Major SaaS companies like Apple, Alibaba, and Google have encountered various obstacles, including bankruptcy and fallout with powerful countries, as well as the global financial crisis, failed IPOs, and numerous manufacturing disasters.
Despite this, these SaaS companies have thrived — not without leveraging their unique brand identity. And when it comes to building a strong one, nothing beats selecting the perfect company name.
Your brand name is crucial to the success of your SaaS company because, like SurveyMonkey, Shopify, and Eventbrite, it determines how your consumers engage with and value your brand.
If you want to come up with a memorable name that'll attract customers, keep reading because we'll show you how to pick the right name for your business.
5 steps to finding the perfect brand name for your SaaS company
Develop a clear vision for your SaaS company
If you want to develop a business that delivers exceptional service, you must have a deep grasp of your business and its services.
The easiest way to accomplish that is to compile all of your company's core values and select which ones best reflect your brand.
Having a great understanding of your brand would help you think of a name that embodies your brand's vision. Brand names like Groupon, Lyft, DropBox, and Canva are a perfect reflection of their services.
Remember, great brand names originate from great ideas because it's a lot simpler to name your company after a strong brand concept than after a poor one.
Choose the right tone for your business
Understand that if a brand's name fails to connect with its target audience emotionally, it loses its power. And this frequently occurs when the name's tone doesn't resonate with the target audience.
The tone of your company's name has a direct influence on how people perceive it, so make sure you know who your customers are, what they like to do, what issues they're experiencing, what your company offers, and why customers should be interested in using your SaaS company.
Brands like MailChimp, Intercom, and Slack stand out from their competitors because they intentionally built a unique, fun, and exciting tone while communicating with their customers.
Understand your brand’s secondary elements
Although selecting the right tone is crucial, knowing your secondary branding elements (including designing a logo with a logo maker) will go a long way toward helping you create a cohesive brand identity.
That's because they're crucial in helping you come up with a brand name. Think of the secondary aspects as the cornerstones that support your brand's personality.
So grab a pen and paper and scribble down your thoughts about your company's:
- Big ideas: What are the core concepts that drive your business?
- Values: What are the values that your brand is built on?
- Benefits: What distinct advantages does your SaaS company provide its customers?
- Emotions: What strong feeling do you want people to feel when they use your services?
- Value proposition: Why should consumers care about your brand?
Identifying these secondary elements will assist you in developing a viable and effective brand personality that'll help you achieve your brand's goals.
Brainstorm your brand name
It's time to let your creative juices flow and come up with names that correspond with your company's goals and naming criteria.
Although coming up with a great brand name might be difficult, assembling a team, discussing your SaaS company, its secondary elements, tone, and project statement can make it easier.
Encourage your team to use dictionaries and thesauruses to come up with the most interesting, unique, and catchy names they can. The goal is to build a list of names that are relevant to the needs of your company and audience.
Let your team search for short, unique, and interesting words, similar to companies like Slack, Moz, FreshBooks, and Cisco. Customers enjoy wordplay, so coming up with clever words is a winning tactic for your business.But if you don't have a team and coming up with a catchy name seems impossible, then use a strong business name generator.
Test your list for the best brand name
Most founders are often overwhelmed when it comes to selecting a unique name from the list of possible names they've generated from brainstorming.
With so much information available, we understand that deciding whether the names on your list are brilliant gems or repulsive names is getting increasingly challenging.
As a result, make sure your company's name is:
- Unique
- Has a .com domain and social media handles (here's how Userlist got theirs)
- Loved by your audience
Get professional help
We've seen business owners spend months searching for the perfect brand name, completely oblivious to the shocking reality that the business world is always changing, and rival companies are constantly improving their game.
So if you're stuck at any stage in the naming process, don't lose time: contact a professional brand naming agency for assistance.
These agencies have a lot of experience coming up with distinctive and engaging brand names for large companies that connect with their target audiences, and they'd be glad to help you discover the right name for your SaaS company.
