my logo design presented the name without having to guess on what it was saying or meant.

You can see my name and logo by going to my temporary site:
http//www.MotionOne.tv

I don't think it's a great idea to incorporate your name in the business name for two reasons. If you hire staff and send them out on a job the client soon drops to it he hasn't the top guy on the job. Secondly it's harder to sell a business with your personal name attached to it. A catchy generic sort of name that captures what you do IMO is better.

So much of this is tied into

1. market you're in (ie you don't want fairy light productions is small town west texas)

2. branding goals

3. desired clientele

4. image you want to convey on seing your bus name (personal, epic, playful, etc)

5. direction you see bus going (will you hire staff or will it remain a husband wife team)

and much more. Pm or email me and I can go through a bunch of pre thought branding ideas to get a name going that's appropriate to your goals and vision.

Paul

My $.02...
 

being relativey new to the business, I'm concentrating on 1 field (legal) while working occassionally with/for a local indie to get hands-on experience with production. To cover my situation, I chose Ad Hoc Video Services...Ad hoc in Latin = "for this special purpose." The name will get me listed early in the phone book, and may get me noticed by those in the legal field.

For non-legal work, I plan to use a 2nd name. Wanted to use "myopic productions", but when I checked, that's already used by someone in Calif. Plan to use a variation of that for non-legal work (Hopefully, I'll get some and be able to use it).