Lessons in Naming

Below is part 1 of a multipart series in what we will call multi-dimensional marketing, or otherwise stated, the process of looking at your overall approach to marketing through a variety of lenses. In doing so, we hope to showcase the overall concept of marketing, which is often undervalued as simply advertising.

It’s Vetcelerator’s belief that marketing is more than branding and advertising; it is a philosophy of solving problems. It is creating, communicating, and capturing value. In this lens, managing phone calls is marketing as much as your company’s name.

The table of contents for what’s to come is as follows:

  1. Lessons in Naming
  2. How Do Brands Work?
  3. What is Performance Marketing?
  4. “Social Skills” and Cooperative Marketing
  5. Revisiting Competition and Purchase Consideration

In each section, we will break down definitions, conceptual and realistic strategies, and how these areas work together for a multi-dimensional interaction from the customer’s perspective.

How Important Is a Name? 

Think back to the first time you signed your name. That small act was more than just handwriting—it was your first personal “brand.

Like many of us, you likely spent months perfecting it, practicing different cursive handwriting styles in grade school. In a way, that was your first logo, a representation of how you chose to present yourself on paper. While the name was given to you, how you expressed it was entirely up to you.

Naming a business is more than just a creative exercise—it’s an emotional process. How many new names are given in just new vet and pet brand businesses?

Data from the Small Business Administration allows us to consider the numbers:

Businesses in Vet

2020 32,521 Est. | 408,944 people | $18.633B wages

2023 34,867 Est. | 460,717 people | $25.125B wages

Businesses in Pet

2020 21,076 Est. | 122,827 people | 3.017B wages

2023 25,822 Est. | 183,828 people | 5.459B wages

The Importance of a Name in Brand Marketing

Between 2020 and 2023, the veterinary & pet industries saw a 7% increase in businesses, resulting in a growth of over 6,000 new brands. So we need to develop about 6,000 new names, brands, and reputations, mainly focused on hyperlocal communities—about 2,000 each year to figure out. How? 

Naming a brand is emotional, certainly so to a first-time entrepreneur. This is why we take a balanced approach, combining empirical evidence with structured thinking. We can take the best lessons from what is available and apply some frameworks to what is otherwise a very personal experience. 

The framework for today is:

  1. Understand Your Reach
  2. Understand Behavior Science
  3. Understand Emotional Connections and Framing

1. Understand your reach

Understanding your reach isn’t just about geography, it’s about aligning your brand’s potential with the needs of your audience. Let’s explore what that looks like.

How big is your audience expected to be? Most practices serve a hyper-local footprint, generally within 15-25 miles of the location. However, reach can also be augmented, which needs to be considered. 

  • Is your facility stationary or not? e.g., mobile or at-home services.
  • Is the radius actually larger for an element of the practice? For example, specialty care, exotic care, and overnight hospitalization have larger radii. 
  • Does the population within that radius change frequently? E.g., “Snowbirds” or tourist destinations mean your 15-25 mile radius changes.
  • Will your reach change over time? For example, will you expand in any of the above areas or create a multi-location practice someday?

Reach is critical to understand because we are creating an association that will serve the area for a long time and should be malleable. Rebrands happen constantly, but they take a long time to make an impact.

2. Understand Behavioral Science

We’ve written about using System One and System Two before discussing crafting your marketing message. Recall System 1 is a low-effort, spontaneous, intuitive, fast, and easy part, while System 2 is logical, rational, slow, and complex.

Behavioral Science: System 1 vs. System 2 Decision-Making

My favorite example is to imagine yourself going for a walk and someone asking you, “What’s 2+2?”. You can continue to walk and say 4. If they ask you, “What’s 15 * 12?”, you will likely stop walking in order to figure that out. So, which system do you want to target with your name?For a name to resonate with System 1, it should be short, simple, and evoke positive associations. Think of names like Apple or Google—easy to process and hard to forget.

