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If you’re one of those people who decided to open up a photography business in the middle of a worldwide pandemic, then you likely feel pretty strongly that you can offer your clients something they don’t already have access to, which is pretty great because this is the most difficult part of opening any business.
But, when it comes down to some of the smaller, more creative decisions, a lot of photographers get stuck.
If you’re trying to name your photography business, and you keep circling back to a photography business name that is some iteration of your own name, then this article is for you.
Make It Unique
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When you name your photography business, you’re also starting your first marketing campaign. So, it needs to be something unique that people could easily Google if they wanted to.
For instance, if there are multiple photography businesses in your city with numbers in it, then maybe avoid putting numbers in your business name.
But, just as importantly, when you name your photography business you also need to make sure that potential clients are actually going to remember it. Keep it short and sweet.
Keep it Simple
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As a lover of puns, I tried to fit one into my photography business’ name...pretty desperately, actually. But, I eventually realized it just wasn’t going to work.
When you name your photography business, it shouldn’t feel like you’re forcing anything. If the spelling of the business is unusual, this means people won’t be able to find it. If the pronunciation of the business’ name is unusual, this also means people won’t be able to find it.
You also don’t want to include any technical words that have to do with photography, but that a layman wouldn’t understand.
The best advice about how to name your photography business is to keep it simple.
Learn More:
Name Your Photography Business Something Relevant
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My biggest pet peeve is when I can’t understand what type of photography a business participates in when I first click on the landing page of its website.
I already talked about how what you name your photography business is essentially the beginning of your first marketing campaign. So, when you name your photography business, try and give potential clients a little hint about what type of photography you participate in.
If you’re a wedding photographer, you could include “wedding,” “engagement,” or “love” in your business’ name. There’s a photography business near my home named “L’Amour Photography” and when I look at that name, I automatically understand they likely specialize in photographing couples.
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On the other hand, if you’re a family photographer, you could name your photography business something that insinuates you photograph kids most of the time, like including the words “little” or “newborn.”
These keywords can help potential clients automatically understand that you are what they’re looking for and it helps you stand out on the page, which is helpful if you live in a city with a lot of competition.
Pick Something You Love
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It’s your photography business. If you name your photography business something you hate, just because you think it will get you noticed or it’s easy to pronounce, you’re not going to feel as good bringing it up in conversation with strangers (which is what I spend approximately 80% of my day doing).
All of these photography business tips are pretty useless if they steal all of your creativity and lead you to pick a name you really don’t like.
Which leads me to another point, I know I made a jab at photographers who choose their own name for their photography business name earlier, but so long as your name is easy to pronounce and easy to spell, it can be a great name for your business as well.
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This is especially true if you’re already well-known in your city. One of my best friends was a really popular bartender in his home town for over a decade and gradually started his own photography business. He’s the sort of guy who would get stopped at least 3 or 4 times a day in grocery stores and coffee shops by people who recognized him from his bar and wanted to say hi.
He named his photography business after himself and had the most business of any other photographer in his city, simply because his business automatically had name recognition.
But Remember…
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You definitely don’t want to get into any legal troubles with your name after you’ve already started your business.
A huge mistake a lot of people make when they start their business is that they get all of their marketing materials created first and legalize their business later. This is going to be a problem if someone in your city has a business named similarly to yours, even if their business is a hardware store or a coffee shop.
Make sure you form your LLC before officially naming your business.
Another thing to remember is that, ultimately, your name likely won’t make or break your business in the long term. Something that will make or break your business is your ability to communicate with your clients and your ability to quickly and efficiently get paid.
This is why I use Podium for my photography business. Podium gathers all of my business’ messages from Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Yelp, and email and puts them all in one place so I can easily keep track of who I’ve responded to and who I haven’t.
If this isn’t already a nice enough software, it also enables me to text people their invoices so that they can pull out their credit card and pay me on the spot.
Podium bills itself as “the ultimate messaging platform” and I have to say that I agree. Since I started using it, I have brought my average wait time for my invoices to get paid down by over two weeks. It’s also been a few months since I accidentally missed a message by a potential client, which means I’m bringing in more money overall.
Podium can do the same for you. Plus, you can try it for free. What have you got to lose?!