I am learning a lot about business, “after the fact”. If I rated my practice name from 1-10, with 10 being the best, I might give it a 6-7. I have learned a lot about “key words”, regarding the internet and phone books, and marketing. The biggest words that have been found to be associated with health care are: medical, medical clinic, family medicine, family practice, health clinic, clinic, urgent care, immediate care, family doctor.

It is interesting that the word “practitioner” or “provider” is rarely used by the public. And the word “nurse” when googled, brings up mostly “jobs”, and unfortunately not so nice terms like “naughty nurse, and nude nurse”.. it has sexual associations with it.

It is a good point you make about translations of your name into other languages. I do have the word Healing, and hopefully that translates well, but my practice name is a little long to be ideal. It does not fit on signs well. However, I did want it to embody my philosophy which is a blend of traditional medicine, and a holistic integrated approach. Some might interpret it as “Alternative” , which implies Acupuncture, and Naturopathy, but I have only had one or two comments regarding that, and most people seem not to blink, at my name. Most seem to like it.

I did think about the Alphabet, as I am familiar with how advertising starts with “A”. My last name is Anderson, so if I were a physician, I would be listed under my name. But there is not a category in the phone book called “Health Care providers, Medical Clinicians, or Health Care Practitioners”, and even if there were,
I think like the word “Tylenol” is known for acetaminophen, and “Kleenex” is known for all tissue, the universal word people are most familiar with is “Doctor”. So even if we had those categories, unless they took away the physician categories, and put us ALL under another name, the public would not even be aware of what category to look up.

Kind of like using a dictionary, when you do not know how to spell what you are looking up.

Thank you for bringing up this topic, as it is very thought provoking, and those of us new to being entrepreneurs, and self employed are learning, and isn’t that the point of it all? Carla Anderson-Healing Presence Family Practice, PC.