What's in a Name? This line from William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet highlights the irrelevance of names compared to the intrinsic qualities of people or things. But in a digital world influenced by search engines and keywords, names have assumed greater relevance than ever before in business history, even as the intrinsic value still matters. How you name your business, especially a digital business, plays a critical role in how users or customers discover your business.
You need to complement the traditional naming process with digital naming conventions to ensure that your business gets discovered by your target customers easily. The conventional means of simple, memorable names that reflect the nature of your business and conform to trademark rules are still valid. However, you need to follow some additional steps, specifically if your business is around mobile app development.
Some of these steps include:
Keywords analysis
First, identify your app business category and research to identify the top-ranking keywords associated with the category within the app marketplace. You can use app store optimization tools such as AppTweak or The Tool.
You can leverage the keyword list as the starting or reference point for startup name selection. The keyword is helpful in startup name selection by identifying words that relate to or resemble the most relevant keywords, which will make future app store optimization easy.
Prepare a list of names.
Prepare a list of short names which are easy to spell and remember. The names should be short as the Apple App Store limits the number of characters in the title and subtitle of your app to 30 while the limit set by the Play Store is 50. You should generate a startup name that is one word or a maximum of two words, with the total number of characters not exceeding 30. You can also use a name generator to get ideas for the name of your startup.
You should check the availability of names in the App Store before adding them to your list. If you intend to purchase a domain name to compliment your apps, then check its availability too.
Analyze the functionality of your mobile app and how it will evolve in the future. You should avoid names that may limit the scalability of your app.
Survey to assess the effectiveness of name
You can conduct an online survey with your target audience to check the effectiveness of your shortlisted names. Your survey should get responses on how easy it is for your target audience to remember and recall the name and how they perceive the name in the context of the Business category. Use your friends and relatives as a sounding board to gauge the effectiveness of your app's prospective names.
Names assessment
You should use survey responses and other stated criteria to rank the names to prepare a shortlist of three names. At this stage, check if the three shortlisted names do not infringe on any trademark or copyright.
Finalize and Register Name
Select one name from the final three lists and file a trademark application. Next, you should book a domain name with an ICANN-accredited provider.
You can reserve the unique name with the App Store by enrolling in their Apple Developer Program with an annual fee of US $99 and the US $299 for individual and enterprise categories. Unlike App Store, the Play Store doesn't require a unique name.
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