A brand name does not merely exist to reflect the idea of a business but to help in promoting and selling the brand to its target audience. If you have to keep explaining your brand name to people, you need to start thinking of another name. Your target audience should be able to connect with your brand name in some ways – pronouncing it, appeal, or nature of business.
You can use your business name as your brand name, but it is not a must. Therefore, if you have already registered your company and it is not suitable as the brand name, the company name can be different from the brand name. That is better than the continuous struggle to explain your name.
Think of the company Nestle and the brand names Milo, Nido, Goldenmorn, Purelife, Kitkat, Maggi, etc.
Think of the company Food Concept Limited and the brand name Chicken Republic.
There is the company Tech Premier Media Limited and the brand name Techpoint.ng
Think of the company Sundry Foods Limited and the brand name Kilimanjaro.
Think of the company Guaranty Trust Bank and the brand name 737.
Think of the company Transsion Limited and the brands Tecno and Infinix.
Same with Unilever and others.
Can you think of other examples? Service-based brands can also apply the same concept. It is important to mention that some companies become brands in themselves. However, our usage of the term “brand name” refers to the same thing as “trade name”, which means the name a company uses to promote itself to the market.
If your brand name is different from your registered company name, you will have to spend some money to trademark the brand name so that it belongs to you. By the way, even your company name is not really yours until you trademark it. In other words, the person who trademarks your company name has the proprietary right to the name even though the name is registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission.
Your brand name is part of your marketing, eliminate unnecessary hurdles with your naming. If you are looking at building something sustainable, get the naming of your brand right, and work towards protecting the name by all means necessary and possible.