I was driving past a local "Just Tires" store the other day and noticed a banner hanging across the first bay. It read, "Now Offering Oil Changes". Put that into one sentence: "Just Tires is now offering oil changes."
"Just Tires" is the name of what used to be Goodyear auto service centers. The rebranding was undertaken to improve profitability and let consumers know that they sold more than just Goodyear tires. They also wanted to show that they specialized in, well, just tires.
The point is that the name "Just Tires" is fine as long as you stick to your guns and only offer tires. It is an explicit promise that you specialize in tires, and are proud of it. Once you offer something else, the name is meaningless -- even a negative. You have totally torpedoed the premise behind the promise.
New ventures should choose a name carefully and not get boxed in like "Just Tires" did. You want the name to be elastic enough to cover a range of product or service offerings, but (in general) be somewhat descriptive of what field you are in so that prospects can easily see that you are relevant to their needs.
In doing some research for this post, it turns out that you need not figure out your company or product name by yourself. There are scores of companies ready to help. (Here's a link to a Google search for "naming company".) A particularly interesting approach is Wordboard, an open community for naming. You post your needs, the world answers.
One little irony: Right up the road -- not a couple hundred yards from "Just Tires" -- is another establishment called "Oil Change USA". They offer oil changes, and no tires. (Yet.)
