Musings on Practice Names, Acronyms, and Initialisms

By Jackie Delk, Creative Director

As I read the previous entries by bloggers Vanessa and Tony regarding logos, my mind drifted easily to the other part of that practice identity: practice names.

Over the course of my many years writing and editing for the medical world, I still am amazed at some of the truly complicated and easily forgotten practice names I have encountered. I have often wondered how much time must have been spent coming up with just the right combination of terms and words that no patient would ever remember. Most patients simply refer to the fact that they see Dr. [insert name here].

When asked for guidance by sole practitioners or small practices, I almost always recommend that they stick with their own names. If you have a long, hard-to-find name, lose it. Go to using your own name. Patients will thank you when they have to look up a lost phone number.

Case in point: An old client of mine had a practice name that was impossible for a patient to remember or quickly find in the phone book: The Center for Vein Care and Laser Therapy. He was a sole practitioner, and everyone just referred to his practice as Dr. Steadman. We talked about the idea of changing his name to Steadman Vein Care, which we both thought was wise. Before that change was implemented, he sold his practice to a vascular specialist named Edward Mackay, who promptly changed the practice name to the very simple Dr. Mackay, with a tagline “Vein and Laser Specialist.” It has served him well.

Another practice comes to mind. Ophthalmologist Dr. Stuart Kaufman was using the name Florida Eye Care, Laser & Cataract Centers as his practice name. When he changed it to Kaufman Eye Institute, I said, “Way to go!”

Think about your phone book listing
I am not an advocate of paying a lot of money to buy display ads in phone books. Prospective patients are not likely to go to the yellow pages to choose their physicians. Car mechanics? Insurance agents? Realtors? Maybe; but not doctors. They might, though, pick up a phone book to look up a number in the white pages. That is why starting the name of a practice with the word “Center” is problematic. If you want to use “Center,” or any other generic term, put it at the end of your name: The Midsouth Cancer Center.

And, by the way, that one at least tells you what kind of doctor you will get. Another former client was Center for Health and Longevity. Can you guess that she is a gynecologist?

Acronyms and Initialisms
Let’s start with definitions. An acronym, a term said to have been initiated by Bell Laboratories in 1943, uses the first letter of each word, and it forms something that is a recognizable word or is pronounceable. Integrated Community Oncology Network in Jacksonville, Florida, uses ICON as their acronym. Physicians of Rehabilitation, Industrial & Spine Medicine in Pennsylvania, has smartly adopted the acronym PRISM. Those cumbersome names have been converted to clever acronyms that make branding much easier and much more memorable. Another is FROG, which stands for Florida Radiation Oncology Group. It gave them a patient -friendly identity and a cute mascot.

Initialisms
What if you want to use the first letter of each word in your name, but it isn’t pronounceable? At Advent Media Group, we like the term “initialism.” Using an initialism can work well to make it easier for patients to refer to your practice. An example is Arizona Otolaryngology Consultants, P.C. They are very comfortable with being called AOC, and that’s a plus since, for patients, “otolaryngology” can be a tongue twister.

If you are going to use an initialism, make sure it is a solid branding decision. Your staff should use it frequently, and advertising copy should indicate that you are accepting of it.

Always make sure that the entire practice name is spelled out on first mention, and the initialism is indicated parenthetically after that. The initialism can be used throughout the rest of the copy.

Logo Battle of the Century: Vector vs. Bitmap

by Tony Pesavento
Art Director at Advent Media Group

(Queue: Survivor’s Eye of the Tiger)

In the blue corner, fighting out of Adobe Photoshop, this bitmap weighs in at hundreds of pixels, with a professional usage for websites and PowerPoint presentations:

“Kid Pixellate” dot GIF!

(CROWD ROARS)

And in the yellow corner, fighting out of Adobe Illustrator, this vector graphic weighs in at an astonishing mathematical equation consisting of points, lines, and curves, with an undefeated professional usage for print media:

"Macho Vector" dot AI!

(CROWD GOES CRAZY, WAVE FLAGS)

Let’s Get It On!
So whom are you betting on? Probably the format that is most readily available to you, right? You may say to yourself, “I’ll call my web guy and have him send me my logo, and I’ll forward it on for my magazine ad. Done. I can now move on to my other pressing needs for today, like updating my Facebook status.”

Wrong. If you’re a smart bettor (and I know you are), and you’re publishing an ad in a print magazine, you’ll want to contact the designer who originally created your logo. Let the designer know the medium (in Advent Media Group’s case, we’re publishing an ad for you in a national print magazine), and they’ll send you the appropriate file format, most likely a vector file or a very hi-res jpg.

And here’s why…

Bitmap Graphics
Bitmap graphics, also called raster graphics, are the most commonly used file formats on the web. All scanned images and images from digital cameras are bitmaps. They are composed of pixels—minute blocks of color that, when taken as a whole, compose an image. Most computer monitors display approximately 70 to 100 pixels per inch. This is why most of the logos saved as bitmaps for the Web are 72 dpi. Anything with a higher dpi would just increase file size while decreasing download speeds.

Typically, bitmaps come in different file extension (format) names:

• .bmp
• .gif
• .jpeg
• .png
• .tiff
• .psd

Vector Graphics
Vector graphics are the other major graphic type. They are made up of points, lines, and curves rather than pixels. Because they are not resolution dependent, vectors are scalable. You can use the same vector graphic on a billboard as you do on your biz card, without any pixellation or loss of sharpness occurring.

Common vector formats:

• .ai
• .cdr
• .eps (Adobe Illustrator vector file)

And The Winner Is!
When it comes to print, this fight doesn’t go to a judge’s decision. It’s a first round knockout by the Vector File Format (it’s macho time).

So when it comes time to submitting a file format for our print magazine, go vector. You can’t go wrong.

Do You Know Where Your Logo Is?

By Vanessa Barber

Project Manager at Advent Media Group

I’ve just learned that there are people out there who actually start salivating when they drive past the golden arches of a McDonald’s. I started thinking about the power of the logo.

At my job, the word “branding” is uttered every five minutes. Branding is really the act of giving your practice a notable identity. Here’s my big tip: To establish that identity—one that is recognized by competitors and potential and existing patients—start by developing a logo. And if you already have one, use it.

I bet you're thinking something along the lines of “duh.” Sounds simple, but do you know where your logo is? Does the printing guy have it? Does the logo designer? Is it stuck in some random folder somewhere in your computer?

Part of what I do here at Advent is gather the logo and the photos that will give a client’s page its customized look, and further establish the client’s branding. But tracking down the “proper” logo isn’t always such a breeze. Most clients don’t have it available, or they simply have no idea where it is. What’s more, they don’t realize the many opportunities they have already squandered by not having ready access to their logo, and therefore not using it.

When I say “use your logo,” I really mean it. Every opportunity you have to ingrain your logo into someone’s head is one worth taking: try putting it on your signature when you send emails out. Add it to your letter head, billing statements, and, of course, on every piece of marketing you do—printing out fliers for the health fair? Sending out a monthly newsletter? What about appointment reminders?

Here is your homework: First, find your logo. If the printer or your designer has it, call them and have them email it to you. Ask them to send all of the different versions of it, and all of the different file types they have it in. Create a folder on your desktop or in your documents for all of your marketing materials. Better yet (this is coming from a Virgo, FYI), organize folders within your folder for different kinds of marketing—print, web, video, or television. And then read our blog next week, in which Tony will explain the different types of logos and where each one belongs.

Before you know it, you’ll have ready access to your logo for any promotion you engage in. You’ll use it more often, and you’ll begin seeing results. Pretty powerful for something so small, don’t you think?