I've been looking at rebranding myself recently. My wife and I ran a successful Japanese > English translation business for nearly a decade, but she's been working full time for a couple of years now, and I'd like to expand beyond my bread and butter of editing. I made the investment to get a master's degree in communication a few years ago, but have never capitalized on it.
Over the last few weeks I've been looking for available domain names (an increasingly difficult task as the years have gone by and squatters have bought up entire dictionaries of potential names), and have been running a few of the available ones past the name-approval process at the corporate name registry at BC Registry Services.
I finally found a combo I liked, and registered it:
Streamside Communication Co.
I will set up Streamside Communication Co. as a "DBA" (Doing Business As) under my present corporation, Cipko Consulting Ltd.
But then the doubts set in - should it be Streamside Communication, or, Streamside Communications?
My degree is in communication, sans "s". I have a Master of Arts in Professional Communication from Royal Roads University. I studied in the department of Communication & Culture.
Yet when I see many of my cohort on LinkedIn, and what they're up to these days, they are almost invariably in corporate or government communications, with that darn "s" at the end. Some Googling around shows this is a long-running debate, but I don't understand why, when every dictionary that I own makes a clear distinction: communication (sans "s") is the act of communicating, exchanging information, etc. Communications (with "s") is related to the technology used to relay information, such as telephones, satellites, etc.
My bookshelf bears me out. I have titles such as: International and Development Communication, The Bias of Communication, Organizational Communication in an Age of Globalization and so on.
So I shall boldly sail forth under Streamside Communication. (Though I have also bought the domain streamsidecommunications. . . just in case. . . : - )
Oh, yes, why "Streamside"?
Because I'm a volunteer streamkeeper, and streamkeeping has been my entry to, and my connection with, my broader community. Because I live beside a lovely urban stream, Byrne Creek. Because I like the sound, and the images it can evoke of flow, of rhythm, of rise and fall, of clarity, of clearing muddied waters. . . Lots there to play with for potential branding and marketing.
Posted by Paul at July 20, 2012 11:26 AM