Nine Tips for Naming Your Natural Therapy Business

If you're looking to get into the natural therapy business in Australia, you'll be entering into a marketplace that's growing by leaps and bounds. According to the ATMS (Australian Traditional-Medicine Society), nearly 70% of Aussies have taken at least one complementary medicine over the last year.

Charles Wurf, CEO of the ATMS shared, "Natural medicine has seen a massive 3.1% growth in Australia. There are over 28,000 small businesses in this sector which employs 36,487 people and contributes $4.7 billion to the economy annually." To successfully carve your niche into this rapidly growing industry, a budding holistic entrepreneur will need to choose the very best name for their business in order to stand out from the competition.

So without any further ado, here is a list of the top nine tips for naming your natural therapy business for the best results and the most success:

1. The One-and-Only

If you already have a name in mind, especially if it seems somewhat common, be sure to perform an online search to check that the name has not already been taken. The best resource for this query is found at the Australian Government Business Registration Service. It also will check for similar titles, close matches, existing websites, and domain names.

Following the query, you'll also learn how to register and protect your business name with a trademark. Speaking of trademarks, infringing on an existing patent or trampling on a previously taken title will likely land a new company in plenty of hot water with the law.

2. Don't Rush The Process

In a rush to open a new business, don't feel pressured or pushed into choosing this important title too quickly. Take the time to really research and reflect on what this vital name means to your brand and today's consumers.

Consider bouncing potential terms with your favourite mates, family members, and fellow peers in the industry to gather their opinions. This may guide you toward the best name to give a company for you as a person, your business, and its brand.

3. What's in a Name?

To help individualise and differentiate their business, some practitioners choose to incorporate their name into the title of a company. However, this may not be the best approach when you consider:

• If you have a common name, you could become lost in a sea of other people-based titles
• These existing name-based businesses may have already established themselves as a leader in the industry
• Less common names are sometimes difficult to remember, spell and therefore search and locate
• A single name might reflect other staff members are "less than" compared to the founder

When it comes time for consumers to learn about you and your staff from a professional standpoint, the best place for this knowledge will be found on your "About Us" section on the internet. According to marketing experts, this informative website page is the second most visited place on a business website after the home page.

4. Acronyms

Let's say you've decided on a name like Caring Therapy Solutions or CTS as an acronym for short. While some brands are easily recognisable using these types of abbreviations (think about shipping something via UPS), other times they're being lost among many others in the industry.

For example, the acronym CTS is already being used by a multitude of businesses including over fifty medical terms and dozens of companies utilising this shorter-title. Guilt by association could be a cruel mistress when your title could be confused with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, Canadian Thoracic Society, or Communication Technology Specialist just to name a few.

5. The Allure of Alliteration

Alliteration (or the occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words) is a common and often successful way of naming a business. The use of alliteration inside a business title is also a very catchy way for customers to remember this name and learn more about your company at the same time.

There's Thoughtful Therapy, Tender-Touch Therapy, Top Timely Therapy, and many more to consider. Alliteration is also a part of the title in this article, Nine tips for Naming your Natural Therapy Business.

6. Avoiding Trends

When considering a title, try to avoid trends or hot topics as you'll want your business name to stand the test of time. What's all the rage today could be a forgotten or dated practice from the past. Think of it this way, let's say one of the top modalities you'll be embracing is Red Light Therapy, a popular wellness trend according to Forbes, and you decide to incorporate this into your title. 

It could be a huge part of your brand message, getting patients to "stop" at your "Ready Red Light Therapy Studio" for the "green light" in your natural appearance. But this practice could easily fade and dim over time sending new consumers to get more recent and newer, more popular treatments elsewhere.

7. Location, Location, Location

Speaking of location, a hot term often used by those in the Real Estate industry, where you set up shop could make or break a business. Including the name of the street, town, city or territory has potential success in a company's title, but also comes with a few possible pitfalls including:

• Operating in a suburb outside a more populous city might lead to bigger towns taking away business
• Best case scenario, your business expands to multiple locations and the title may need changing, updating or additions
• The name or title of the street or other location could conceivably change in the future
• A neighbourhood where starting a practice might be a sensational site, but due to rising crime or other circumstances may drive customers away

Think carefully when including a location-based name into the title of your business. Just as trends change, so does the rest of the marketplace and circumstances beyond your control like parking or other potential problems in any given area.

8. Poetry in Motion

Similar to alliteration, the title of your therapy company should be ascetically pleasing to the eyes, mind, and ears. It should have an overall pleasant nature while embracing what is positive, available, and a part of your brand, business, its practices, and services.

As an example of what not to do when naming a company, the ConTemporary Nurses (as capitalised by the business) was meant to be a play on words. Contemporary was meant to reflect the fact that their staff understands current medical practices and temporary to signify they specialise in temp placements. However, the placement of the word "Con" along with being emphasised doesn't really bode well for them and didn't signify anything good in their practices.

9. A Bad Name Only in the Eyes of the Beholder

There are many examples of what may have seemed like poor names for businesses that have worked out as a successful strategy. The title of the Golden Shower Chinese Restaurant in Sydney may have a sexual connotation, but they're still thriving. In similar circumstances where the Asian name is translated into something sounding nasty, these eateries are still succeeding in this competitive sector of the restaurant industry including:

• The Phat Phuc Noodle Bar in England
• The Pho King chain of restaurants in California
• There's also the American jelly brand, "with a name like Smuckers, it has to be good" 

On the other side of the dining coin, in the quaint college town of Davis, California, a popular hole-in-the-wall eatery changed their name from Murder Burger to Redrum Burger. It's was nod to this "killer" menu item or "so good they're to die for" tagline. However, after 33-years in business, they recently closed their doors according to a local news report. No reason was given for the downfall of this once-thriving restaurant.

But it makes one wonder if their original name associated with an outdated slang term or changing the title to an old movie reference (from Steven King's classic The Shining) was at least partially to blame. On a positive note, they still managed to stay afloat for over three decades in this extremely competitive marketplace in a city packed full of hungry college kids and a prime location just off a major interstate highway.

BONUS: Best Insurance Coverage

Finally, you'll need insurance to cover your business in case of loss or other types of potentially devastating, often unpredictable damages. At IICT (International Institute for Complementary Therapists), you'll find a one-stop-shop for this vital coverage. Compare different membership plans from student status to executive level. 

Please contact us today if you have any questions or need further assistance. We're here to ensure your business is provided with everything from assisting with covering the costs of costly litigation to handling all of your modalities under one roof.