Know-How Exchange : Taglines/Names

Will your target audience know what "Web Works" means? Why not simply "Helderberg Websites" as a name?

"Helderberg Web Works"/"Helderberg Webworks" rated higher than "Helderberg Websites" when tested on 20 people. Additionally, the offerings are more than just websites.

"Helderberg Web Works" and "Helderberg Webworks" rated pretty much the same when tested against each other. I have a personal preference, but am just wondering what people on this marketing forum think.

Thanks!

Years ago, when I was doing outbound marketing, I was contacted by quite a few web development companies. Each one of them would spend time trying to convince me that they were different and better and unique and had distinct advantages from everybody else. And then they would tell me the exact same story that I had heard from the previous dozen web development companies.

Personally, I got tired of listening to all these cookie-cutter companies lie to me and try to convince me that they were somehow different, when in reality they were all the same. And when there were differences, such as specializations in specific markets or technologies, no one was paying attention because they had already tuned out.

And so I started making some phone calls, introducing my client, saying, "we are one of those web development companies." Every prospect started laughing. They, too, were tired of being lied to. They appreciated someone who could be honest and open with them.

I am not personally a fan of descriptive company names.I think it is unrealistic to try to plan your customers will be before you get them. I have built relationships aand interest on behalf of client companies, and then haad to try to spend time explaining why the company really doesn't do what is said in the letter head, website,, and business card.

If it were my company I would incorporate under some very generic company name. And then I would choose as a tagline, "another webbsite development company". And if that didn't work, I would try something else. Or maybe I would test three or four or five or six taglines against each other, and go with what works. But I would not put myself into a straitjacket and shut the door to future sales and growth and new directions and customers and markets by painting myself into a corner with an overly descriptive company name. Good luck.

Let me put it a different way. Let's imagine you have just begun your company, and you meet a company president of a large local technical firm. You really hit it off. You have great rapport, and specific capabilities which are relevant to his needs. And he has a problem, because he is going to a trade show in two months and he needs a trade show booth and brochures and giveaways in a hurry.

He is excited and asks for your contact information, and you have to hand him a business card which says that you are a website development company. Look to the right. There is a list of the top experts in the area of taglines and names. Are any of them descriptive? No. They are generic.

When you begin your company, you need to chase every dollar you can. You need to build on every relationship you have. You can't afford to slam the door in your own face by being too cute and too creative and too specific with the company name. (Been there, done that).

Put up a Google Ad for a test and see which one gets clicked more often.

Thank you everyone for the feedback.