How To Guides
Name Your Business
Here are 3 simple and important steps to help you create and choose a business name for your business.
1. Research your audience - What type of customers are you trying to reach? Are they male or female? Young or old? What is special or unique about them? Knowing your customers first will help you to better decide on the style and overall tone of your business name.
A great way to research your business name is to start by writing down who your ideal customer is. We call this a "Customer Persona." And you should even give them a name. Think about your customer persona like a detective. Who is the person who would buy your candle? Why would they buy your candle? What are their jobs? What are their hobbies? What is their family like?
Starting by thinking about your customers will help you understand your customers better. This will help you to decide what name would suit your business best.
2. Make it catchy - Catchy business names are effective because they stick. Business names that are catchy should be short, easily pronounced, and to the point.
How can you test if your business name ideas are catchy? A good way to do this is by picturing your business name in a slogan or advertisement. Get help from a friend, or a family member and ask yourself: “would I remember this name after seeing (or hearing) it only once?”.
This simple, but effective, trigger question can help to filter out potentially poor name ideas in your shortlist.
3. Keep it simple - Business names should generally be only 2-3 words long at most!
Complex, long, or hard to pronounce business names are simply difficult to remember and will make the branding process even harder.
Think of and make a list of as many names as you can. Then start to eliminate the ones that will not work. It will take a little effort and some creativity to come up with a short list of 2-3 names.
Conduct a Survey and Ask People To Select Their Favorite Name
Now that you have a short list of 2-3 names it’s time to ask your friends, family, and even potential customers to vote on their favorite name.
We recommend using Google Forms to create an online survey that you can email to your family and friends and post on social media. It’s a great way to gather feedback and information.
Go to: https://docs.google.com/forms
Under the Start a new form, Click on the “Blank” to start creating your survey.
The first thing to do is name your survey. In the space that says, Untitled Form, name your survey. Try something like, “Help Me Name My Business”
Where it says, “Untitled Question” click on that and write, How do you like the name XYZ Candles?
Next, go to the box where it says Multiple choice and click on the drop down menu option. Select “linear scale”. This should bring up the 1 to 5 default options which are good to use. You will have to name the 1 as, Low or Not So Much and the 5 as, High or The Best.
Next click on the Duplicate icon to the left of the Delete button and repeat this process for the list of names you have.
When you have listed all your names that you want feedback on, do not forget to create a Short Answer question and ask, “Is there another name that you would you suggest?
At the top of the page there is a “preview” icon that you can select to see how it looks. If you are happy with it, you can then hit the SEND button. This will allow you to email it to your friends and family and also create a LINK that you can post in your social media and ask people to respond.
Sit back and wait for the answers to come through!
Here’s an example of how we came up with the name of our Daintree marketplace. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSczW7RFXa6JkGA_e77r-S1BxW9orInVV6fDbr1SUnrk0qoBSg/viewform?usp=sf_link
Either invite or Send a copy of your link to: [email protected] and we’ll vote on your name!
Here are 3 simple and important steps to help you create and choose a business name for your business.
1. Research your audience - What type of customers are you trying to reach? Are they male or female? Young or old? What is special or unique about them? Knowing your customers first will help you to better decide on the style and overall tone of your business name.
A great way to research your business name is to start by writing down who your ideal customer is. We call this a "Customer Persona." And you should even give them a name. Think about your customer persona like a detective. Who is the person who would buy your candle? Why would they buy your candle? What are their jobs? What are their hobbies? What is their family like?
Starting by thinking about your customers will help you understand your customers better. This will help you to decide what name would suit your business best.
2. Make it catchy - Catchy business names are effective because they stick. Business names that are catchy should be short, easily pronounced, and to the point.
How can you test if your business name ideas are catchy? A good way to do this is by picturing your business name in a slogan or advertisement. Get help from a friend, or a family member and ask yourself: “would I remember this name after seeing (or hearing) it only once?”.
This simple, but effective, trigger question can help to filter out potentially poor name ideas in your shortlist.
3. Keep it simple - Business names should generally be only 2-3 words long at most!
Complex, long, or hard to pronounce business names are simply difficult to remember and will make the branding process even harder.
Think of and make a list of as many names as you can. Then start to eliminate the ones that will not work. It will take a little effort and some creativity to come up with a short list of 2-3 names.
