How to Come Up With a Unique and Catchy Name for Your Property Management Company
November 21st, 2020
Want to grow your property management company?
So you’re finally ready to start your very own property management company and you’re hyped, to say the least. You just have to come up with a name for your company.
Except it’s not that simple.
Deciding on your company name is one of the most important (and difficult) choices that you make at this juncture.
Actually, important is an understatement.
As someone new to the market, your company name can ‘make or break’ your business as it can affect the way potential clients perceive your business and even influence how your brand is differentiated and compared to your competitors. Your marketing strategies and efforts could be impacted by something as simple as your company name.
Additionally, it’s difficult as there are already a lot of existing property management businesses (IBISWorld indicates that there are 291,978 property management companies in the USA as of October 2020).
This means there are already over 290,000 less property management names to choose from.
However, this data should by no means discourage you, as we are here to help you come up with not just a good property management company name, but a catchy one. A company name that is suitable for both you and your prospective clients.
You may already have a few ideas for company names that you’re mulling over, or you’re really not sure where to start. Either way, you can ask yourself the following questions to really help you get those creative juices going, narrow down your options, and come up with the best name possible:
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What words do your prospective clients search for?
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How do you think you would feel about this property management company name long term (let’s say, five, ten years from now)?
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What words would you use to describe your company’s brand image or brand identity?
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Are your potential company names unique?
Let’s explore these questions some more for further insight.
What words do your prospective clients search for online?
Keyword Research
Keywords are the phrases that people are searching online when looking for an answer, solution, or service for something they need help with.
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Examples like:
"property manager"
"property management"
"rental management"
"real estate management"
etc
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Doing keyword research would not just be beneficial to you coming up with a catchy company name, but it can really help you understand which words resonate with potential clients’ and tailor your services to attract them.
By including a word, a synonym, or a phrase in your name of which your prospective clients are searching for online when they are looking for a property manager, your target audience would have an idea of what your company is about and would already be searching for those terms.
Thereby, this would increase your likelihood of being found in the local search engine results pages (SERP). That said, you can start your search in Google or Bing and make a list. But it doesn’t have to end with these searches. Talk to other property managers, existing and prospective clients and pay attention to words commonly used in the industry.
Consider related keywords
Another option that’s in the same realm of keyword research, is to consider words that are synonyms or those that highly correlate with property management. In SEO, we call this latent semantic indexing (LSI).
This is when you use words that are highly related to your main keyword in your content for better readability by users. In SEO, LSI is typically used for content but the process can also be applied to coming up with a catchy property management company name.
So for example, if your main keyword is "mango", LSI or related keywords are "tropical", "Caribbean", "fruit" and "taste".
Got it? Now try it for ‘property’, ‘management’ and ‘property management’.
Ask around for feedback!
You can even talk to family and friends to get their opinion. If when they hear your potential company name they seem confused, then contemplate some other options.
Avoid unnecessary SEO and legal issues
Nowadays, it’s very important to ensure that your company is visible to your target audience via search engines. You can increase your visibility by ensuring you build an SEO friendly website. One of the best things you can do is to avoid any unnecessary issues that can possibly hinder your visibility.
Therefore, if there’s already an established property management company that’s ranking at the top of the SERP's and/or popular on social media, it’s advisable that you don’t name your company the same name.
Why?
Not only could this confuse your customers and search engines, but it can also create legal implications such as trademark infringement issues. Search for your potential company name in the United States Patent and Trademark Office database to verify that there isn’t already a trademark for it. After this, you can register your company name and apply for trademark protection if you desire.
Avoid limiting names
Another way you can cause issues for your property management company is to name your company after your town or state. This is probably the opposite of what you will read elsewhere, but hear us out.
Even though a name such as Toledo Property Management Company in Toledo, Ohio would help you to be found online locally, if you expand to Columbus, Ohio later on, the same company name would be unsuitable. People won't understand if you serve their city as well, and now you maybe just lost a potential client.
Or, if your company expands to Pennsylvania, a company name like "Toledo Property Management Company" would likely limit your business opportunities, hamper your visibility and negatively affect your customers’ perception of your company.
How do you think you would feel about this property management company name long term?
Short, simple and easy to spell
Now, let’s face it. As a property manager, you have a very hectic schedule. When you’re not in the office, you’re onsite resolving tenants’ issues, advertising properties for rent to prospective tenants, meeting with landlords along with lots of other tasks that are on your plate. That being said, you really do not want to have to make time out of your busy schedule to keep telling people how to spell your company name.
