Naming Our Business?

[TaxGuy]

While we've been working diligently to build our small tax practice, I feel it's about time to get a domain name and start putting my web development/SEO/SEM/SMM plans into action, however, we need to come up with a good name that we can ultimately turn into our brand so we can grow it and ultimately franchise it.

I kind of like the idea of using "Bill Masser CPA/EA and Associates" and following the path of tax entrepreneurs like "Roni Deutch", "JK Harris" or "Diane Kennedy", however, I plan for our business to be even bigger and follow in the footsteps of the top dog in the business, John Hewitt.

His two companies were respectively named, "Jackson-Hewitt Tax Preparation Services"(Jackson-Hewitt, in short) and "Liberty Tax Services". The first was literally taking his last name and the last name of his partner in the firm and turning it into a nationally recognized brand. The other simply added the term "Liberty", something near and dear to ALL Americans, to the service they provided and something not so dear, "Tax" and turned it into another big-time brand with over 1000 franchise locations.

In addition, another great brand is "Tax Masters", while I think that Patrick Cox, the founder, is a shark and a scumbag, he has built a nationwide brand with his savvy marketing of blasting TV ads at the times where Sidewalkers are most likely to be watching- late at night or during typical work hours(9-5. My personal opinion is that he preys on the irresponsibility of Sidewalkers and charges $2500 up front for his services to boot! Sickening considering my dad provides the same exact service for 1/10 the price, not to mention Cox borders on deceptive advertising when he states that his experts are "former IRS employees" when most are simply tax preparers(some not even licensed) or now just PTIN holders who are licensed tax preparers who only need to apply for the PTIN and pay $64.25 to get licensed until 12/31/10 when the IRS will require any new PTIN holders to first pass a competency exam(those grandfathered in have until 12/31/13 to either pass the exam or obtain Enrolled Agent, CPA or Enrolled Actuary status).

But enough of that. I found an interesting site that put a spin on branding your business by attaching it to a well known name. Here's the examples they gave:

Sam Adams Brewery and Amazon.com

For Amazon, they used the process of:

1. 
   [*] WEBSITE NICHE - Bookseller
   [*] USP ASSOCIATION - Biggest There Is
   [*] BRAINSTORMING PROCESS - What is big, and memorable?
   
   • The Sahara Desert
   • Mount Everest
   Well, those two names are out of the question. Both are associated with slow and painful death. How about...
   
   
   • The Amazon
   Monkeys and other cute, furry animals live there. Who's scared of monkeys and furry critters? Nobody! In fact, monkeys are awesome, so long as they don't carry any flesh eating diseases.
   Moving on...
   [*] THE RESULT - Amazon.com, the world's largest online bookstore.

Thus I need to think of a name, so far we've thought of M&M Tax Preparation Services(using a very well recognized brand name, but not infringing on it as it is using our Last Name) or MGM Tax Services(using My Last Name, My wife's maiden name and My Dad's Last Name and thus piggybacking off of movie giant Metro-Goldwyn-Meyer).

As far as the test above goes, here's what I can think of:

1. 
   [*] WEBSITE NICHE - Tax Preparation/Consultation/Representation Services
   [*] USP ASSOCIATION - Nationwide Chain and Positioned somewhere between the storefronts(i.e. J-H, Liberty and HRB) and the Big CPA Firms.
   [*] BRAINSTORMING PROCESS - What is big, and memorable? Or who are some famous economists/tax icons whose names are not trademarked(much like how Jim Koch used founding-father and Brewmaster Sam Adams to brand his micro-brew)?

• Largest(or just well known): Everest, Pacific, Sahara, Grand Canyon, Niagara, Superior, Nile
• Well-known historical economists: Aristotle, John Stuart Mill, Plato, Adam Smith, Socrates
• Founding Fathers(tax protesters): Adams, Franklin, Hamilton, Hancock, Patrick Henry, Jefferson, Washington

THE RESULT -

Potential ideas:

• Pacific Tax Service - not too bad, considering we're near the Pacific Ocean
• Socrates Tax - kind of like "Plato's Closet"
• Patrick Henry Tax Services(Give me Liberty from Taxes or Give Me Death!)

I'm still partial to MGM Tax Services though as we're technically piggybacking off a well known brand without infringing(as long as we don't use a Lion as our symbol OR use the same font as MGM), however, something related to one of the above founding fathers also sounds good.

And now for a little bit of fun, I know the movie's a joke, but the message is crystal clear:

[video=youtube;_-Zp9t8P8Ws]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-Zp9t8P8Ws[/video]

 

Dislike ads? Become a Fastlane member: Subscribe today and surround yourself with winners and millionaire mentors, not those broke friends who only want to drink beer and play video games. :-)

[MJ DeMarco]

O moli atoph vji duncopevoup ug vji Guapfoph Gevjis't penit topdi vji guapfist xjisi sicimmoph eheoptv veyit -- ov emtu howit vji onqsittoup ug tvsiphvj epf dupgofipdi.

Kiggistup Jepdudl Vey Qsiqesevoup
Kiggistup Gseplmop Vey Qsiqesevoup

Vjot emtu uqipt aq tuni iydovoph ofiet ecuav muhut epf veh mopit.

 

[TaxGuy]

Vjeplt gus vji raodl siqmz! Op nz uqopoup Cip Gseplmop xet jepft fuxp vji hsievitv Enisodep xju iwis mowif epf Kiggistup xet figopovimz op vji vuq 5, puv upmz xuamf vjios penit mipf dsifocomovz vu uas catopitt, cav O giim vjev uas wemait esi op mopi xovj vjiost nusi tu vjep Jepdudl.

O xuamf moli vu liiq vji peni tjusv cav txiiv, juxiwis, topdi "xxx.kiggistupgseplmop.dun" epf "kgveytiswodit.dun" esi cuvj velip, O xipv ejief epf usfisif vji gummuxoph:

kiggistupgseplmopvey.dun

kiggistup-gseplmop.dun

Op effovoup, O huv kjveytiswodit.dun et "KiggistupJepdudl.dun" xet velip et ximm.