What’s Your Name?

I was recently looking at a membership list and noticed many companies with 3-5 members in an organization called their company by different names. Some of these were slight such as a company with or without the “LLC” or “Inc”, but others were drastic such as ABC, Anybody Building Construction, or A.B. Construction (obviously, I made up that name to protect the innocent). So I ask you, what your name?

One of the core tenants of brand marketing is consistency. Without consistency in your look, verbiage, and personality, your company looks like numerous small companies. Don’t we all have enough competitors already? So why are people creating new ones by having numerous company names? It is confusing to your team, your clients, and your prospects. If you can’t get your name right, how can someone trust you with a multi-million dollar construction project?

From the top to the bottom, everyone on your team needs to know what your company name is and what you do (services & products wise). Its okay to use an abbreviation internally, but don’t use it outside the company unless that is your name. Although I hate acronym company names (I call them “3-Lettered Monsters”), if that is the name your company is known by, then you need to stick to it or educate people otherwise. Internally, my team uses BRC for Brand Constructors, but that doesn’t leave our office. Why? Because we’re the Brand Constructors, not BRC. Numerous other companies are BRC and that name means nothing to anyone. The Brand Constructors says something and represents our team because we construct brands.