Mrs C came home the other day with ANOTHER yes ANOTHER Cat! We already have two cats, Cleopatra and Fallon, a small dog, Fii Fii and a Snake named Amber and then all of a sudden my better half walks in with a “stray” kitten she must think that I was born yesterday, as this cat could barely open its eyes it was that young, let alone be old enough to have “stray” status. Now Mrs C is a lot cleverer than she lets on and timed the arrival of the “rescue cat” just as the kids had arrived home from School, of course they fell in love with the moggy and after a vote she soon became the latest addition to the Corbally household, that was the easy bit, we already have most of the stuff for a cat as we already have a couple, so I picked up a cat bowl off the market and we were sorted, then came the hard bit . . . THE NAME! Now you would think that this would be the easy bit, but of course, where on earth do you start? The kids want their say, it has to be cute, mean something memorable and most importantly for me, not too embarrassing to call in public, as let’s face it, I will be the only one who ever goes out looking for the damn thing when it goes for a night on the tiles!
So, after 2 weeks of “here kitty kitty” we finally agreed on the name of “Jango” a beautiful name for a beautiful cat and named after a late cat of my girlfriends, everyone was happy and most importantly the cat had a name and the start of its own true identity and character, names are a funny thing and to me crucial to people’s perception of us and their first impression, I always remember the estate I grew up on there was a dog named “killer” no prizes for guessing this dog wasn’t a friendly little pug! We take the names of our pets or “babies” very seriously and put a lot of effort into them, so why is it that some people don’t seem to put in the same emotion and effort when it comes to our businesses which are also our “babies” aren’t they? In the news recently was the massive story of the English billionaire who paid £650,000 for the domain name gold.co.uk some people think the guy is crazy but of course he is in the gold game and wants to have the best name in the business for those all-important search engine rankings at the same time telling people exactly what it is he does, I personally think that he has made a great investment, will reap the rewards from day one and it will be a great long term investment.
Also in the news recently was a protest against “Fracking” love it or hate it, you would of joined the protest if you had lived nearby, as the company planning to drill had called itself “Quadrilla”. It basically sounded like Godzilla’s mechanical cousin was coming to dig up your back garden! Why on earth would a company searching for renewable energy call itself this? Surely something like “sustainable energy solutions” would sound less alarming to the communities they are planning to upset? As traders I recently did some research on this and was shocked to find some terrible names that confused what the businesses actually did along with some people who were trading as “just under my own name mate”? We all start off the same in business, with nothing, nothing that is apart from a dream of growing our business into a great brand that people can trust, so, if you haven’t already then what are you waiting for? Give your business a great name that people can trust, you can build a brand around and one that tells people what you actually do! PS back in 1999 I called my business “Adam Corbally Fruit and Veg wholesalers” why? Because using my name “Adam” put me first in the directory listings and the Fruit and Veg helped people know exactly what I did, of course times have changes and now people search for services on line, before thinking of a name it would also be wise to get in touch with your local “Search engine optimisation” guy (SEO) and ask them for some advice on how to get up the google rankings etc. Need inspiration? Tweet me or drop me a line and I will be happy to throw in some suggestions! Have a great day trading, I’m off to walk “Fii Fii” I didn’t choose that one!