Brand or Generic

[namealot]

Just wondered If price was not an issue and name was available would you call your business after the generic or choose a brand name?

If you were looking for services, products etc which would you go to first brand or generic ?

Do you direct type in or use a search engine?

 

[Skinner]

If money was not an issue full stop, I'd go brand, totally made up word, that way you trademark it, own it and dominate it.

 

[ian]

This is what I did, brand name so I could control trademarks, all domain names, plus important things like backup gmail account, twitter etc. Also helps with search engines too as your site won't be mixed in with general word searches.

 

[manyagem]

I set up in 1997 and took care to secure a domain name in .com and .co.uk which also matched my company name, Many a Gem Ltd, and also added facebook and twitter tags. I've been heavily involved in other things but now in retirement I'm dabbling in domain names and find the name is perfect, also added gem.domains and manyagem.domains just last week. Only problem is estibot does not parse the phrase well so it comes out manya + gem and gets a poor valuation.

 

[Edwin]

If you have the kind of budget to buy TV campaigns without blinking an eye, brand all the way...

If you're operating in the constrained world faced by most SMEs and you're far from a household name (even within your niche/industry) then a strong generic will potentially give you a big leg up.

 

[ian]

If you have the kind of budget to buy TV campaigns without blinking an eye, brand all the way...

If you're operating in the constrained world faced by most SMEs and you're far from a household name (even within your niche/industry) then a strong generic will potentially give you a big leg up.

Not sure I'd agree, but of course it depends on the industry. I started up my own brand name with little knowledge of the SEO word etc and haven't spent a single penny on promotion apart from Google Adwords. I've obviously been sensible with the coding so as to tag images and links etc, and ensured the content was unique, but nothing more, and I rank at the top for every associated product I sell, even those of well known brands providing the keyword includes a reference to my particular industry of course. I don't believe a generic would have achieved better results personally.

 

[Darren]

Whats wrong with a generic being a brand?

 

[murph]

Strong generic as a brand...

 

[Systreg]

I'd always go for a nice generic word as a brand over some made up word.