Especially if it’s something that customers expect you to have anyway.

It’s not completely fair as I’m not in an English-speaking country, but still, if you’re going to make your business name in English, you should know what it means.

There’s a fruit and smoothie shop in Malaysia called MBG. It’s unclear what this means, but there’s a little apple next to the text-based brand name, so maybe it has something to do with food or fruit or … iPhones.

On another wall, they give away the big secret. MBG stands for Money Back Guarantee. Not only do they write that out, they write, literally on the wall of the shop, “MBG means Money Back Guarantee.”

They sell fruit. And smoothies.

I didn’t take them to the test and try to return a mango and say that it was, I don’t know, not ripe enough. But then again, they don’t really say what their policy is. Under what circumstances do you get your money back? If I’m not 100% satisfied? Or something else? What if my dragon fruit smoothie (HIGHLY recommended, by the way) has too much date syrup in it? Do I get my MBG? Or do I need to be sick for three days from the spoiled New Zealand kiwis before I get my 12 ringgit back? Unclear.

So, although they spell out what the name stands for, they don’t give it any explanation. Furthermore, and even more important, the name doesn’t say a thing about what the company does–it only describes one of the features of their services.

What does your business name say? If you’d like to highlight a feature of your business, use a tagline or slogan. You can easily change them up and keep promoting the main name of the business in the meantime.

In the meantime, go grab a dragon fruit shake at MBG in Malaysia. You won’t want your money back.

Don't use a feature of your services as your business name.

Don’t use a feature of your services as your business name.