5 Key Points For Naming A Medical Company

Naming a Medical Company

Naming a medical company is no simple task. With the proliferation of innovation technologies, new businesses are constantly emerging on the scene, each with it’s own brand identity. Every new medical brand compresses the available “white space,” creating even more challenges. To succeed in naming and branding your medical practice or business, keep these five naming tips in mind.

Key points for naming a medical company:

1. Avoid commonplace industry language 

Using literal language in your brand name will actually make it harder to find your company on Google. You will be competing against thousands of similarly named companies, products and services, making it nearly impossible to rank on a search for your name, while also leaving you with a dull and forgettable brand. Calling your practice Medical Associates or The Dental Place makes for a “Teflon” brand name.

2. Keep geography out of the name

When business grow, they naturally expand. Much like a plant, they need a bigger “bucket” to thrive. Having a city, county or locational reference in the name does little to tell potential customers how you do business — it simply states where you do business. The real issue emerges when you then expand and add offices or move location. The irony hits home when you have to then spend advertising dollars informing potential customers you have offices outside of the city or county in your name. (e.g. Downtown Medical… “We’re now in four locations countywide!”)

[bctt tweet=”Rather than telling customers where you do business, tell them how you do business.”]

3. Utilize key attributes to build your brand

Rather than telling customers where you do business, tell them how you do business. Are you more progressive? Do you use the latest technology? Are you faster? Are you customer centric offering service extraordinaire? Make a list of what you do well — what you truly excel at when you are at your very best. Incorporate these key strengths in your name to communicate why clients should choose you. We branded a breast augmentation procedure Bellesoma, due to the desired outcome of a more beautiful body, rather than the fact that they performed lifts and reductions. The old adage still applies, sell benefits not features.

4. Make it stick by making it memorable

You can’t remember what you can’t recall. This is where the right brain kicks in and you create a name that tells a story, or creates a mental picture, or starts a conversation. We named one client Canary Insights based on the IT platform she had developed to alert clients of changes in medical reimbursement policies. The proverbial canary in the coal mine proved to be a great metaphor for sounding the alarm. The name also lent itself to an iconic logo and (what else) canary yellow brand color.

5. Make it last by making it timeless

A number of medical companies make the mistake of branding around their first product or service, only to find new ones that make their identity misleading or irrelevant. Recall how CompUSA embedded the (then) hot product of computers into their name, with a geographic reference. When desktop computers faded, they struggled to transition to other electronic goods the way that Best Buy did. One is a product based name, the other a timeless and expansive concept, quality goods at a low price. The same issue plagues Radio Shack and the likes. In medical, you see it in names that includes a singular procedure such as the likes of RK surgery, then PRK and then Lasik. You will quickly have a great friend in the local sign company if you have to rebrand with every update in your field. A clear sign that this is a problem, is when you use the tagline “We’re more than just ______” with the blank being what you primarily do. Rather than spending to correct a misaligned company name, create a timeless one that adds to your brand’s longevity.

If you are looking for a medical or health care brand name that will live long and prosper, then consider these five tips to ensure your continued health. If you experience lightheadedness when brainstorming your names, then seek immediate professional help in the way of a naming agency. (Keep in mind we do keep normal office hours.)

About the author: With over twenty five years of company naming and branding expertise, Tungsten founder Phil Davis is a marketing and advertising veteran, having personally named over 250 companies, products and services worldwide. As a sought after branding expert, Phil has been quoted in The Wall Street Journal, Inc.com, Businessweek, Entrepreneur, and Newsday.