When starting a real estate business, most entrepreneurs think about countless details and leave out one of the most important aspects: the choice of the company name or brand. The sad fact is that sometimes having the right name can be the difference between leading a business to success or failure.

Names have great powers. Words are very important, even in business. If you choose your brand name well, you will have a good brand image. Not sure how to choose one? Not to worry! In today’s article, we introduce you to some factors to consider when choosing a name for your real estate agency.

The Name Should Sound Good Out Loud

A good option is to use compound names that start with the same letter (for example, Coca-Cola). Be sure to say it out loud several times. Avoid any type of speech vices such as cacophony (repetition of sounds), confusion or pronunciation difficulties. Remember that if you are successful, your brand will be mentioned on the radio, television or in conversations between people.

Use a Name That Makes Sense

Make sure that when people say your business name, they immediately know what the company is about and what direct benefits it offers to consumers. Your brand should not be too generic or include too many sectors or industries. You don’t want to be known as the “jack-of-all-trades but master of none” company.

Avoid the 2.0 Syndrome

On the internet and social media, it’s common for names to skip letters or words as if they were dyslexic (like on Flickr). This does not work in real life. People like to know how words are pronounced without having to do any research first. You need to make it easy for your potential consumers to find you on any medium and recommend you among their acquaintances.

Don’t Use Initials

While there are brands like IBM, or HSBC that have successfully positioned their names based on acronyms, these are actually unattractive and hard to remember. As long as you’re starting out with a small business and don’t have an international company, only trust names that are interesting to your audience.

Clarify Again

Don’t use generic names that don’t mean anything to first-time potential customers. In your name, you must allude to something related to your company, the real estate industry or the service if offers.

Make Sure You Can Register It

If you are planning to create a thriving brand in the long-run, you need to check if it does not already exist in the market or if it is very similar to one of your competitors or well-known companies.

Know What You Want to Communicate

You need to know the “what” first, then the “how” will come. What exactly do you want to tell your customers with your name? The right name will always communicate who you are and what your company does with less effort.

Start With a Brainstorm

Brainstorming is a group technique to generate a list of possible names. Here are some steps to follow for example:

• Gather all project participants and anyone who offers to help: partners, couple, family, etc. Remember that two heads are better than one and three heads are better than two.
• Create a comfortable environment where people feel relaxed and at ease to share their thoughts and ideas.
• Prepare some sheets of paper and pencils or a chalkboard to write on so not to forget suggestions.
• When you think there’s a lack of imagination, open a dictionary to a random page and choose a word. Try to integrate it with the names you’ve generated so far. You will be surprised at how new ideas will start to flow.
• Keep a thesaurus handy or use the one included in your computer’s word processor.

Make a Choice

Once you’ve listed all the possible names, it’s time to choose the most appropriate one for the type of real estate company you want to build. To do this, consider the list of questions below:

• Which one is the easiest to pronounce?
• Which one is the shortest?
• Which one doesn’t require additional explanation to understand what it offers?
• Which one is the easiest to remember?
• Which one is different from the competition?
• Which one reveals your competitive advantage?

There you go! If you properly follow all the tips above, you should be able to find the perfect name for your company. Until then, tell us how you are finding the process of opening your new real estate business? Let us know in the comments below.