You, as a Brand

The first question to consider is how do you want people to learn about your massage or bodywork business? If you have a unique name (ie: not John or Jane Smith), then using your name as the primary identifier for your business can be beneficial for your Google search results and allow people to find you with ease. This is also a great idea if you plan to maintain a small or individual practice.

In addition to making it easy to find you, naming your business after yourself adds a personalization that other practices may not possess. People will feel an instant connection to the practice because they know exactly who will be helping them, which can do a lot for developing loyalty and trust.

Branding yourself does, however, restrict you in certain ways. If you’d like to grow your practice to many bodywork professionals or develop a partnership down the road, it may be smarter to create a brand that doesn’t involve only your name.

What’s In a Name?

Choosing a name can be difficult—mostly because there’s nothing new under the sun. And when it comes to choosing a business name with a pun, the wellness industry is flooded with them. To get your creativity flowing, write down words associated with your services and write down words associated with how you want people to feel.

Examples: Work, tissue, muscles, pain relief, rubbing, healing, holistic.

Relief, wellness, better, healthy, energy, earthy, relaxed, rejuvenated, centered.

Home in on a few words that you like and pull out your thesaurus.

A few tips: Consumers like the repetition of sounds, and it makes the brand name easier to remember (think: FedEx, Coca Cola, Krispy Kreme, Dunkin Donuts, Bed, Bath & Beyond). Keep your business name short and simple. And in the world of URLs, it can be hard to come up with something unique that is also spelled correctly, but use caution when spelling your brand name with some creative license. It might preclude people from knowing how to pronounce it.

Starting from Scratch: Colors

There’s a lot of psychology that goes into choosing colors for marketing your business. Namely, you want your logo and colors to evoke the kind of feelings in your client that he or she would experience while patronizing your business. Companies centered around education for kids, for example, will choose bold or primary colors to evoke excitement and learning. Tech companies will utilize blue or green colors to emphasize new and fresh ideas. If you are primarily functioning as a massage therapist, you’ll want to choose a subtle color palette to evoke relaxation in your customer. If you are a bodywork client that promotes energy and well-being, perhaps bolder green or earthy tones are for you.

Now that you have a color palette in mind, you have to choose the right hue. Blues are calming, but grey can be dreary and dull. You want to promote your brand as vibrant and alive while still being calm. If you were a color, what would you be?

Slogans Matter

Consider your slogan as an extension of your name. It should correlate with your business, your services and give a little insight into your personality and belief system. For example, if you weren’t familiar with Home Depot, the name might not “say it all” to you (you did notice that repetition of the “O” sound, didn’t you?). But the slogan “You Can Do It, We Can Help” perfectly explains that while I—the customer—am an empowered DIYer, I can also seek the expertise I need to complete my project there.

Write a quick mission statement or jot down why you got into bodywork. Try to focus on a few key points and see if any of these can be melted down into a concise slogan. It should summarize your personality as well as your goals as a practitioner.

Have you recently branded your company using these tips? Share your names, logos and slogans with us on the MassageBook Facebook page!