It has been a little while since I posted anything, so I figured it was time. I have 22 topics I want to share so far. When I first started the blog, I had a very specific order of posts I wanted to create. I have already blown through that idea and have posted off-topic as I see fit. I guess that is what I can do since I am the boss. =)
Anyway, some people have asked about the name "KBC Staffing". What does it mean? Why did you pick that name? etc. etc.
Well, I have seen people spend a lot of time on picking out the name and logo of their new company. I mean, a lot of time... time better spent just getting the business going. The name is just that... a name. I hate to see people procrastinate over the name. I believe some people think the name of the business might be more important than the business itself. To me, it is all a waste of time.
General Motors (GM), General Electric (GE), International Business Machines (IBM)
I don't think these companies spent a lot of time thinking up a name for the business. They were direct and to the point. Their names mean business. They are not witty or catchy, but simple and direct. KBC Staffing tells it like it is. I find people work and I find employees for your business.
I like it.
(Some of you may be wondering what does the K, B and C stand for. I'll let the people who know me figure it out on their own...)
What’s in a name?
ReplyDeleteTLA's are nice, they roll off the tongue - we can sort of remember them... challenge is not confusing them with other TLAs out there – so my guess at KBC would probably not include these... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KBC I actually think it may have something to do with Bernie and a couple close relationships he might have… just a guess.
But, I really think there should be something to a name… So – KBC might mean something to you – but does it relate to your audience?
I’d even challenge you to think about the word “staffing”. I like your sentiment about finding people work and finding companies people… trying to do that with quality and a value added approach… folks like eHarmony took it up a notch when they named their dating company… what kind of feeling do you want folks to have when they think about your brand? Maybe that could go into your name…
The other thing I think about how easy is it to remember. I like short words that can be pronounced. I’d also like the URL to be available. I am now an employee of an IT Services company called RBA Consulting. RBA.COM actually belongs to another IT consulting company – unfortunate. Our URL is rbaconsulting.com – still OK, but not quite as good.
A few years back a friend of mine and started a little LLC to sell some game pieces to table-top, role-play gamers. At the risk of sounding totally geeky, these folks include dungeons and dragons players. These folks roll dice as part of their games – in fact the whole sub-category is sometimes called d20 games because players roll 20-sided dice as an integral part of the game mechanics. We tried to find a short, memorable name that was not already taken – it was difficult even in this sort of narrow niche. Eventually I started looking up Latin words and came across “Alea”.
alea -ae f. [a game of dice , game of hazard]; hence [chance, risk, uncertainty].
This sounded perfect – and as out product was really a “tool” for gamers of this type, we called the company Alea Tools. www.aleatools.com
Has a nice ring to it and when we tell people about the name it sticks in their heads…
So my vote on names is – try to keep it short and memorable to your audience. Go for an easy to remember url… have a little fun with it… my most recent name search actually incorporated an Old Norse dictionary… lots of good words in that baby…
cja
Bernie,
ReplyDeleteYou might check out Zingerman's. It began as a super awesome deli that has branched out to, I think, 7 separate related business here in AA. Anyway - they were very intentional about the look of their marketing tools. They even give workshops on it. And they have an awesome customer service book.