Conduct a Survey and Ask People To Select Their Favorite Name
Now that you have a short list of 2-3 names it’s time to ask your friends, family, and even potential customers to vote on their favorite name.
We recommend using Google Forms to create an online survey that you can email to your family and friends and post on social media. It’s a great way to gather feedback and information.
Go to: https://docs.google.com/forms
Under the Start a new form, Click on the “Blank” to start creating your survey.
The first thing to do is name your survey. In the space that says, Untitled Form, name your survey. Try something like, “Help Me Name My Business”
Where it says, “Untitled Question” click on that and write, How do you like the name XYZ Candles?
Next, go to the box where it says Multiple choice and click on the drop down menu option. Select “linear scale”. This should bring up the 1 to 5 default options which are good to use. You will have to name the 1 as, Low or Not So Much and the 5 as, High or The Best.
Next click on the Duplicate icon to the left of the Delete button and repeat this process for the list of names you have.
When you have listed all your names that you want feedback on, do not forget to create a Short Answer question and ask, “Is there another name that you would you suggest?
At the top of the page there is a “preview” icon that you can select to see how it looks. If you are happy with it, you can then hit the SEND button. This will allow you to email it to your friends and family and also create a LINK that you can post in your social media and ask people to respond.
Sit back and wait for the answers to come through!
Here’s an example of how we came up with the name of our Daintree marketplace. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSczW7RFXa6JkGA_e77r-S1BxW9orInVV6fDbr1SUnrk0qoBSg/viewform?usp=sf_link
Either invite or Send a copy of your link to: [email protected] and we’ll vote on your name!
How To
Create Your Logo
We are big fans of Canva for all things design. Plus they are a great Australian startup that has a huge catalogue of templates that you can choose from to help get you started. Simply go to Canva.com and create a free account. Select the Logo template and that will take you to their catalog of templates. You can get some ideas and design your own or you can use an existing template and modify it.
Download your design as either a .png or .jpg so that you can then upload it to your shop profile.
Create Your Logo
We are big fans of Canva for all things design. Plus they are a great Australian startup that has a huge catalogue of templates that you can choose from to help get you started. Simply go to Canva.com and create a free account. Select the Logo template and that will take you to their catalog of templates. You can get some ideas and design your own or you can use an existing template and modify it.
Download your design as either a .png or .jpg so that you can then upload it to your shop profile.
How To
Print Labels
Now that you have your logo let's get it set up so you can print out your labels. Stary by going to Avery Print and Design and creating an account.
Select the Product Labels icon and then select template number: 875063 Mini-Sheet Large Circles White. Confirm that there are 15 labels to a sheet. On the right side, in GREEN, you will click on: Select this Template.
This will bring you to a page that has a selection of templates as well as a blank design. Pick the one that best matches to your name and brand.
Next you will be able to add Text and your Logo to the template.
Once you are comfortable with the design select Preview and Print.
We recommend that you TEST your design and only print out 1 label. To do this in the Preview and Print section you can click on Print Range. From here you can select from 1 to 1. If you like your design, simply load the label sheet back in your printer and return to the Preview and Print section, select the Print Range, and adjust it for 2 to 15.
Now that you have your logo let's get it set up so you can print out your labels. Stary by going to Avery Print and Design and creating an account.
Select the Product Labels icon and then select template number: 875063 Mini-Sheet Large Circles White. Confirm that there are 15 labels to a sheet. On the right side, in GREEN, you will click on: Select this Template.
This will bring you to a page that has a selection of templates as well as a blank design. Pick the one that best matches to your name and brand.
Next you will be able to add Text and your Logo to the template.
Once you are comfortable with the design select Preview and Print.
We recommend that you TEST your design and only print out 1 label. To do this in the Preview and Print section you can click on Print Range. From here you can select from 1 to 1. If you like your design, simply load the label sheet back in your printer and return to the Preview and Print section, select the Print Range, and adjust it for 2 to 15.
How To
Open A Shop In The Marketplace
With our new "Business In A Box" offers we provide you with everything you need to start taking orders. The easiest way to set up your online shop in the marketplace is to watch this video that walks you through the steps.
