Browsing through Reddit today and ran across this post of Worst Business Name Ever with this photo:

Hopefully you see the obvious problem here.

It reminds me of when one of my friends was pregnant. She and her husband were considering names for the baby and this was the conversation:

Wife: What about Regina? It’s my grandmother’s name.
Husband: Nope. She’ll get teased and get called “Vagina” in school.

Every name my friend threw out had to pass her husband’s “what will kids call her” test. Brilliant! Way to think ahead and catch a potential problem early.

Business owners should apply the same test when naming their business. What will clients call you? And put your mind in the gutter before you spend all the time and money on a name that only gets plastered all over the blogosphere as the worst business name ever.

[digg=http://digg.com/business_finance/Put_Your_Mind_in_the_Gutter_Or_Else_Your_Clients_Will]

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Andrea Morris is the Chief Idea Officer of Write Ideas Marketing and specializes in helping visionaries, entrepreneurs, consultants and small businesses use high-ROI strategies to get the right message to the right people. For more information, please visit writeideasmarketing.com

Mrs. Mogul posts on the following stores that went out of business in what she thinks is due to their poor naming.

Candle Store – The Almost Edible Candle Gourmet Shop

Ice Cream Store – The Marble Slab

Pet Store – Doggy Style

Your business name is the most critical piece of your branding. How do you know if your clever name will be worthless or a winner?

Try test marketing with these short questions (with strangers for best results).

1. What images does this name make you think of?

2. What feeling does this name give you?

3. If you purchased something from this store, who would it be for?

4. What product/service do you think this company offers?

5. What if I told you this company sold _________? What do you think now?

An effective brand is congruent with the company purpose. If you find the answers to these questions out of whack, revise your name until it’s right. There’s a lot at stake – so it’s worth the investment.

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Andrea Morris is a marketing coach who specializes in helping visionaries, entrepreneurs, consultants and small businesses use high-ROI strategies to get the right message to the right people. For more information, please visit writeideasmarketing.com

Fellow blogger Fred Sarkari posted a true-to-life tale of a mistake that I know all of us have made at one point or another – double booking appointments. To read the full story click here.

Fred’s reaction to his mistake and the choice to be upfront, honest, and genuine is one we can all take a lesson from. We will make mistakes – there’s no question about that. The question becomes how do you handle your mistakes?

Do you hide, lie, and cheat? Because if you do – you are making a bad name for all of us who believe in selling with integrity. In addition, unethical sales is hard work – remember Quintillian’s quote, “a liar should have a good memory.” You are actually creating more work for yourself – and you’re busy already, so why would you choose to do that?

Instead, let’s dare to be honest. Let’s follow Fred’s example and reap the rewards of better clients, more referrals, and a cleaner conscience.

Kudos!

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Andrea Morris is a marketing coach who specializes in helping visionaries, entrepreneurs, consultants and small businesses use high-ROI strategies to get the right message to the right people. For more information, please visit www.writeideasmarketing.com.

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CNNmoney.com has put out a list of the “101 Dumbest Moments in Business” with a section devoted to “Misadventures in Marketing.”

Here’s an example of a mishap you can easily avoid – just use spell check (especially if your topic is spelling).

“Dam thatt spel-cheker, part won…

British multimedia publisher DDS Media is forced to scrap 10,000 copies of TV anchor Eamonn Holmes’s spelling game after it misspells Holmes’s name on the DVD.”

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Andrea Morris is a marketing coach who specializes in helping visionaries, entrepreneurs, consultants and small businesses use high-ROI strategies to get the right message to the right people. For more information, please visit writeideasmarketing.com