Intellectual Property is 80% of the value of a business and Melbourne physiotherapist Marcus Pain is doing all he can to realize that value. Just one week ago (at the time of writing) Marcus officially divested his practice from a major franchise operation. In the lead up he was busy preparing his new business identity and securing his brand so as to hit the ground running on day one.
Choosing a new business identity and brand is not a simple process. Marcus reflected on who he wanted the practice to be. He needed a name that would be short, sharp, catchy and highly memorable. Inspired by the rehabilitation 3 R’s of US Physical Therapist Gray Cook – reset, reinforce and reload – Marcus felt Reload Physio best described the practice.
Somewhat ironically, Reload also described the process of re-branding the practice to start again, but even better described what patients need to do when they are injured, ill or in pain. And the repetition and progression of exercise that patients often undergo could be summarized as Re-load.
Marcus’ next task was to survey the landscape to see if ‘Reload’ was already being used. To his surprise and delight he found no health service related use of Reload on Google Search or the IP Australia search database. The field was clear.
Digital Branding Protection
In past times Marcus would need only register a business name and possibly a Trademark, but the advent of the Internet has created an otherworld where ‘finders keepers’ can predominate. So Marcus quickly registered the exact-match domain name www.reload.physio and secured the equivalent Social Media handles.
With his business name, website address and Social Media handles all being exactly the same, Marcus has achieved a powerful advantage. In whatever medium people choose to find him, they need only remember one name. Furthermore he now effectively ‘owns’ the brand Reload Physio across the world.
Whilst the Internet has connected the world, it also means you are effectively competing with practitioners from around the globe for the use of your identity. Practices from far afield countries may just choose the same brand identity as you. So for a few dollars more Marcus strengthened his Intellectual Property protection further by also registering the domains www.reloadphysio.com and www.reloadphysio.com.au – the two closest derivations of his website address.
The .PHYSIO Brand
The exact-match domain name www.reload.physio best contributes to Marcus’ branding desire for a short, sharp, catchy and highly memorable identity. Plus, as he said,
“The domain extension .physio is ours”.
Restricted to members of the physiotherapy and physical therapy community Internet users can be confident that any information they get from a .physio domain’ed website is from a bona fide source.
Not wasted, the two other domains are simply re-directed to www.reload.physio, so any person who inadvertently adds a .com or .com.au will be taken to the real website automatically.
Now that his Intellectual Property is secure Marcus can focus on building his brand value.
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