Naming
You have probably already thought up a clever name for your
baby food business. It is one of the most gratifying parts
of the startup phase. You probably woke up in the middle
of the night with some fabulous name or had some sort of
naming epiphany while taking a shower.
But if you haven't come up with a name yet let me help you
come up with a strategy for creating the right name for
your business.
Branding Yourself.
A quick and easy way to name your company is to give it
your own name. Like: "Mischelle's Baby Food Catering" or
"Mischelle's Baby Food Service". It is quick, it is easy,
and if you add your last name it is unlikely that someone
else has already trade marked the name. "Chef Mischelle
Davis' Baby Food Bistro".
The Thesaurus Strategy.
A good thesaurus is your best friend when trying to find
the right name. If you don't have one on your bookshelf
you can go to an online thesaurus.
Spend time looking up synonyms for words that relate to
what you do. Mix and match the words coming up with lots
of combinations that seem to fit your personality and the
mission of your baby food business. During my 15 year
career in high tech I helped name several companies and
lots of products. Whether we came up with a name or selves
or hired a fancy, high-priced branding or advertising
company to help us we ALWAYS broke out the thesaurus.
You'll need several potential names as some enterprising
mompreneur may have already trade marked one of the names.
Try playing around with synonyms to words like: baby,
food, plate, cup, fresh, new, dinner, meal, nutritious,
good, healthy, little, sweet, farm, chef, bliss, tummy,
spring, birth, mother, etc.
The Contest Method.
If you are not the creative type and are more concerned
about the operational pieces of getting a baby food company
up and running, you can always turn the naming of your
company into a marketing event.
You may already be a member of an online parenting group.
Most cities have a Google or Yahoo! news group dedicated to
local parenting issues. In big cities like Seattle every
neighborhood has one. Tell the parents in your online
community that you are going to be launching a baby food
service and offer FREE baby food to the person who comes up
with your company name.
This is a great way to create some buzz for your company
and get your potential customers involved. During the
later chapters of this book you will learn just how
important customer involvement is.
Taglines
It's difficult starting a new business and creating an
effective business name and brand. Businesses often have
names that don't particularly resemble their products and
services - a tagline can help clarify.
Taglines are typically descriptive phrases that accompany a
business name. E.g. Sprouts ' "Catering to baby's
nutritional needs". Taglines help explain what your
business does or create a feeling associated with it. They
should be simple and memorable.
There are generally two types of taglines. Descriptive:
they explain what your business does. Emotional: They
create a tone or feeling about your business.
When creating a tagline follow these simple rules.
- Keep It Simple - short and simple, easy to remember
- Affirmative - people like positive statements - negatives
are a turn-off
- Appealing - the tagline should spark interest
- Enduring - your tagline might around for years, so don't
add text that could date it
Baby food catering, delivery, etc. is a new idea. Help
potential customers quickly identify what you do by
choosing a good tagline.
Logo Creation
Since any business that is associated with babies is
inherently emotional and cute you can feel free to break
all of the corporate rules about logo creation. Have fun!
Get creative. In the case of a baby food business it can
actually be positive. But remember when choosing a name,
creating a tagline, and developing a logo this is a FOOD
BUSINESS. Food that people need to feel good about giving
their babies. You need to establish that you are
trustworthy—even before they try the food. So don't
go crazy.
I have worked for some software companies that would easily
spend $250,000 creating a logo. Most of us don't have that
kind of money to spend when starting a new business. But
luckily there are great new ways to get "killer creative"
at affordable prices.
If you don't have a friend who is a graphic designer
consider looking for one of the online logo creation
services. Some do surprisingly good work.
During the creation of Sprouts we used DesignOutpost You
post your logo requirements and desired price and artists
compete to win your business. You can see some of the logo
designs that we did not choose in the appendix.
----------------------------------------------------
Mischelle (Schelly) Weedman-Davis left her 15-year
high-tech career to become a stay-at-home mom but later
became the founder of Sprouts Baby Food, Inc. She now uses
her talents to support her husband's Seattle law firm, the
Davis Law Group so she can spend more time with her family.
http://www.InjuryTrialLawyer.com . But she remains
committed to infant nutrition and helping others that want
to start their own baby food business.