Have you been struggling to come up with a name for your junk hauling business?
Are you trying to decide between two brand names?
Finding the right name for your junk removal business can have a significant impact on your business (both good or bad), but choosing a name for your company can be a daunting experience.
There are so many options, and it’s hard to know where to begin. Luckily, we’re here to help!
Follow our 4-step guide to choosing a name for your junk removal startup.
Step 1: Define Your brand
Before brainstorming possible names, it’s essential to answer this one question:
What is your company purpose?
This question may seem obvious when it's just you, a helper, and a truck, but where do you want to be in five, ten and twenty years from now?
Think long term.
Here are a few more questions to ask yourself when thinking about your brand.
- What does the company do? (e.g., provides a fresh start to people who are overwhelmed by clutter)
- Whom am I trying to reach? (e.g., homeowners in transition)
- What makes my company unique? (e.g., responsive, family-owned, 24-hour service, etc.)
- What do I want my name to say about my company? (e.g., comforting, reliable, etc.)
After answering these questions, try coming up with a few keywords that you best describe your company, your values, and what you have to offer.
Examples could include:
- Reliable
- Tidy
- Professional
- Caring
- Accepting
- Solution based
Write these ideas down, as we'll be using them in step 3 of this post.
Step 2: Determine Your Brand Name
Many company names fall into five different brand categories. There are pros and cons for each type, depending on what kind of business you’re in, who your customers are, and how you want your business to be viewed.
Descriptive name
These are names that describe what your company does. Names like this make it easy for customers to find you since the service you’re providing them is in the brand name. However, you may want to avoid getting too specific because this may limit future growth for your company. This can happen when you focus on a particular product, service or location.
For example, if Bellingham's Best House Cleaning wanted to start servicing Seattle or offer "move out services", their business name might make it more difficult to branch out.
Other real-world examples of descriptive company names include Office Depot and General Motors. Both of these names tell customers exactly what they sell.
A descriptive name might be a good option if you don’t plan on expanding beyond your current service area or expanding your services. Our name - Junk Trash Removal - is an excellent example of a descriptive brand name.
Founder name
You may consider naming your company after yourself. Many companies use their name to define their brand. However, you might want to use more than just your name since it doesn’t tell your customers what your company does. John’s Junk Removal does a good job combining founder name with a descriptive title.
Examples of large companies with founder names include McDonald’s, Ford, Lowe’s, and Procter & Gamble.
Invented word
If there isn’t a word out there that suits your needs, you could make up a completely new one. Since most words in the dictionary are already being used by a business, inventing a new word, allows you to stand out. Similar to using a founder name, though, the invented name may not give customers an idea of what your company does, which means that it may be more challenging to build a brand around.
Junkzilla is an example of an invented word in the junk removal space.
Companies like Dasani, Kodak, and Sony all created a brand around a made up name.
Amalgam name
You could blend two or more words to create a new word. With this option, you get the perks of having a unique name, but you can also make it descriptive so that customers have an idea of what your business does.
Wordoid will take a keyword and give you a wide variety of words you can use and will check if there is an available domain associated with it. When typing the keyword “junk,” some suggestions include Junkingdom and Junkey.
Groupon (group-coupon), Pinterest (pin-interest), FedEx (federal express) all combined two words that describe their business to create a new one.
Word association
This could be a word that doesn’t necessarily describe your business, but one that you want to be associated with. These types of names can give customers a sense of your company values, but it can also be challenging to pull off. Since you’re using real words, people may already have built associations around the term, and it may also be difficult to stand out.
Some companies that were able to do this well include Nike, which is named after the Greek goddess of victory, and Uber, which means outstanding.
There are also some names that might not fit into a specific category.
You can be as creative as you want with your name, but keep in mind that customers, employees, and vendors all need to be able to pronounce it quickly and easily, and not feel silly or uncomfortable about sharing it.
Fun names that rhyme or have a play on words can make your name more memorable. Here are some examples of names that we love:
- JunkSlayer
- Junk-A-Haulics
- Call-2-Haul
Step 3: Make a List of Possible Names
Once you’ve decided which method (or combination of methods) you’d like to choose, you can start using some of the keywords you thought of in the first step to come up with a list of ideas for your company’s name.
If you’re feeling stuck, you can use a name generator to help you think of ideas.
Bustaname gives the option to type in a few keywords that you would like included in your name and also the option to search for synonyms. They then show you a list of available domains for a website.
Shopify offers a tool that gives you a wide range of options that include the keywords you chose, usually by just appending on another word.
Step 4: Narrow Down Your Options
Now that you’ve come up with a few options for names that you like, here are a couple of things to think about when it comes to narrowing your list:
- Choose a name that is meaningful and aligned with your identity.
- Take a look back at the questions you answered when defining your brand earlier in this post, and see if your company name aligns with your answers.
- Please keep it simple and easy to pronounce. 1-2 syllables are usually the most memorable. For example, Ford, Nike, Google. All major brands, all one to two syllables.
- Think about what your potential customers may search for online.
- If you want a junk removal company in your area, you would probably Google something along the lines of “junk removal near me.”
- When choosing a name, you may want to choose something that uses keywords, and while this may not be as important as it once was, it still can influence whether or not someone clicks through to your website.
- Run a Google search on possible names to see if they’re already taken or if there’s a potentially negative connotation with it.
- Explore the USPTO database and double check that the brand name you’re considering isn’t trademarked. If it isn’t - register it now.
- Check if there’s an available website domain name.
- We’ve touched a little bit on why your business should have a website, and having a website name that matches your business name makes it easier for customers to find you online.
- To check if your domain is still available as a URL, run a search on Name.com
- Finally, be sure to test your new brand name. Ask friends, family, and the internet.
- Does it sound good when spoken?
- Can people pronounce and spell the brand name easily?
- Does it roll off the tongue easily?
- Do people understand what you do after reading it?
If you answered no to any of the questions above, you might want to go back to step three and generate additional names.
Conclusion
Hopefully, this gave you a solid framework to help you choose the right name for your junk removal business.
When it comes to branding your hauling company, there’s so much more to it than just your name, but starting with a memorable and distinct brand name can help you set the stage for future growth.
Did this post help you generate ideas for your junk removal business? If so, let us know in the comments below!
Leave a Reply