Great question. We get asked this A LOT. Which is great, because it starts a conversation with someone who would be far less interested in “P Watkins & Co.” or something equally dull.
Following the genius that is Marcus Sheridan’s book (get it here: “They Ask, You Answer”), I figured it was time to jot it down, but from the angle of helping YOU decide what to call your new venture.
But if you did just want to know why WE are Blue Penguin, scroll to the last paragraph 
Oh, and if you’re surfing the web trying to find out why the cute seabird from New Zealan is called the Blue Penguin, then I’m afraid to say that you’re lost – head over to Wikipedia’s article on the little guy.
your name is boring!
Let’s be honest – the sweetest sound in the universe is the sound of your own name. You’ll pick it up immediately in a conversation that you didn’t even realise you were eavesdropping on.
So, of course, you think it stands out. But only to people with the same name!
Unless your name is already a very strong brand or a particularly unique word, don’t use it. It’s boring, and it’s not going to get you remembered in your customers’ minds when they need you – which might be months or even years after they first came across your marketing.
For example, we have a lovely client who is a mortgage broker. She needed a new accountant and called us purely because she remembered our name from the tax return of an existing client of ours who she’d been helping years before.
The chance of her remembering “P Watkins & Co” AND deciding to call us instead of J Smith & Associates or T Jones & Partners (ok, you get the point…)
Don't denigrate your team
Secondly, giving the business YOUR name denigrates all your other staff!
Sub-conciously or not, if you were to ring up “Peter Watkins & Co” and you had the option of dealing with Peter or his (far more intelligent and accomplished!) colleague Shelley, you’re naturally drawn to assume the founder is the person you want to deal with, and anyone else must be somehow a “lesser” accountant/solicitor/broker/etc.
As if you’re being told “your business isn’t important enough for Peter. You can deal with [name of someone who wasn’t important enough to be in the business name].
So moving away from names removes any sense of who the “big cheeses” are.
And, let’s not be coy about it, the reason I’ve got a team here is so that I can push work away from myself onto my colleagues, and I do not want clients thinking that it’s somehow a “downgrade” in their experience.
Because, let me tell you, Mark’s knowledge of niche personal tax rules, and Shelley’s experience with CIS taxes, are both streets ahead of mine. You don’t want me getting involved with your CIS return, I can tell you!
So unless you’re a total control freak and need ALL client/customer contact to go through you, then step away from naming the business after you.
I’ll caveat this by saying, if you want to be a one-man-band for your whole career (in which case, Paul Jarvis’ “Company of One” will be your bible), then a business in your own name isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but my first point about your name being boring and forgettable (sorry!) still applies.
Embrace freedom
Now that you’ve decided to give yourself some freedom, the world’s your oyster (subject to not nicking anyone else’s trademark etc).
So have a think about a name in the context of:
– What it “sounds” like – is it easy to pronounce, would someone mention you in conversation? Or is it like Walter Bagehot, the local lad who’d have been more famous if only people were confident in using his name correctly. (it’s “Badgitt”)
– Does it spell like it sounds (and vice-versa). If someone tells you to google “Blue Penguin Accountants” you can type that in with no problem. But trying to be clever and switching out letters just makes things hard. Ask the marketing “gurus” at Abrdn. It’s pronounced Aberdeen, and finally they realised that perhaps vowels were there for a reason…
– Is the dot.com available – and, equally important, what about account names on the social platforms you’re likely to be using? For us, it’s LinkedIn and Facebook, but it might be others for you, depending on where your customers are.
– How does the name make people ENVISAGE your business? You want a name that will appeal to your ideal customer. For example, “Taunton Boutique Cakes” vs “The Cake Guys” vs “International Cake Solutions PLC”.
You know nothing about either of these companies, but already you’re creating a picture in your mind about each of them. Neither is right or wrong, but they’ll attract different people.
The Golden rule(s)
In essence, you need to ensure your ideal customer thinks of you when they need whatever it is you sell. And for that, you need (at least) TWO things:
1) A name your customer will remember, and
2) A name that resonates with them.
I can’t tell you what you should call your business – I’m just an accountant after all.
But once you’ve decided on a name, it’s VERY hard to change – you’re essentially hitting “go back to square 1” on your marketing game.
Why Blue Penguin? 🐧
I love it when someone asks me this because it means we’re starting a conversation that might otherwise not have happened. And hopefully they end up with a nice little (true) story which means I’ll be at the front of their mind in the future when they are looking for an accountant.
For me, a culmination of all the above points led me to a handful of names. My wife really loves penguins, so a lot of the shortlist was penguin-themed.
My wife is also very short. She’s not a shade over 5ft. So when we realised the smallest penguin in the world is the blue penguin, that pretty much settled it.
For interest, the blue penguin is also known as the ‘little penguin’ or ‘fairy penguin’ – but neither of those sounded any good with the name “accountants” after them.
So there we are – Blue Penguin Chartered Accountants is named after the smallest penguin in the world 🐧💙
