The name of your business is an integral part of its identity. It’s the name you place on a billboard, the name which the receptionist utters when they answer the phone, and it’s often a part of your URL and email. Therefore, it’s safe to say that the name of your dental office may be the key ingredient to the success of your marketing campaign.
This seemingly irrelevant decision may just be a game-changer and significantly impact every single way in which you try to promote your business in the future. With that in mind and without further ado, here are a few tips and pointers on how you can pick the best name for your dental office.
Focus on the Location
One of the biggest factors regarding your marketing is going to be pointing out the location of your business. You can use the exact location to make an efficient long-tail keyword or simply make a more descriptive (easier to memorize) URL.
Remember that the location of your dental office affects your performance in many different ways. One of the reasons why people don’t choose you as their dentist is because you’re too far away. Also, if you decide to base your identity around a certain location, you can either move nearby or not move at all. Moreover, are you going to start a chain of dental practices? If so, you need to be very careful with this.
All in all, going for a location in your business name can give you a substantial boost to your SEO. Still, if you have plans to make massive changes in the future, this might not be your best course of action.
Consult the Rest of Your Team
Doing this on your own is not the best of ideas. After all, you’re not going to run the practice on your own, so why take on this responsibility. You should ask your partners and staff members, regardless if they’re dental care providers or a part of your dental management team.
Different people have a different outlook on these things and it’s quite possible that someone will have a different angle and come up with something that you’ve missed. Overall, it doesn’t hurt to ask, and never avoid giving credit where credit is due.
There are several ways to structure this, ranging from hosting a brainstorming session, all the way to giving people an option to submit their ideas by a certain deadline. This way, the procedure will feel more inclusive, as well. You get a better company name and a teambuilding activity at the same time.
Be Clear and Blunt about What You Are
Being clever and funny with your name may work well in some industries but in the majority of cases, you need to be direct about who you are and what kind of service you provide. From the very start, you need to be clear about the fact that you’re a dental practice. So, add the word dental into the name of your business.
Of course, if you’re working primarily with children, you may want to keep your name funny, as well. Use a character from a fairytale, an animal, or a cartoon character (watch out for the copyrights) in order to grab their attention. Still, remember that you’re making a name not just for the children. In this situation, the parents are the ones making the call.
Think about Various Materials and Formats
The name of your company will be displayed on various materials and in various settings. You need to imagine what this would look like on a website but also about promotional merchandise. Is your name too long for the front of a promotional t-shirt? What will it look like on a billboard? Also, remember that it should be incorporated into a logo (possibly even squeezed into a practice slogan). There are many layers here and you need to be mindful of them all.
Then, you need to try saying the name out loud. You would be surprised at just how hard to utter some (seemingly benign) phrases are. Also, there’s a risk of your dental practice sounding unintentionally inappropriate. For this, you might also want to check your domain name and see what it sounds like. The list of unintentionally inappropriate domain names is virtually endless.
When it comes to this, it’s always good to bounce your idea off a total outsider. Your judgment is clouded by the fact that you know what it’s supposed to say/mean. Therefore, you might be oblivious to what it looks/sounds like to someone who encounters it for the very first time.
Doctor’s Name Is Not Mandatory
Adding the doctor’s name is not mandatory in the name of the practice. This is also quite pragmatic for a number of reasons. First, it helps you with your workforce. What if you add more people to your practice? What if someone needs to step in for a couple of months? Will people expect to be treated by the “named” partner and consider dental care provided by someone else as subpar?
While it is true that you need to capitalize on the personal brand, there are other ways to achieve this. Adding your personal name to the brand name might make it more inflexible. This could come back to hurt you in the long run.
Still, adding a name is not always a bad idea. If you really have to, it’s best that you go for the last name and not the first name. It feels more formal and professional, which is something that your target audience is probably expecting from a dentist.
Going for the last name is especially effective if you have a history with the town. If you’re from around there and everyone knows your family, this can serve as some sort of verification that you’re a local business.
Research Your Competition
You don’t want to be too similar to your closest competitors. Now, this is a much bigger issue than you potentially realize. First of all, they’re following a similar logic that you are. They too might add the word dental to their practice name and, provided that they’re a dental practice, as well, might also use the location. This is something that you simply won’t be able to avoid.
The only way to deal with this issue is to do your research in time and try to be extra creative. Keep in mind that there’s always a new angle. Specialization (the type of dentistry that you excel at) might be the key to solving this problem. Other than just helping you get a unique name; it might make your entire business more marketable.
Then again, trying too hard to be different is a practice that can backfire, as well. Just keep this in the back of your mind but don’t push it too hard.
In Conclusion
In the end, it’s crucial that you understand that this is not a decision that you can change that easily. Sure, rebranding is possible, however, replacing all the distributed merchandise and updating all your brand ambassadors is not a simple thing. Regardless of how good you are at rebranding, it’s easier to just get this right from the start. With the above-listed tips on your side, getting on the right track is a lot easier than before.