Listening to a podcast on my morning walk, I heard an ad for ShipBob, “The #1 e-commerce fulfillment company,” and found myself repeating the name to myself: ShipBob, ShipBob, ShipBob.
Somebody knew what they were doing when they came up with the company’s two-beat moniker and its clear descriptive tagline. They understood that a name should:
Be easy to pronounce and memorable.
Sound fresh and inviting to a target audience.
Provide a solid typographical opportunity for a graphic designer.
Enhance the visual component of a brand. (This should work both ways.)
Allied with the visual identity and the tagline—which like ShipBob’s can be a description rather than a slogan—a name should:
Convey the primary benefit that the product or service offers.
Express the brand’s personality.
Engage a wide target audience.
If I ran a company with products I needed to move from my “online store to my customer’s door, “as ShipBob puts it, I’d visit ShipBob.com.
A Name Should Suit Your Business in Several Ways
When generating names and taglines, always refer to your company’s strategic intentions and core messaging. You want your name to immediately distinguish your company and align with its character and goals. When you begin to brand a business, consider the name, the visual identity, and the tagline concurrently. All three work together to introduce your brand, help set your company apart, and quickly bring it to your audience’s mind.
A few years ago, a health coach from Vacaville, California needed a name for the juice bar he planned to open in his hometown. He was intent that the product be pure, cold-pressed, and made from the best fruits and vegetables available. Keeping his aim in mind and wanting the name to be easy to say and remember, we came upon Virtue Juice. The moniker met all the criteria and was the spark that led to a very successful retail and wholesale business.
If you’re a wellness professional with a solo practice, using your name for the practice is almost always a good choice. If you’re starting a practice or combining practices with several practitioners, and don’t want to sound like a law firm, creating a name around your approach to healthcare, your specialty, or your geographic location is a good place to begin.
My doctor and PA recently expanded the practice to include four other practitioners. Curtis Robinson, M.D. is now Panoramic Medicine. The office is located near the base of a beloved mountain. Panoramic is the name of a scenic road that takes you around and over that mountain. The name is easy to say and remember, expresses the expanded nature of the practice, has visual potential, and has positive connotations, especially with local patients.
Naming is a Process, a Rewarding One
If you’re looking for a name for your wellness product or service, come at it from multiple angles. Try freely associating with letters, landmarks, seasons, sounds, benefits, and characteristics until you have several viable directions to explore. You might find a name you like among these first options. You might continue your exploration, heading in your favorite direction. Often, the naming process requires a generous period of gestation. Then, like that one dog at the pound who speaks to you, the perfect name suddenly will present itself.
At this point, you want to be sure your forever name doesn’t belong to someone in the same or related industry. Ultimately, you may want to consult with a legal professional about this. But do some preliminary investigation, also checking to see if a URL with a desirable domain suffix is available. I recommend doing this at https://www.whois.com/. If .com is taken, and you love a name, don’t give up on it immediately. Explore other suffixes. If it’s affordable, buy it. Also, your business name and domain name don’t need to be identical. For instance, Mantra Wellness is found at www.mantramagazine.com/.
09.2024
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