Open A Shop In The Marketplace
With our new "Business In A Box" offers we provide you with everything you need to start taking orders. The easiest way to set up your online shop in the marketplace is to watch this video that walks you through the steps.
How To
Conduct Market Research
This part of starting a business will require you to put on your Investigator Hat. Like Hermine, Harry, and Ron in a Harry Potter movie, there’s something not right and you have to figure it out. What you need to figure out is the following:
This part of starting a business will require you to put on your Investigator Hat. Like Hermine, Harry, and Ron in a Harry Potter movie, there’s something not right and you have to figure it out. What you need to figure out is the following:
- Who are your customers?
- Where will you find them? Or how will they find you?
- If you could speak with a customer right now, what are the questions you would ask them? Write the questions out and make a list of them.
- Interview 10 customers. Practice with someone in your family to get familiar with asking the questions and listening for the answers. Don’t forget to write down the answers.
- It builds rapport and trust. There’s a 90% chance that your first customers will be people you have interviewed earlier in the process. That’s no coincidence. It takes trust to be a first customer.
- You can ask follow-up questions. This lets you get a richer, deeper understanding, and you can learn things you don’t expect.
- It’s more efficient. For the same time and effort as getting a survey out there, you can do 3 interviews.
- You can iterate, which means you can get started faster and adapt your questions as you go. The “Good enough” standard is much lower for interview prep compared with a survey.
How To
Take Pre-Orders
Now that you have your market research and an idea of what people want and how much they will pay for it, it's time to start taking pre-orders. Create the product in your shop, write an overview of your product, This is a great way to kickstart your business. Use your research to either promote the most popular items or create a special offer. If people commit to buy your product in advance of receiving it, that's a great sign! It also helps you when you need to place your next order.
Simply include in your product description: Email [email protected] for more information or to pre-order this item and be one of the first to receive it.
Take Pre-Orders
Now that you have your market research and an idea of what people want and how much they will pay for it, it's time to start taking pre-orders. Create the product in your shop, write an overview of your product, This is a great way to kickstart your business. Use your research to either promote the most popular items or create a special offer. If people commit to buy your product in advance of receiving it, that's a great sign! It also helps you when you need to place your next order.
Simply include in your product description: Email [email protected] for more information or to pre-order this item and be one of the first to receive it.
How To
Promote Your Shop
Step 1 - The easiest way to get visitors to your shop is to ask your Friends and Family to visit it. Make it easy for them by sending them an email with a story that shares why are are raising funds - pocket money, for a cause, to buy a new bike - and your business idea. Ask them to share it with their friends and to share the link with their social media networks.
Step 2 - If you are on social media, create some catchy advertising. Target it for your specific market.
Step 3 - Make flyers and hang them around your neighbourhood in high traffic locations. Most IGA's or supermarkets have a community board that you can hang a flyer advertising your shop. Include a QR code that takes interested shoppers straight to your shop. Don't forget to ask the local stores and shops if they can support your entrepreneurial efforts and promote your flyer.
Step 1 - The easiest way to get visitors to your shop is to ask your Friends and Family to visit it. Make it easy for them by sending them an email with a story that shares why are are raising funds - pocket money, for a cause, to buy a new bike - and your business idea. Ask them to share it with their friends and to share the link with their social media networks.
Step 2 - If you are on social media, create some catchy advertising. Target it for your specific market.
Step 3 - Make flyers and hang them around your neighbourhood in high traffic locations. Most IGA's or supermarkets have a community board that you can hang a flyer advertising your shop. Include a QR code that takes interested shoppers straight to your shop. Don't forget to ask the local stores and shops if they can support your entrepreneurial efforts and promote your flyer.
How To
Order More Candles
Step 1 - Select the scent you want from the below list of 10 available scents.
Step 2 - Select the candle style you want from the choices: Travel Tin, Clear Jar, Frosted Jar
Step 3 - Adjust the quantities so that you have a minimum of 12 candles in your order.
Candle Scents
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
#10
Order More Candles
Step 1 - Select the scent you want from the below list of 10 available scents.
Step 2 - Select the candle style you want from the choices: Travel Tin, Clear Jar, Frosted Jar
Step 3 - Adjust the quantities so that you have a minimum of 12 candles in your order.
Candle Scents
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
#10