You might be tempted to choose a company name due to a personal experience, which is fine. However, you should keep in mind that your property management company name not only has to resonate with you but also your target audience.
That’s why we recommend choosing a name that is short, simple, easy to spell and pronounce. This makes the name easier for people to remember and find you quickly.
The longer your company name, the more chances there are for errors and misspelling. Additionally, your company name in your website’s URL would help with SEO which is why short, simple and easy to spell is always best.
Repeat your prospective company name aloud a few times to ensure that it sounds good and doesn’t just look good in writing. If you have a few potential names, take a moment and try saying them aloud.
Long-term proofing
It’s advisable that you choose a name that isn’t too specific and can work long-term.
Reason being, if after some time you decide to expand your business and your property management company name has a narrow purview, you would have no choice but to change it. For example, if you currently work with residential properties and your property management company name is, "Rental Home Pros", but later on you decide to branch out to commercial properties, this name suddenly becomes unsuitable for your business needs.
Avoid naming your company after current trends
If you plan to be in business for a long time (and we’re sure you plan to be!), it would be wise not to name your property management company after current trends or slangs. Not only is it unprofessional, but after the word or phrase is no longer trendy, the company name would likely be considered inappropriate by your target audience.
What words would you use to describe your company’s brand image or brand identity?
Reflect on your brand
Your brand is a representation of all aspects of your company. It’s your company’s unique personality. Your company’s reputation, guidelines, values, culture and even your logo falls under the purview of your brand image.
That’s why building a strong brand is important; particularly for new business owners, as this can assist in determining your position in the industry and differentiating yourself from your competitors. The first way that you can start your brand building process is to craft a company name that embodies the image you want for your brand.
Consider using words with positive associations
As a business owner, you want all your clients to experience good customer service. That can start at the very beginning with your company name. A company name with words or phrases that have positive connotations can evoke emotions such as warmth and happiness.
Company names with positive associations can also provide assurance, motivate and even be a source of inspiration! For example, by using the company name "Classy Property Management", people may perceive it to be a property management company that’s superior to others.
Determine if the .com domain name and social media handles available
No matter what brand image you decide to go with, as a property manager you would still want people to associate you with professionalism. That’s why when deciding on your company name, try to obtain the .com domain name, as it’s still considered the most popular and trusted top-level domain (TLD) globally. You can check sites such as, GoDaddy or Namecheap to determine if your desired domain name is available.
Additionally, you should check the availability of social media handles for your company using sites such as, Namechk and KnowEm.
Avoid sensitivity issues
When building a brand it’s also important to consider the impact your name can possibly have on others. There’s no set list of words that you should not use. However, you should use your own judgement along with advice from others. Your company name should not be one that can negatively affect others or cause any offence.
Are your potential company names catchy and original?
Strive to be new and one-of-a-kind
We understand that differentiating yourself from your competitors is not always an easy feat. However, property managers can be very resourceful. And guess what? This is the ideal situation for you to use your resourcefulness and creativity to craft a unique, catchy property management company name. Because when you’re original, it compels people to pay attention to you.
Still wondering how to come up with a one-of-a-kind company name? Trying to use two word combinations with the words having some type of association to your business. Some examples of these are YouTube and Facebook.
BONUS TIPS!
If you’re still struggling to come up with the perfect company name, you feel as though all the good names are taken or just generally overwhelmed, don’t worry. These bonus tips are sure to help you get on the right track. You can try:
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Making up words. These ‘words’ may not be found in the dictionary but they’re still catchy. Examples of these are Twitter and Yahoo.
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Using words with positive meanings in a different language. For example, Verizon comes from the Latin word, veritas, which means the truth and it was combined with horizon. The truth horizon.
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Using an acronym for your company name. Acronyms definitely meet the criterion of being short and simple. Many companies do it using either three or four letters. Examples of these are, KFC, IBM and IKEA.
Using business name generators. These are very helpful as some of them also generate logos and available domains. There are general ones such as Namelix and Shopify Business Name Generator. And there are also those that are specific to property management such as, Property Management Business Name Generator and Property Maintenance Name Generator.
Wrapping Up
By now, you can probably tell that coming up with a catchy property management name can be both challenging and rewarding. And by using this guide, we hope that it will ignite a myriad of creative and unique options. Don’t rush the process as it could take some time before deciding on the perfect company name. Remember that your company name has to be thoroughly researched and an accurate reflection of you and your company’s values and culture.