How to Choose a Private Investigation Business Name

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Choosing a name for their private investigation business (or any type of business) for most people can be a relatively easy process.  You have probably heard me talk about my experience with it on the podcast but in case you missed it I am going to share it again.  I wouldn’t say it was an easy process for me but with the help of my brother I was able to look at a business name much differently than I did at the beginning.

My First Original Thoughts on an Investigation Business Name

I truthfully didn’t know whether to name my company after myself (like most small investigation companies do) or to have a brandable name.  I wasn’t as concerned about the first part of the name as I was the second part. What would identify my business. Below is what I mean:

• ( name  ) Investigative Services
• ( name ) Insurance services
• (  name ) Investigative Group
• ( name ) Risk Management Services

It Had to be Specific

I wanted a business name that explained (to some degree) what the business was.  I didn’t want it to be vague with one word that left someone not knowing who I was or what I was selling.  Something like the following would not be specific enough for my potential customer:

• Locked and Documented (A little unprofessional)
• Alpha Services (What services?)
• Andrew and Associates (Is it a law firm?)

My Brother Brings Up a Good Point – I need a .COM

My brother got in on brainstorming for a business name and he came at it from a different angle.  He wanted to make sure I could get .COM of whatever business name I came up with.  Every business wants to own the domain name related to their business and I was no different.  There were things I learned later down the road that might have helped me rank in Google a bit better and faster but I will share those thought towards the end of this post.

So one day my brother calls me and says Fortified Investigative Services or Fortified Insurance Services might be a good name as it was an available domain name (fortifiedinvestigativeservices.com, FortifiedIS.com).  I said,”Ya, sounds good!” So I checked out the definition just to make sure it reinforced what I wanted my company to represent.  Fortified means to strengthen, and that is what I wanted to do.  I wanted to strengthen the decisions my clients were making.

And so because at the time I was unsure of what the exact name my company would be I purchased, fortifiedinvestigativeservices.com, fortifiedinsuranceservices.com and fortifiedis.com.

Anyone Else With Your Company Name?

I checked with the department of licensing for anyone Fortified Investigative Services or Fortified Insurance Services and found only one other investigator (in another state) using it.  As I write this I can’t seem to find the investigator’s website.  You can also go to The United States Patent and Trademark Office website and do a Trademark Search.

Investigative Services or Insurance Services?

I originally thought of using Insurance Services in the business name because I had worked for a company named Omega Insurance Services which specialized in insurance type investigations.  The company specialized in that type of investigations and I wondered if I should do the same.

After some thought I believed that using insurance services in the name might confuse potential customers.  After all I wasn’t some huge company, it was just me and I wanted to make sure whoever found my website understood the type of work I did very quickly.

So I went with Fortified Investigative Services to keep it simple for my potential customers.  With that being said, it is quite a mouthful and to some degree I wish I would have condensed it a bit to make it easier to pronounce.

Suggestions for Private Investigation Company Names

What can you take from my long winded experience? Below are some helpful suggestions when deciding to name your business.

Will it be Brandable or Will You Use Your Name?

Will your name be Jones Investigative Services (or something to that affect).  Or will it be something like Alpha Investigation Agency where you are not the face of the company.  Will your name represent something?

Can You Get the .com Domain Name for Your Business?

As previously stated I got the following domains for my business

• Fortifiedis.com
• Fortifiedinvestigativeservices.com
• Foritfiedinsuranceservices.com

I didn’t want anyone in the future naming their company a similar name and gaining a client that might have contacted me first but found them because of a domain name mix up.  If you have read my blog post on purchasing a domain for your company you might want to think about the SEO impact of your domain name.  Just something extra to consider.

Make it Easy to Pronounce

When people try to pronounce my business name they have to pronounce 11 syllables.  No one wants to try and say it 10 times quickly.  Consider making the name easy to pronounce, spell and to understand.

Make Sure no one Else Has Your Business Name

I spoke about it earlier. This is just a reminder to check business listings in Google and through your state licensing department.

Make it Professional

Guns and Ammo Investigations, Aiming for you Investigations, these are names of companies I would have a hard time taking seriously.  Sure they sound fun, but fun doesn’t get you serious clients.  If I was searching the internet for a serious investigator and saw a silly business name among professional names who do you think I would call?  Who would you call?

Below are some name ideas/suggestions

• ( name  ) Investigative Services
• ( name ) Insurance services
• (  name ) Investigative Group
• ( name ) Risk Management Services
• ( name ) Investigations

Brandable name – examples: G4S, TIG (The Insight Group), Global Options, Horsemen, HUB, Omega Insurance Services, Ethos Risk Services,)

• ( name ) and Associates
• ( name ) Missing Persons Investigations
• ( name ) Skip Trace Services

I am sure your business name will be great and I hope you have fun naming your company.  Though I had thought about writing an article like this for some time, a reader gave me the final push to do it when he shared a story of how his friend had a terrible name for their company.  I hope this article provides some help or inspiration for your company name.

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