The goal should be to create something memorable. Remembering a name is very good, as even the process of remembering something increases favorable attitudes towards the brand. For a name to resonate with System 1, it should be short, simple, and evoke positive associations. Think of names like Apple or Google, which are easy to process and hard to forget.

Building Local Recognition for Veterinary Practices

  • Shorter names > longer names: Not many of these most powerful brands have more than 10 characters and/or three syllables. 
  • Correct spelling > alternative spelling: Chik-fil-a is an exception. On a smaller scale, Kat’s Klinic is a worse name than Cat Clinic.
  • Straightforward > Clever: Cute and clever may require a mental leap that a straightforward name doesn’t have. System 1 wants to facilitate recalls easily and straightforwardly. The exception is this excellent name for a Dive Bar in Portland, Oregon: The Triple Lindy.
  • Geography and Specificity: Trade-offs exist either way and can be a friend or foe to a name. This is where deciding who we intend to reach matters. Animal Clinic of Hudson Valley is a specific geographical name.
    • Pros: For hyperlocal space, including the geography or specific service will resonate and appeal to System 1. 
    • Cons: Limiting. Just including geography won’t signal anything about your business. Being too specific may reduce the breadth of your brand, meaning fewer opportunities for people to recall. 
    • Exception: Banfield Pet Hospital went from a hyper-local to a national reference.

3. Understand Emotional Connections and Framing

Do you know who Frank Luntz is? Probably not, but you definitely know his work. Frank is responsible for some of the most well-known, frequently used phrases in our time, especially in the political sphere. Because of Frank’s work: 

  • “Estate Tax” moved to “Death Tax.”
  • “Global warming” moved to “Climate Change.” 
  • “Affordable Care Act” moved to “Obamacare.”

Why does this matter? Think of the signals and associations you can create in the minds of your viewers. 

Imagine yourself at a nice restaurant. The “small plate” section has a dish available described as follows:

Confit duck tartine, herb salad, sauce gribiche……………………………$34

It could say:

Slow-cooked duck, baguette, chives, mayonnaise sauce……………….$22

But it doesn’t. The description takes its time, it uses languages that imbues craftsmanship, and the price reflects a testament to the craft. 

When we build emotional connections, we trigger System one into a rapid, effortless association with something known. Typically, for vet and pet brands, we see language such as “Compassion,” “Love,” or “Caring” used in conjunction with the name. Visual depictions work even better for associations when thinking about a logo. Considering logos with upward trajectory (Nike), open palms (Habitat for Humanity), or a subtle smile (Amazon).

Finally, naming after yourself is ok! Even more, it may be good a posteriori? The prevailing thought is that it signals a sense of accountability and expertise, which may ultimately prove to be true.

“We demonstrate that eponymy—firms being named after their owners—is linked to superior firm performance but is relatively uncommon (about 19 percent of firms in our data).”

The Role of Paid Media in Multi-Dimensional Marketing

Naming is only the beginning. Strategic paid media campaigns and social media optimization amplify visibility, driving long-term growth and recognition.

Conclusion

Your name is a big part of brand marketing. Its ability to be recalled can lead to enhanced performance relative to others. While you should lead with authenticity and emotion in picking this important factor of your brand, rely on structure to help guide you. And while it’s important, it is also one (tiny) part of how a customer interacts with and perceives your brand across the dimensions that the market uses to judge a brand. There is a tactical interaction with your brand once they visit, call, and communicate with you.  But it starts with a name.

Note from the Author

I was going to name this article “What’s in a Name” until I found this armchair research from one of my favorite websites, Data Colada.

It turns out “What’s in a Name” is the most common of the cliche names given to academic papers.

Ready to make your veterinary brand stand out and attract the clients you want? At Vetcelerator, we drive growth by leveraging strategic paid media campaigns, optimizing your social reach, and turning visibility into measurable results. From increasing appointment bookings to strengthening your online presence, we focus on what matters most: growing your practice and connecting with your ideal audience.

Let’s grow your practice together. Contact our team today to see how we can help your brand thrive.

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